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Mhairi Templeton, I do not know whether you have any examples.

That would be great—thank you.

Do we have any good examples of what is working in optometry?

That is lovely, thank you. I put to Dr Kennedy the same general question about models of training. I am also interested in the extra medical training places that have been provided. Was the remote and rural aspect part of the process of working out what medical training was needed?

I, too, thank my colleague Alex Rowley for bringing this important issue to the Parliament’s attention.

I am proud to say that I grew up in, live in and now represent a coalfield community. I thank the visitors in the public gallery, who, like me, believe in those communities, not only because of our history of mining and powering the country but because our history built resilient people and bold communities with warmth, talent and tenacity. They deserve the wealth that has been generated from the labour of our parents, our grandparents and the wider communities.

It is almost 40 years since the rapid closure of the mining industries began, and former coalfield communities in my South Scotland region are still feeling the consequences. We have heard about the inequality in work opportunities and about the need to claim benefits. We have heard about the inequalities in educational opportunities and about the mortality rate. I repeat that the mortality rate in the Scottish coalfields is 25 per cent higher than the Scottish average. Make no mistake: that is by economic design. We in this place—we here—have to take responsibility to change the direction of that, and that is what the debate is about.

The Coalfields Regeneration Trust does such important work in my region, and we have heard about other work from members across the chamber. I live in Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, and the trust is a central part of our community. It functions as a model of how to effectively build progress in conjunction with communities, rather than by imposing things on those communities. We have heard that the Parliament recognises that; Alex Rowley spoke about that. There have been 112 motions in the Parliament recognising those benefits.

When mining went—or, rather, when mining was so cruelly taken away—many Ayrshire mining communities were simply left to struggle. As anyone in Ayrshire knows, mining was a core part of our identity and remains so to this day. It has not been forgotten because of economic change. Without mining, many towns and villages would never have come to be, so there is a lasting cultural memory for many of those who still live there. The mine was the centre of their work or their parents’ work, so they see themselves first and foremost as part of mining communities.

Let us be clear that those communities did not create, but rather fell victim to, the social and economic problems that we all know affect other former coalfield areas. Unemployment, a lack of Government investment and the acceptance of a decline in services are scars that take a long time to heal, and their effect on the day-to-day lives of generations of local people and families is still clear to see.

Organisations such as the Coalfields Regeneration Trust stepped into the void. During rapid and unthinking deindustrialisation, those organisations have pioneered projects such as Yipworld, the Zone, Auchinleck Community Development Initiative, the EPIC East Ayrshire Pipe Band Academy and the Netherthird Initiative for Community Empowerment. We need such projects in our communities and, without their help, we would be in a worse state. People who live there know that—no one needs to say it because we see it every day. The Coalfields Regeneration Trust is essential to our communities.

I will repeat points that have been made. We need the Government to support a capital endowment for community regeneration, we need the Scottish Government to change its procurement rules and we must restore funding for the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. We know that we must do those things. In the words of Mick McGahey, let us stand firm and fight.

Will the member take an intervention?

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests as a member of Unite the Union and a lifelong activist in the trade union movement.

I join the majority of Parliament in condemning a disgraceful piece of legislation—the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023. We should be united in our opposition to cheap power grabs and we should speak with one voice against the UK Government’s increasingly hostile and archaic agenda against workers. I am sure that it will not be long before the Scottish public let it know exactly what they think of that and of the dreadful way in which it treats the ordinary people of this country.

Trying to stifle legitimate democratic engagement and workers’ representation across the UK is the kind of thing that we would expect from an authoritarian Government that is desperate to cling on to power. However, I fear that that is not far from what Sunak’s Tories really are. The public will speak in 2024, and the Tories’ attempts to force through unworkable and unjust legislation will not change that. If they think that the problems in our society are caused by trade unions merely asking for a fair deal for workers, they are not opening their eyes at all. Public services, including our health services and our railways, are seriously underfunded, so all that they are saying is a smokescreen to stop people noticing the problems in our society that are caused by the dreadful Tory UK Government.

We cannot ban our way out of productivity and healthcare crises. We have to build something with the people who work in such fields at our side. I whole-heartedly agree with the Scottish Government that the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 is designed to undermine legitimate trade union activity. In fact, I would go further and say that the intention is to destroy such activity and to ensure that generations to come do not have effective trade union representation.

That is why I am pleased that the Scottish Government has assured us today that there will be no minimum service level agreements or work notices in Scotland. That commitment is very welcome. I am sure that it is particularly welcomed by ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper, which are important services that are owned and controlled by the Scottish Government.

In Scotland, we have a proud and noble history of workers’ struggles. There is indeed a struggle. It is even called “the struggle”. Sometimes, there is a struggle within our own labour movement, as has been discussed. However, that struggle pushes us to go further and to come together as trade unionists. I therefore ask the trade unionists on the benches opposite me to come together with us on the issue. In other times, we have stood together on picket lines to ensure that workers’ rights are upheld. We will stand at any chance to do that. I therefore ask members to support the Scottish Labour amendment.

I think that the minister was in the chamber when I made my speech. We are trying to come to some agreement. I could stand here and say that my son has lived his entire life under an SNP Government and that I am not sure that he is getting the delivery of education that he deserves. However, we are asking that we come together and agree on something that would make a big difference in the short term. Will the minister join us on that point?

I speak from the heart. If I were to ask Keith Brown about every single thing that his party’s front bench has not delivered, we would never move forward.

At this moment, the Scottish Parliament can say to the UK Parliament that trade unionists are united on the matter, and that we believe in the fair work principles that Scottish Labour will fight tooth and nail to establish during the first 100 days of a Labour Government. I say to members: back the new deal tonight and show where you stand as trade unionists.

As I said, the workers’ struggle is strewn throughout the fabric of our nation. As long as there is a Labour Party, as long as there are trade unionists and as long as there is such a movement, we will continue, working together, to be the cornerstone of progress—and there will be progress if we work together as trade unionists.

The result of allowing legislation such as the 2023 act to take hold is simply a transfer of power from those who have the least to those who have the most. It is a green light to cutting wages and benefits in key sectors and to beginning a race to the absolute bottom. It is about the rich taking from the poor. If we want to fight that, we need to take every opportunity to back things that might do so.

Freedom for the rich while the poor know their place is what the Tories want. Let us come together. Let us stand as the Scottish Parliament and as trade unionists together, and back Labour’s amendment and the new deal for working people within the first 100 days of a Labour Government, which would repeal the terrible legislation from the awful Tory Government.

The new deal for working people has been described by the TUC as the biggest expansion in workers’ rights in decades. I ask members to support the amendment so that we can change the outcomes for the hard-working families who have been hammered since 2010. For the last time, I ask members to back the amendment.

To ask the Scottish Government what value it places on the role of trade unions in delivering and sustaining a wellbeing economy. (S6O-02863)

Trade unions have campaigned for the immediate implementation of safe staffing legislation in the national health service; they have fought against funding cuts to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service; and they have fought to rid our schools of violence. However, on each of those points, the Government has let them down. If the cabinet secretary truly values the contribution of trade unions and considers fair work to be a key principle of a wellbeing economy, why is the Government overseeing a falling employment rate, a widening gender pay gap, a declining employee voice and a reduction in secure contracts?