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I thank the many members from all parties in the Parliament who have contributed to the passage of the bill. It is a shame that they were not all able to speak this afternoon.

I give special thanks to Clare Haughey, Rona Mackay, Christine Grahame, Karen Adam and the many other members who have been relentless in advocating for the bill.

I also thank Gill Docherty and Jax Brown, who came to my office in 2019 to educate me about the dangers of greyhound racing, and whose petition to Parliament was the inspiration behind the bill. Their work at the trackside alongside others, including Gill Donn and her team, has been critical, because they built the case for an end to greyhound racing in Scotland.

Now, the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Dogs Trust, OneKind, Blue Cross and many others have joined the fight, and we have been able to link to the campaigns of Grey2K to end greyhound racing globally. Over the years, thousands have joined us on that journey. Many joined us this morning outside Parliament with their dogs, and I thank them all.

In 2015, my family rehomed an ex-racing greyhound called Bert. He sadly passed over the rainbow bridge last year. He was a wonderful dog. He was kind and affectionate and so patient with kids—and even with cats. However, until I started working on this campaign, I did not fully understand the trauma that Bert had endured while racing.

The physical scars were obvious—the ear tattoos and the broken leg that constantly made him lame—but it was his mental trauma that we struggled with at the beginning. He could not sleep at night without a light on because he had been raised on a puppy farm. His separation anxiety was awful. He was scared of vans and loud noises from his days of kennelling and being shipped around the country to races.

It is only through love that these dogs heal from their years spent in an exploitative industry. Reading through the consultation responses to my bill, I learned about dozens and dozens of dogs like Bert—gentle souls who had been scarred—and the patient work of rehomers across Scotland to bring them into their lives and heal them.

For those who still ask where the evidence for a ban on greyhound racing is, I point to Bert and Bob, Sasha and Joy, Bluesy and countless other dogs who have been treated abysmally by a gambling industry that disposes of dozens of dogs every month of every year.

There is a challenge for the minister, because, although I warmly welcome his reconsideration of the evidence and his support for the bill so that it can become law, it must be only the first step. There will still be dogs who are kennelled and trained in Scotland and raced across the border when the bill becomes law.

It is for Westminster to end greyhound racing in England. There are passionate champions who will fight for that in Parliament, including the Green Party’s newly elected MP, Hannah Spencer. However, the Welsh Government, which had its Prohibition of Greyhound Racing (Wales) Bill passed in the Senedd last night, has pledged to end the suffering of Welsh greyhounds that continue to be raced over its border. I call on the Scottish Government and the minister to follow that lead and ensure that no dog is left behind in Scotland.

Finally, I thank my parliamentary team, past and present, who have been outstanding, and the Parliament’s non-Government bills unit for its professional and dedicated support, which has got me to this point. I also thank the minister and his officials for some constructive engagement throughout the passage of the bill.

Tonight, Scotland can ban greyhound racing for good. We will be a better, more compassionate country for that. Let us do this for the dogs. Let us pass the Greyhound Racing (Offences) (Scotland) Bill.

I am grateful that, in the busy final hours of this parliamentary session, a moment has been found to consider a law to alleviate the suffering of animals.

The true mark of a society is the way in which it treats its animals. The case against greyhound racing is plain to see. The numbers speak for themselves. Since the industry started recording figures in 2017, there have been nearly 4,000 deaths and a staggering 35,000 injuries across the United Kingdom.

The reasons for that are clear. Racing greyhounds at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour on an oval track results in catastrophic injuries and deaths. The dogs slow down as they enter the first bend, bunching together and crashing as they jostle for position. Centrifugal forces pull the dogs towards the outside of the track, resulting in crashes on the fence. Dogs break their legs, break their backs and end up paralysed and with serious head trauma. I am sickened by the images from racetracks that show deaths and injuries day in, day out on social media. It is time that that stops. Today, we have the chance to ensure that in Scotland—if the bill passes.

Even at this late stage, some members will continue to argue that regulation and licensing are the best way forward, but the injuries and deaths are happening mostly under a licensed regime. The industry has had years to reform, but it has been unwilling or unable to make changes that remove the inherent risk to the dogs that are racing. Licensed greyhound racing is simply licensed animal cruelty. As long as greyhound racing is a lawful activity, it will continue to be impossible to prevent suffering under our animal welfare laws.

Yes, absolutely. I thank Clare Haughey for her relentless support for the bill, which comes from a position of experience, because the Shawfield stadium is in her constituency, and she has listened to and seen the evidence first hand. I agree with her that the only way forward is to make racing a greyhound a stand-alone offence in law. Some argue that the last remaining racetrack in Scotland, which is unlicensed, is an exception—a harmless hobby enterprise—but Thornton racetrack in Fife is no different from any other track in the UK. The dogs face the same risks, just with less oversight. There are those who want to see a resurgence of greyhound racing in Scotland. The owner of the Thornton track has stated that, if it were not for the campaign for the bill, he would be expanding and televising races to betting shops around the UK. There would be more dogs racing in more races, more dogs injured and more dogs killed.

The public do not want to see that. More than two thirds of people in Scotland want to see an end to greyhound racing. A spectacle that was invented 100 years ago is now becoming socially unacceptable. Our values have changed; times have changed. The case against greyhound racing has never been stronger, and the international consensus to end the suffering of these dogs is now unstoppable. Just yesterday, Wales voted to ban greyhound racing. Scotland cannot be left behind.

The bill would end greyhound racing on all tracks in Scotland, licensed or unlicensed. It would protect these beautiful dogs from the inherent harms of greyhound racing. I appeal to all members in the Parliament to vote for the bill at decision time tonight. I am greatly honoured to move the motion.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that the Greyhound Racing (Offences) (Scotland) Bill be passed.

15:07

I thank the cabinet secretary for engaging with campaigns across Perthshire to protect libraries, and in particular for accepting my invitation to come and visit Scone library at the end of last year. At that event, the Scottish Library and Information Council announced that it would be publishing new guidance on what constitutes the adequate provision of libraries, for which campaigners in Perthshire have been calling for a long time. When can we see that guidance being produced and utilised by councils?

Will the minister acknowledge that this will not prevent people who have committed antisocial behaviour from getting on a bus? It will only mean that they will not have a free bus pass.

I will move on to how you are able or not able to deal with individual cases and complaints. You have probably had a couple from my office, not about ESS—not yet, anyway—but individual cases and complaints about regulators, regulatory processes and problems.

We have been faced with the challenge of advising constituents to frame their complaints in a way that points to a systemic problem with environmental law or with the way in which regulation is being enforced that is replicable across Scotland. We are trying to find some way of getting around the issue with individual complaints by pointing to those wider themes.

How are you, one year on from your last appearance before the committee, dealing with that? After all, it is a problem that, for those who are still in the European Union, the European Commission can take on and deal with individual complaints as individual complaints, while you are, in theory, quite restricted in that respect.

So what do you see as the governance gap? Indeed, do you feel confident in talking about, say, environmental courts or other governance gaps, or is that something that you feel is not for you to look at?

What do you think about a publicly owned freight operator? Does the Scottish Government have a view on that? Are you content for just ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper to be in public ownership? Does it stop there?

What about the rolling stock companies?

Obviously, the limits of devolution kick in there.