Seòmar agus comataidhean

Okay.

I thank Martin Whitfield for his intervention. I am going to try to make progress if I can. Much as I would like to continue discussing what a change will come in Scotland and across the UK next year, in 2024, it is my job in this place to hold this Scottish Government to account.

I have no doubt about the Scottish people’s ambition for Scotland to be a world leader in both legislation on, and the realisation of, human rights, and I have no doubt about the Scottish Government’s ambition. In that regard, I want to mention the minister. I have a great deal of respect for her and I believe that there is a lot of intention there. Where we disagree is on whether the Government has stepped up in 16 years to actually achieve the things that we should have achieved. As I have often said in the chamber, acknowledging when we have not done something is really important if we are to move intention into action. As my colleagues have mentioned, however, there is no real acknowledgement of that in the motion, which is partly why we have to debate it.

I am running out of time because we had some excellent discussion about what a Labour Government will bring in 2024.

Has the Government asked itself what it has done? Has any of the inaction been because it has not done things that it should have done? Has it listened to the disabled people we are keen to represent? Has it created change?

I will finish with a quote. The Scottish Human Rights Commission said of the Scottish Government:

“we believe that the evidence on the progress assessments demonstrates starkly the implementation gap between intentions and good laws and policy and the implementation that could change lives on the ground.”

I believe that members across the chamber want to change lives on the ground.

I hope that I will have more time in the future to go through some of the other points that I wanted to make.

I am really pleased that members are interested in the reform that the Labour Government in the UK will make. I hope that, when we are campaigning, they will come on board to ensure that we get a change of Government at Westminster.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I will do my best.

I am pleased to close the debate for Scottish Labour. As the minister set out at the beginning, the debate is about rights for all. It gives us an opportunity to raise the voices of disabled people, who, as we have heard, are often ignored, marginalised and stigmatised in our communities.

I really enjoyed the speeches made by Kate Forbes and Karen Adam. They showed how bringing subjects alive and giving examples of where people have felt the issues can help us to move forward. It helps us to understand the barriers and to push ourselves, and it forces us to think about how to embed the approach that we have been talking about.

However, I must make it clear, as Clare Haughey and Maggie Chapman did, that I cannot ignore the actions of the Tory Government at Westminster when we talk about rights. Its economic and social security vandalism has led to working families having to make impossible choices due to their finances being stretched. The Tory Government’s actions have led to disabled people feeling disproportionate impacts on their human rights. The consequences of the cost of living emergency are felt acutely by disabled people.

I will make progress, thank you.

In the statistics that are released by key stakeholders, we see that disabled people are being affected every day. Martin Whitfield and Alex Cole-Hamilton mentioned the issue that the Trussell Trust raised. As we have heard, three out of four Trussell Trust food bank users in Scotland come from households that contain a disabled person, and 51 per cent of people who live in poverty live in a household with at least one disabled member. Kevin Stewart rightly raised the situation with heating costs.

Those figures spell out the need to move towards a safety net. They are devastating and represent families and individuals across Scotland who are struggling badly.

Clare Haughey and I are in the same space on the issue. She will know that great change is coming if we can get a Labour Government in place. We will make fundamental reform to social security across the UK. [Interruption.] If members would like to intervene, I am happy for them to do so.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of the food security unit in relation to the monitoring of food system resilience. (S6O-02800)

In my South Scotland region and beyond, food insecurity and hunger are becoming increasingly prominent issues that have no place in a modern Scotland. Although I welcome the establishment of a food security unit, it is my belief that a right to food should be enshrined in Scots law as independent legislation, because that is critical to ensuring food security. Why does the Scottish Government continue to reject calls from Labour members to introduce that important right?

Gambling harms and addiction can destroy lives, families and communities. According to the 2021 Scottish health survey, in the least deprived 20 per cent of Scotland, 2 per cent of people had or were at risk of having gambling problems. In the most deprived 20 per cent of Scotland, the figure was 11 per cent of the people who were surveyed, which is more than five times higher. Does the Government have plans to introduce a public health-based approach to tackling gambling harms? Will such a plan have measurable objectives that will seek to eradicate the divisive health inequalities that exist?

Thank you. I apologise for mis-saying your name.

I am interested to know a wee bit about the research community, because it was touched on. Are there things that we can do to make sure that research happens in rural areas, or is it about being connected with research as it happens and making sure that rural areas are involved in that?