Seòmar agus comataidhean

You said that the announcement provides a path towards a decarbonised intercity network. In your statement, you talked about the potential for a reduction in emissions from intercity services. Can you advise the committee by how much emissions will reduce? What does the modelling say on that?

Okay, but are you confident that there will be a reduction in emissions as a result of the investment?

The Scottish Government’s plan to downgrade the neonatal intensive care unit at University hospital Wishaw is dangerous and flawed, and it will fail vulnerable babies and families in Lanarkshire. My constituents deserve better, and that is why they have the full support of Scottish Labour. What about the First Minister? Will he listen to parents, families and healthcare experts and save this United Kingdom-award-winning unit, or will the Scottish National Party Government continue to defend the indefensible?

Will the member take an intervention?

I was talking about transport but, on ScotWind, I hear concerns that Scotland’s sea bed has been sold off far too cheaply. We can have another debate about that.

I go back to my point about transport. What additional policies will be introduced to support the expansion of train, tram and bus services? I might steal some of Graham Simpson’s lines, but when we discussed the issue at the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, there was real concern about bus deserts—areas where people young and old have a free bus pass but there are no buses to get on. More and more councils across the country are cutting back on school transport because they do not have the budget, including in Lanarkshire, which is affecting my constituents. We need the Government to get real on that.

I agree with Uplift’s call regarding workforce. To achieve a just transition, the Government needs to urgently deliver a coherent transition plan for workers, or we will risk situations such as those that exist in Grangemouth right now occurring around the country.

I will bring my remarks to a close. Lord Deben, the outgoing chair of the Climate Change Committee, said:

“Our children will not forgive us if we leave them a world of withering heat and devastating storms where sea level rises and extreme temperatures force millions to move because their countries are no longer habitable. None of us can avoid our responsibility. Delay is not an option.”

I agree with that. Scottish Labour stands ready to work with the Scottish Government where necessary, and we will push it to be bolder at all times.

Will the minister give way briefly on that point?

Will the member take an intervention?

I take the opportunity to extend my best wishes to the cabinet secretary as she is about to embark on maternity leave. I look forward to continuing to work with Ms Martin and to working with Dr Allan when he takes up his post.

The motion is right to ask the Parliament to reaffirm our collective

“commitment to tackling the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss through a just and fair transition”.

Very few people in Scotland would disagree with that.

We have had really helpful briefings, including those from Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, Scottish Land & Estates, Uplift and the Scottish Rewilding Alliance.

Tackling the climate emergency is an era-defining challenge, and all politicians and Governments have a moral responsibility to act. We cannot slow down or lose courage. However, as colleagues have said—and as, I think, the Government recognises—the Government has been struggling to turn ambition into action. We have heard about its failure to meet legal targets, which is important. Sarah Boyack set out that the Government’s new climate bill must be introduced—we cannot have any more delay—and it must be backed up by a climate change plan.

Dr Shivali Fifield, from the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, has said:

“To the Government we say: show us your homework. Too many times, you have overpromised and underdelivered, and in a climate emergency, the stakes are too high for wishful thinking.”

We agree that the failure to meet targets is not the only case of the Government failing. Many people, including from the Climate Change Committee, have said that there has been an absence of climate policy.

I agree with Transform Scotland that the Scottish Government’s commitment to cut car kilometres by 20 per cent by 2030 is to be commended, but we are now three years on from that commitment being made, with no real plan in place. That is not good enough. I hope that we will have answers on when the route map for reducing car kilometres by 20 per cent will be published and on what policy measures it will contain.

[Made a request to intervene.]

I am grateful to the minister and I have listened carefully to his response, but students and college lecturers are already adversely affected.

The Scottish Government’s fair work credentials in further education are in tatters. We are seeing anti-worker deeming, threats of compulsory redundancy and the threat of closure of the trade union education centre at City of Glasgow College. The question from picket lines across Scotland, including South Lanarkshire College in my area and New College Lanarkshire, is this: when will the minister intervene to ensure that we see a funding package that will deliver a decent pay settlement for college lecturers that is consistent with the public sector pay policy, while protecting jobs and ensuring the continuity of course provision for our students?