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In securing the debate, Scottish Labour is confronting the crisis that is gripping the NHS in Scotland. That crisis is not simply measured in statistics; it is felt in the lives of patients, nurses, doctors and families across our nation.

We heard that clearly on the doorsteps and streets of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse during the recent by-election. I congratulate Davy Russell, Scottish Labour’s winning candidate, and I know that he is already working hard to represent his constituents. Frankly, they, like people across Scotland, are sick of the excuses. I know that there are very few SNP MPs left in the House of Commons, but that is the place to hold the UK Government to account. This is the Scottish Parliament. Responsibility for the NHS is devolved.

Unlike the Greens, we will not let the SNP off the hook any longer, because, as you heard from the emotion in Jackie Baillie’s voice, this is personal to every one of us. We care about the staff and our constituents, and we will not put up with complacency.

Lorna Slater made some relevant and important points at the start of her speech, but she failed to address the purpose of the motion, which is to take the opportunity in the chamber to hold the Scottish Government to account for its broken promises, because I—

Hold on a second. I heard the cabinet secretary say that he hears the calls for workforce planning. I have been here for nine years, and for even longer than that—for the whole of the 18 years of this Government—we have been calling for better workforce planning. Why can the Government not do its job?

I am not going to take those patronising comments and the emotional blackmail from the cabinet secretary, because no one doubts what is in his heart and his compassion, but this is about competence. Why has there been no proper workforce planning? That is what people were asking during the by-election campaign, and that is what they are asking as we face the polls next year.

I admit that I have some skin in the game because, today, my daughter successfully completed her first year as a medical student, and my son-in-law is a resident doctor. We are not making these things up. People are coming into the healthcare profession because they care, but the opportunities are not there—that is the reality. [Interruption.] The cabinet secretary can chunter away all he likes, but we need solutions.

One of the things that we heard clearly on doorsteps during the by-election campaign is that people are not going to stand for the Government downgrading the neonatal unit at University hospital Wishaw. That is why Davy Russell was elected. The staff have been ignored; the families have been ignored. The cabinet secretary can shake his head—I will take an intervention, if he wishes to make one. That is the absolute denial of an award-winning service for the most vulnerable, the sickest and the smallest babies in the country. Babies in Lanarkshire should not be sent away to Aberdeen for critical care at the most vulnerable time in their lives. That is the reality. That is not a UK Government problem. It is the responsibility of the Scottish Government, and we are not going to apologise for bringing these arguments to the chamber.

I support Jackie Baillie’s amendments and the other amendments in the group. This has been a long time coming and it is really important that we get it right.

I join colleagues in paying tribute to Anne Duke’s family, including Campbell Duke, who is in the gallery and is one of my constituents from East Kilbride, and to members of the care home relatives Scotland group, including Cathie Russell and Alison Leitch, who are also in the gallery. This has been their fight, and it has been a fight for all the people in Scotland who did not have a voice during the pandemic. We hear a lot about having to learn the lessons of Covid-19. The care home relatives Scotland group has had, I think, more than 150 meetings with the Scottish Government. Its members have made Scotland proud, and we all owe them a debt of thanks. [Applause.]

There have been delays in getting here, but it is right that we get the details right, so I listened with interest to the points that Brian Whittle and Sandesh Gulhane made. This has always been about human rights, dignity, love, human connection and all that was lost during the pandemic. No one ever dismissed concerns about safety, but what happened during the Covid years was unsafe and destroyed people’s mental health. People such as Anne could not have time with their families in their final days of life. I listened to Natasha Hamilton, Anne’s daughter, on the radio at 6.45 this morning, before I came to work, and she made a very strong case for Anne’s law to be passed.

There has always been cross-party work in the Parliament on the issue, including by Paul McLennan, Miles Briggs, Alex Cole-Hamilton, Gillian Mackay and many others, and the Government has a mandate, because Anne’s law was a very prominent promise in the Scottish National Party’s 2021 manifesto.

However, today is not a day for politics; it is about getting Anne’s law over the line. I remind colleagues of what I said in the chamber back in February 2021:

“I hope that we get to a place where the Parliament can unite and support Anne’s law, which would ensure that people never again have to spend a year in isolation without access to their loved ones.”—[Official Report, 16 February 2021; c 56.]

I hope that today is the day that we can give effect to Anne’s law and learn those lessons.

The proposed ecocide (prevention) (Scotland) bill would make it a criminal offence to cause widespread, long-term or irreversible environmental damage, with penalties of up to 20 years in prison for individuals and unlimited fines for organisations. Ecocide law was pioneered by trailblazing Scottish lawyer the late Polly Higgins. The EU and many countries worldwide are acting to deter and punish such devastating crimes, and this is Scotland’s time to act. Does the First Minister agree with the bill’s aims? Does he welcome this vital opportunity for Scotland to become the first UK nation to criminalise ecocide?

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to maintain its policy aim of keeping pace with the EU on environmental protection. (S6F-04140)

The bill is important to people across Scotland, including my constituents, and I am grateful to everyone who has contacted me about it.

Assisted dying already exists for people who have the financial means to access it, but that choice is not available to most Scots. Denied access to safe and legal assisted dying, hundreds of terminally ill people in the UK end their lives each year, and many more attempt to do so.

Robert Easton was a retired firefighter from Hamilton. Dying with pancreatic cancer, Robert desperately wanted choice. He considered Switzerland, where assisted dying is legal, but cost and other barriers ruled it out. That led him to research ways to end his own life.

Some of the methods were brutal, says Robert’s daughter, Joanne Easton, who has come to Parliament today. Joanne told me:

“Dying people should not be forced to consider going into the woods with a length of rope. They should not have to think about stepping in front of trains. It took him three weeks to die, in hospital then hospice. It was so drawn-out. I thought; I need to get him drugs. I would have done anything for him. But it was too risky; I didn’t know what would happen.”

I was moved to learn that, before he died, Robert sold his motorbike and gave the money to the hospice.

Like this bill, his story is not about palliative care versus assisted dying; it is about choice, dignity and person-centred care at the end of life. Joanne says that she will regret for the rest of her life that her dad was not given the choice that he wanted.

Sadly, even with universal access to hospice care in Scotland, hundreds of Scots a year would still suffer with immense pain as they die. Four in 10 Scots have seen a loved one suffer in that way.

I believe that the status quo is unfair, unsafe and unregulated and that it is failing dying Scots. Therefore, I agree with the bill’s policy memorandum that

“an individual’s personal autonomy to decide on their medical care, and how their life should end in situations of terminal illness, should be protected in law”.

In a compelling letter to MSPs, Rhona Baillie, chief executive officer of the Prince and Princess of Wales hospice in Glasgow, explains her view that, rather than being a replacement for excellent palliative care, assisted dying is a potential addition to the options that are available to those who face terminal illness. This position is not one of advocacy or opposition, but of commitment to patient-centred care. I agree with Rhona Baillie that the discussion around assisted dying should focus not solely on clinician opinion but on ensuring that people have informed, compassionate choices at the end of life.

There is a solid majority of public support in every constituency, including among disabled people, for a compassionate assisted dying law, so should the bill not be allowed to proceed to the amending stages for further scrutiny?

Liam McArthur has prosecuted the case for the bill in a respectful and collaborative manner, and I hope that members take the opportunity to work with him at stage 2.

I support Liam McArthur’s proposal to amend the bill to raise the minimum age to 18 and I welcome the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee report’s recommendation for clarity on some matters.

The bill rightly contains provisions that would make it an offence to coerce or pressure a terminally ill adult into an assisted death. I agree with Hospice UK that nobody should ever feel that they have to choose an assisted death because of a real or imagined fear of not receiving the care that they need. Whether or not the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill proceeds, I support calls from Marie Curie Scotland for the recognition and delivery of a right to palliative care. End-of-life care must be properly funded, and charitable hospices must be financially sustainable.

I do not know whether I would choose an assisted death for me, but I do not want to deny others that choice, and that is why I will vote for the bill tonight.

I am grateful to Tess White for taking the intervention. Can she tell members why her party opposed an equal right of appeal that would have given communities the same rights as developers?

Will the member take an intervention?