Seòmar agus comataidhean

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My screen froze. I am not sure whether my vote was recorded.

My vote was no.

I have no relevant interests to declare.

Much like my colleagues, I am excited about and looking forward to being a part of the committee. I represent a coastal and rural community, so I will be interested in everything that relates to fishing and fisheries.

Rachael Hamilton picked up on the issue of marine biodiversity. One of the important recommendations of the ECCLR Committee was that we consider taking an integrated approach to scrutiny. It is important that we have a holistic outlook, which will be helpful and beneficial to all aspects of marine biodiversity scrutiny, particularly when scrutinising the outcome of the post-EU exit negotiations between the UK, the EU and other coastal states and the implications for sustainable fisheries in Scottish waters.

I am also interested in the ECCLR Committee’s recommendation on

“Engaging with debates on human rights mainstreaming in relation to the relevance to the environment and considering how Committees may best prepare to scrutinise any forthcoming human rights legislation.”

From the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee’s legacy report, I picked up on the issue of women in agriculture, which Jim Fairlie touched on. I am interested in looking at the work of the task force, building on what it has already done and continuing to implement its suggestions.

It is important that we deal with digital connectivity and transport issues, as well as the implications of Covid. The pandemic has had significant impacts on agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, and we need to consider what we can do to get off on the right foot with regard to our recovery.

I also agree with what has been said about housing. Keeping a young workforce in the area is an issue that is often brought up. There is such a large remit here, but everything is connected. Having a holistic approach to transport and broadband connectivity and ensuring that there are jobs for our young people is part of the committee’s remit and everything that I am looking forward to getting stuck into. It is such a huge remit that it is hard to know where to start, but I am looking forward to it.

I have no interests to declare.

I am grateful for the opportunity to be sitting down as I give my speech today. I will begin by welcoming my colleague Richard Lochhead to his role, and I really look forward to working with him during this term of government.

During my election campaign, I had the opportunity to meet several businesses and organisations that have suffered the double whammy of Brexit and Covid. That has been compounded particularly by the area’s reliance on the fishing, farming and tourism industries. Fishing sector leaders tell me that they have witnessed the selling out, yet again, of their industry. More recently, that has also been the case for farmers, who are deeply alarmed by the selling out of the Scottish agricultural sector.

For example, it is claimed that Brexit has caused a “massive hole” in the number of people coming to the United Kingdom to pick fruit in the summer, putting growers on the brink. Stephen Taylor, the managing director of Winterwood Farms Ltd, said that the labour market has become “tighter and tighter” and that the impact of Brexit on the flow of workers to UK farms is only getting worse. He said:

“We are not talking about a few tens of thousands, we are talking hundreds of thousands of people less to work in the UK.”

Think tanks, independent research, business sector representatives and accountancy firms are all telling us what we now know: the north-east of Scotland will be the hardest hit by Brexit. We are bracing ourselves for the realities of that hard Brexit, which is only just beginning in its cause of bringing more pain and suffering to the people I represent. The Banffshire and Buchan coast sits within the captivating beauty of Aberdeenshire and Moray—a region that can easily be described as a shire with two tales to tell. It is frequently described as wealthy or affluent, but that description is far removed from the experiences of many in my constituency.

The 2020 Scottish index of multiple deprivation identifies Fraserburgh and Peterhead as being in the top 10 and 20 per cent of the most deprived areas in Scotland. That is compounded by many coastal communities facing the most difficult of times due to the pandemic and the economic consequences of Brexit.

The stark inequalities between those who have a lot and those who have little or nothing are as shameful to us as they are to visitors, who can see poverty and decline from devastating Tory-inflicted policies. When they arrive to take in the beauty of our landscape, many visitors will not be aware of the hidden deprivation that lies under the surface.

That is why I am grateful for the Scottish Government’s commitment to invest an additional £500 million to support new jobs and reskill people for the future, and for the much-needed extension to the national transition training fund. The places that were most at risk economically will struggle to bounce back, but I know that the SNP Government will ensure that we prioritise them in all that we do in providing opportunities for recovery.

The underlying resilience of our economy relies on fair work and quality jobs for all, in order to create a more equal society. However, it goes beyond that. I used the word “recovery” a lot during my campaign and I meant it, but I meant “recover to better than before”. Tackling inequalities, including gender economic inequality, and providing fair work that unlocks people’s creativity, confidence and wellbeing is our case for an economic recovery that will benefit all.

The business case for an inclusive economy is strong. It helps our businesses to innovate and grow, it helps them to compete more effectively on the world stage, and it helps to develop, attract and make the most of our talents in Scotland. There is an opportunity to build a strong national consensus around a national purpose, to learn from other small nations and to adapt lessons to Scotland’s specific circumstances, so that we enable a shift towards our wellbeing economy. We have the opportunity to be ambitious and to rethink how we invest in places and, importantly, who benefits from the investment.

The coronavirus pandemic and Brexit have exacerbated inequalities between and within our communities. I know that this might not be customary, but I want to innovate and to bring together industry experts—the people who work in their sectors every day—to plan for economic prosperity in the north-east. During the recent campaign, I pledged to form and chair a new tourism forum that is composed of businesses and other stakeholder organisations, so that we can come together and speak in a unified voice to support more jobs and investment along my coastal community.

We cannot discuss the implications of Brexit on skills without acknowledging the huge contribution that EU nationals make to our country. The fishing, farming, hospitality and health and social care sectors are reliant on them. The UK Government’s immigration system is not fit for any purpose in Scotland because, in contrast, we value and cherish our EU nationals and their decision to work here and make Scotland their home as they contribute culturally, socially and economically to our country’s prosperity.

Perhaps it is an apt time to highlight the possibilities that could come with having power over all our decisions in an independent country. We would have the opportunity to take charge of our own future. Those who say that we cannot concentrate on more than one thing at a time should perhaps drop the unionist agenda and leave the multi-tasking to us, because full economic prosperity and health and wellbeing come hand in hand with an independent Scotland.

I will be fine in a second.

Deputy Presiding Officer, as this is my first opportunity to do so, I welcome you to your new role and wish you well in this session of Parliament.

Coming into the Parliament as a newly elected member may have left me feeling a bit like a cat without whiskers, still navigating my way around the building and the procedures, but I knew as soon as the Keep MUM campaign was highlighted to me that I wanted to get stuck straight into supporting and helping the campaigners in any way that I could. They are a hardworking and determined group who want the best, and rightly so. I thank them for their communication and engagement with me.

I have given birth in various circumstances, some of which were high risk. That risk was exaggerated by living rurally and travelling many miles to Aberdeen to give birth in emergency circumstances that almost resulted in a fatal outcome. As members can imagine, I have a great deal of not only empathy but understanding for the women in my constituency and the Keep MUM campaign, who have reached out with their experiences in order to prevent any further distress.

The year is 2021: we should acknowledge that bringing human beings into the world—[Interruption.] I am sorry; my legs are shaking. Can I sit down?

I want to get this right.

I feel fine. It is just my legs. I will take a second until it settles. It will go again.

I hear from my constituents a genuine concern that not everyone will reap the benefits when the economy of the north-east improves, but I know that the Government will ensure that that does not happen. That can be addressed, in part, by reflecting more broadly on the opportunities for discussions on how to revitalise humanely the affected communities. I am asking my constituents what they and their families want or imagine for their future living, working and thriving in the communities that they love, not just for now but for future generations. As a new MSP, I ask myself how I can improve their representation on what matters to them and what lessons are to be learned to prevent uneven developments in moving forward. If we do not invest the time to reflect on any of that, we will have missed the point entirely.

Inequalities—gender inequalities, for example, which we are debating today—must be a part of those plans. I am ready and willing to work, debate and discuss matters on a cross-party basis, as we are doing today, to ensure the best possible outcomes for not only my constituents but people across Scotland.

I welcome my colleague Humza Yousaf to his new role as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, and I thank him for his attention to the issue. I am sure that we will be in communication to do all that we can to support those services. I also thank his predecessor, Jeane Freeman, for her long-standing support and work to bring a vital consultant-led service to Dr Gray’s. That is not just something on a wish list; it is part of the plan for a Scotland in which our people can thrive and have the best immediate start in life. [Applause.]