Seòmar agus comataidhean

Presiding Officer, for the record, I will ask my question first in spoken English and then in signed and spoken British Sign Language, to raise awareness.

To ask the First Minister, in light of this being deaf awareness week, what work the Scottish Government is undertaking to ensure that deaf people have their communication needs met. (S6F-02068)

I will now ask the question in BSL.

I thank the witnesses for their evidence so far. I will ask about the post-racing life of greyhounds. Last week, we heard from the GBGB, which noted that it contributes towards the costs of rehoming, for example. However, it is a different set-up at Thornton, where more dogs tend to come from homes that they live in, whereas, for GBGB tracks, the dogs are in kennels.

I ask the witnesses to give an overview of the post-racing life of a greyhound and the differences between those two models. Are there any huge differences and any cons?

I will focus for a moment on how the dogs at Thornton are kept. Is there a secure way of collecting data on the post-racing life of those greyhounds when it comes to injuries, their behaviours and their quality of life?

I have had sincere and deep ponderings over this debate today and, in fact, over the past few weeks. I have had cause to really take time to reflect.

My concerns about HPMAs and the impact that they will have on fishers and coastal communities across Scotland are well known to the Scottish Government. First and foremost, however, I hope that they are known to the fishers across my constituency, because representing the coastal communities of Banffshire and Buchan Coast is a great honour and one that I do not take lightly. It is for that reason that I wish to make this promise to them: I promise that I will never support a policy that would be to the detriment of the lives and livelihoods of coastal communities across Scotland. I was elected to be a strong voice for our coastal communities and a steward and an advocate of not just the people but the land and the sea, and I will be just that.

Our rural communities have been through a great deal over the past few years. As a member of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, I have listened to some devastating testimonies about the impact of Brexit on our farmers and fishers. The loss of European Union funding as a result of the reckless Tory Brexit is just one example of the significant damage that has been imposed on our rural economies. We place so much responsibility for delivering net zero on our rural industries. We must remember that our farmers and fishers are also responsible for our food security.

I thank the cabinet secretary for the constructive discussions. [Interruption.]

I disagree with the member’s take on that issue. I will come to this later in my speech, but that politics, with the whole rhetoric around “banning fishing”, seems to be driven by popularity. That is not helpful to this debate and it is not constructive.

We place a lot of burden and responsibility on our farmers and fishers, and they are responsible for our food security. If we place ever greater burdens on them, we must ensure that we also provide the relevant financial, human and legislative support. Fishers have lost trust in politicians to deliver for them, and quite frankly I do not blame them. That is the sorry result of their being used as political footballs for so long and having their priorities consistently politicised.

That brings me to the motion that is before us, which is in the name of Rachael Hamilton. Are we really supposed to believe, after everything that the Tories have done over the past few years to bring our rural industries to the brink and our economy to its knees, that they are trustworthy custodians of our farms, fisheries and natural environment? Need I say more than “Liz Truss”, “Boris Johnson” and “Brexit”? [Interruption.] Despite the Tory indignation, I note that it was announced in March that HPMAs will be introduced south of the border by the Tory UK Government. The hypocrisy is astonishing.

Rachael Hamilton is obviously opposed to HPMAs, so why did she stand on a Tory manifesto commitment in 2021 to implement pilot schemes for them? The fishers who are listening at home should be aware of that. [Interruption.]

The cabinet secretary will be reassured to hear that I do not intend to tear up any motion in a fit of theatrics today, although my colleague Rachael Hamilton stated that she would like to see that. The Scottish Parliament is not a place for amateur dramatics. It is a place where we debate and discuss as reasonable representatives the genuine needs of our constituents and our country.

Thank you, convener, and good morning, panellists. Thank you so much for your contributions so far, which align with what I will ask about. I want to focus on solutions. Asylum and immigration policy is a reserved matter, but there are things that we can do within our devolved competence at the Scottish Parliament. Although we are fiscally constrained in many ways, there are things that we can do. What are your feelings about the new Scots strategy and the ending destitution together strategy? What is going well? What is not going so well?

I was going to ask about free bus travel and the positive impacts that that could have on people, but you have clearly stated your point on that matter, which is noted.

I thank Beatrice Wishart for bringing this debate to the chamber today and giving us all the opportunity to speak on the issues.

I represent a number of coastal communities across the Banffshire and Buchan coast. In recent weeks, a number of my constituents have contacted me about this issue, and I have held meetings with a range of stakeholders, including fisheries, to gauge their thoughts. It is clear to me that there are significant concerns among stakeholders of the blue economy about highly protected marine areas.

I welcome the First Minister’s recent commitment to not impose on any community a policy to which it is vehemently opposed. Last week, I asked the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition to echo that commitment. In response to my question, she told me:

“I am happy to reiterate the First Minister’s commitment. I firmly believe that you do not impose policies in communities”.—[Official Report, 27 April 2023; c 4.]

I am grateful for her reassurance, although we need clarity on how those communities will be defined and how we will gauge their vehement opposition.

We need that clarity urgently. Only today, we heard about delays in the purchasing of vessels as a result of the lack of certainty. We must avoid the ambiguity and uncertainty that the Tory pursuit of Brexit has already saddled our blue economy with. Many lives and livelihoods across our country, particularly in the north-east, depend upon fisheries and the meaningful contribution that they make to the culture and economy of Scotland.

In the past few years, fishers have had to battle with the cumulative impact of the pandemic, Brexit and post-Brexit immigration issues. Earlier today, one fisher in my constituency told me:

“Brexit has been damaging to the industry with all of the additional administrative costs. And it is as prevalent today as it was in 2021. HPMAs cannot be introduced without the support of local communities because that’s where the damage would be caused. We’re being driven by an urban agenda with little consideration on the impact of our rural communities and way of life.”

That fisher is by no means alone. This morning, the Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust told me that it is

“concerned that the current programme has been developed without bringing in areas that are guaranteed for creelers, and others for the mobile sector in economically advantageous areas where mobile gear has a lower impact.”

It said:

“we think setting the environment against the economy misunderstands the economic basis for a strong and growing fishing industry—we can either fail on both fronts or bring in the kind of spatial planning which will let us succeed on both.”

If we are to be successful in our efforts to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis and restore marine habitats, we have to take the key stakeholders of the blue economy with us, and that requires a just transition.

We have to do more than just listen to fishers—we have to act on their concerns. From recent interactions with my constituents, it is clear that they feel that that is not what happens. Although I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to having fully comprehensive negotiations, I must reiterate the point that they must be led by lived experience and must not resemble a top-down approach. I have always been an advocate for lived experience shaping policy, but an honest and forthright exchange of views requires trust.

Fishers across the Banffshire and Buchan coast have put their trust in me and I do not take it for granted. The coastal communities across my constituency depend on fisheries, and I will continue to stand up for those communities.

I again thank Beatrice Wishart for this welcome opportunity and I will also welcome any further cross-party discussions on how we can best work together for our coastal communities. On that note, I look forward to seeing many of my colleagues join the forthcoming cross-party group on fisheries and coastal communities that I am in the process of setting up.

As the cabinet secretary noted, Scotland has the most generous provision of free school meals in the UK, and £400 per eligible child is a very notable amount. What difference do free school meals make to the education journey of our young people in Scotland?