Seòmar agus comataidhean

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent reports that many towns in Scotland are so-called legal aid deserts. (S6O-04069)

Over recent years, legal aid organisations have called for serious reform, citing a system that has been left in a state of neglect. Their calls have been frustrated by a Government that has failed to recognise the need for immediate action. In recognising the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, does the minister accept that a failure to deliver both short and longer-term reforms to the legal aid system poses significant risks to vulnerable groups in our society, particularly victims of domestic abuse?

When the parliamentary session began back in 2021, there was a genuine enthusiasm about the prospect of a national care service. Only three years later, the enthusiasm is simply dead in the water. The conclusion of today’s debate can only be that the blame for that must lie solely at the feet of the Scottish Government. I wish that we could have heard a bit of reflection on the Government’s part.

My question is in a similar vein—it is about rural communities and the particular stigma there. We know that it can be more difficult to get specialist healthcare staff, so is work on-going in primary care in rural areas to make sure that our practitioners in those areas have the skills and competencies that they need?

Absolutely. I agree 100 per cent. The fault is square on that Thatcher Government. Poverty, deprivation and depopulation are still felt hard. It is incumbent on us to continue to remember the difficult choices that were made by those who felt that striking was their only option. Fortunately, unions and organisations such as the Coalfields Regeneration Trust continue to keep the issue front and centre.

Even when some Governments prefer to forget their responsibilities to their communities, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and others bring it to the fore. The report “State of the Coalfields 2024” lays bare the truth, stating that Ayrshire coalfield communities stand out as “particularly deprived” areas.

The coalfield communities did not create those problems. Rather, they fell victim to the social and economic problems that we see across the United Kingdom because of such a right-wing Government. Unemployment, lack of investment and accepted decline by the state are the scars that my communities will suffer for generations to come. There was no contingency planning, no support and no sympathy. Those are the realities that miners faced.

We cannot praise the fight’s endurance without reflecting on the impact and support of women—predominantly the wives, sisters and daughters of the miners. They continued to support the miners, alongside community groups and trade unions, and they allowed the fight to continue for as long as it did. For that, I cherish the stories that have been recounted from women on the picket lines and in the communities.

I believe in those communities not only because of our history of mining and our part in empowering the country but because that history built a resilient people and bold communities, with warmth, talent and tenacity. It is they who deserve the wealth generated from the labour of their parents, grandparents and wider communities.

I close by demanding of the Governments of today: keep that fight for justice alive.

I will make progress.

They do not recognise the current plans as anything close to the promises that were made. They feel let down, and rightly so. I say to the cabinet secretary that that is the message that members in the chamber are getting. The loud and clear message is that we need delivery of a national care service. I ask the Government: what is power if it cannot deliver? The Government certainly cannot deliver.

We have heard from many members today, including the minister, that

“the status quo is not an option”.

Members across the chamber are saying that, but the Scottish National Party has had 17 years to fix our social care. It has had more than three years to get the bill right, and it has simply failed to do so. Yet, today, there is no reflection on that at all. The Government brushes it aside and seeks to blame others.

Despite many Scots being in urgent need of social care, after three years, three cabinet secretaries and three First Ministers, there is nothing to show for it. Now is the moment to get to work and take immediate action to start fixing Scotland’s fundamentally broken social care sector. The minister—

I will start with how proud I am to say that I grew up in, live in and now represent a coalfield community. I therefore thank Richard Leonard for securing this important and heartfelt debate, which recognises the impact that the 1984-85 strike had not only on miners but on their families, wider communities and Scotland itself.

The strike has been defined as the greatest industrial dispute in post-war Britain and its significance cannot be overstated. To this day, the echoes of that brutal Thatcher Government are felt in so many towns and villages across our country.

I strongly disagree with Stephen Kerr. The pit closures were used as an insult to the miners, who contributed so much to Scotland’s culture and economy. Communities such as the one that I live in faced job losses and deprivation, and miners and their families were vilified and criminalised for their fight to save their livelihoods and their communities. The injustices that were felt by miners and their communities remain rife across modern Scotland.

Although it is unlikely that full amends can ever truly be made, I do recognise the Miners’ Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Act 2022 as a step in the right direction. However, much more must be done and we must all fully support an inquiry into policing at that time. We must continue to find the truth, which miners and other striking workers deserve.

My region, South Scotland, is home to so many mining villages and communities, such as Cumnock, Dalmellington and my home town of Mauchline. Like others across Scotland, those communities have faced and continue to have unimaginable struggles as a result of the pit closures.

I will, if it is brief.

We on the Labour benches have tried and tried to work together with the Government. However, as we have heard today, the Government proposed a national care service that was so unfit for purpose that nearly every stakeholder in the country—trade unions, councils and health boards—flatly rejected it. Conservative members opposite reminded us that four committees raised concerns. On top of that, the vast majority of carers whom we have spoken to simply do not recognise—

Of course, if it is brief.