Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am with the member much of the way, but I am reluctant, not because the miners do not deserve compensation or should not get it but because we would have to take money from the budgets that deliver our health and education services to pay for something that was wholly the political fault of the UK Government. The issue that I have is that the money would come from other ordinary people’s pockets and services.

I will finish shortly, because you have been very generous, Presiding Officer. I note that the Historical Sexual Offences (Pardons and Disregards) (Scotland) Act 2018 had similar policy objectives, although it was about something that was once illegal becoming legal. However, there was a second condition in that act that is not in the bill. The 2018 act put in place a scheme to enable a person who had been convicted of a historical sexual offence to apply to have that conviction disregarded, so that it would never be disclosed as, for example, part of an enhanced disclosure check.

That brings me to the observations of the Law Society in that regard. It noted:

“the Bill specifically stresses that a pardon will not affect any conviction or sentence, nor will it give rise to any right or entitlement or liability.”

There is an issue there. People think that, by being granted this omnipresent pardon, their conviction will be expunged from their record, but it will not. I ask the Scottish Government, if the bill does not expunge the conviction, as it managed in the 2018 act with a similar pardon, why can we not put something in the bill so that miners have on their record a note that shows that they have been granted a pardon?

I welcome the legislation. To put the issue in practical terms, the First Minister will be aware that in many small towns, such as Galashiels in my constituency, town centres are blighted by many long-term vacant large retail outlets, whose actual owners or landlords cannot be traced, which prevents organisations such as Energise Galashiels and the local authority from redeveloping the town centre through either voluntary or compulsory purchase. Is that the type of difficulty that the legislation will, at long last, help to resolve?

Will the member take an intervention?

Further to that answer, what difference have the 20mph speed limit and dedicated cycle lanes had on road traffic accidents in areas such as my constituency?

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government anticipates the impact will be of the register of persons holding a controlled interest in land, which will launch on 1 April. (S6F-00968)

Following on much the same strain, does the First Minister agree that Douglas Ross should remember that we wear face coverings not just for ourselves but mainly to protect the stranger next to us on the bus or in the supermarket who might be, for example, undergoing cancer treatment and be immunodeficient without us knowing and who needs us to wear our masks so that they can at least go out and shop?

Absolutely. It is not a pre-condition that a country was part of the empire. It is a voluntary arrangement.

Our connections with the Commonwealth are also through family and friends. There was a spate of emigration in the 1950s, and I recall working-class neighbours on all sides seeking a better life, ironically. They took advantage of assisted passages and left for Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Like many people, I have Grahame family members in all those countries. Indeed, one of my sons has just emigrated with his family to Nova Scotia. It was not a family fall-out, by the way; it was a friendly departure.

We have inherited and, rightly, must acknowledge the bad and good of the once empire. We must hope that the Commonwealth, in its many and continuing transitions, and with its goals of promoting human rights, equality before the law and so on, continues in one form or another. I fully support the relationships that this Parliament has with the Commonwealth family of nations, which, like any family, will have its disagreements but has more in common with its aspirations. We must all work together now, particularly as we look at the challenges of poverty, climate change, the rights of women and, of course, Covid.

I congratulate Sarah Boyack on securing the debate.

I recall my early years at primary school, many decades ago, when school atlases had huge areas denoted in orangey red showing all the countries that then comprised the British empire. Over the years, countries of the empire won their independence. For example, India won its independence in 1947, but it was partitioned, forming Pakistan, with that division resulting in a huge number of conflicts.

There is no doubt that the legacy of the British empire is hard to avoid, and it is with us here and now, as the recent uncomfortable visit of the royal couple to Jamaica demonstrates. Memories remain fresh there of the capture and shipping, in horrific conditions, of slaves, many of whom died to provide cheap and expendable labour for the profitable sugar market.

The merchant city in Glasgow, one of our main cities, has fine buildings that are memorials to the riches of assets that were plundered from the empire and enforced slavery. The merchants of Glasgow traded in slave-grown produce. In effect, they cut out the Africa leg of what was known as the triangular trade, buying slaves in Africa with exported goods, shipping them in horrific conditions to the likes of the West Indies and further enslaving them as forced labour. They went instead directly to the plantations. Plantations were given Scottish names such as Hampden, Montrose and Dumbarton. Many slaves were given the surnames of their masters: Buchanan, Dundas and so on, which are names that people carry to this day. Buchanan Street in Glasgow was named after Andrew Buchanan, a plantation owner from Virginia who was believed to have owned more than 300 slaves.

Why do I say that? Like all empires, the British empire’s reach declined as it collapsed from within when nation after nation demanded self-determination. However, British influence was kept with the formation of the British Commonwealth of Nations with five members; it is now known as the Commonwealth of Nations. This is better. Members have common values and goals, including democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, equality before the law, free trade, multilateralism and world peace. Those are still promoted through multilateral projects and meetings, the most obvious being the Commonwealth games, which are held every four years.

As other members have said, the Commonwealth now has 54 members and is a voluntary association with no legal obligations. All members are of equal status and are linked by their historical use of English and historical ties that I have already mentioned. The Queen is retained as head of the Commonwealth countries but, for most of them, she is not monarch. However, even that is under challenge, not just in Jamaica but, for example, in Canada. It will be interesting to see whether, once Charles succeeds, the final few remaining retain her as a titular monarch.

All is not lost for the Commonwealth, which has had its up and downs, with countries being expelled and allowed back in—South Africa—and others suspended, including Fiji, Nigeria, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe, of course, is still out of the Commonwealth.

Given the woefully inadequate spring statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the face of a fierce cost of living hike, does the First Minister agree that for people on fixed incomes such as pensioners, many of whom became housebound in these Covid years, heating costs will be devastating, with the United Kingdom state pension being the worst in Europe? Does she also agree that Anas Sarwar, for example, must wake up to the position that, without power over pensions and other benefits, mitigation has its limitations?

I put on record my support and thanks to all the small retailers in Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale for coming through the terrible challenges of Covid. Given the vital contribution that small business retailers in my constituency make to the wellbeing of our town centres and the local economies in Melrose, Galashiels, Peebles and Penicuik, for example, how can they contribute to Scottish Government thinking and the strategy?