Seòmar agus comataidhean

I think that the minister was in the chamber when I made my speech. We are trying to come to some agreement. I could stand here and say that my son has lived his entire life under an SNP Government and that I am not sure that he is getting the delivery of education that he deserves. However, we are asking that we come together and agree on something that would make a big difference in the short term. Will the minister join us on that point?

I speak from the heart. If I were to ask Keith Brown about every single thing that his party’s front bench has not delivered, we would never move forward.

At this moment, the Scottish Parliament can say to the UK Parliament that trade unionists are united on the matter, and that we believe in the fair work principles that Scottish Labour will fight tooth and nail to establish during the first 100 days of a Labour Government. I say to members: back the new deal tonight and show where you stand as trade unionists.

As I said, the workers’ struggle is strewn throughout the fabric of our nation. As long as there is a Labour Party, as long as there are trade unionists and as long as there is such a movement, we will continue, working together, to be the cornerstone of progress—and there will be progress if we work together as trade unionists.

The result of allowing legislation such as the 2023 act to take hold is simply a transfer of power from those who have the least to those who have the most. It is a green light to cutting wages and benefits in key sectors and to beginning a race to the absolute bottom. It is about the rich taking from the poor. If we want to fight that, we need to take every opportunity to back things that might do so.

Freedom for the rich while the poor know their place is what the Tories want. Let us come together. Let us stand as the Scottish Parliament and as trade unionists together, and back Labour’s amendment and the new deal for working people within the first 100 days of a Labour Government, which would repeal the terrible legislation from the awful Tory Government.

The new deal for working people has been described by the TUC as the biggest expansion in workers’ rights in decades. I ask members to support the amendment so that we can change the outcomes for the hard-working families who have been hammered since 2010. For the last time, I ask members to back the amendment.

To ask the Scottish Government what value it places on the role of trade unions in delivering and sustaining a wellbeing economy. (S6O-02863)

Trade unions have campaigned for the immediate implementation of safe staffing legislation in the national health service; they have fought against funding cuts to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service; and they have fought to rid our schools of violence. However, on each of those points, the Government has let them down. If the cabinet secretary truly values the contribution of trade unions and considers fair work to be a key principle of a wellbeing economy, why is the Government overseeing a falling employment rate, a widening gender pay gap, a declining employee voice and a reduction in secure contracts?

The cabinet secretary mentioned having appointments close to home. Given the countless stories of patients being asked to travel long distances for appointments—particularly in rural health board areas, where the necessary transport infrastructure is often not there—what is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that appointments are offered in communities, close to home, to reduce the number of missed appointments?

Midwives are telling me that obesity and the closely linked diabetes trends are creating a more complex workload and demanding greater expertise to ensure that mothers are provided with the best possible care. Does the First Minister agree that any action that the Scottish Government is taking to address the impact of obesity on the national health service must include the experience and expertise of front-line workers such as midwives, who will be able to contribute to the development of strategy and its subsequent delivery?

I am very interested in the notion suggested in the evidence of trying to recruit people from the area. Indeed, I have had some discussions with NHS Education for Scotland on that. If you were to give us one or two pieces of advice, could you tell us, first, what the stumbling block might be? Since I have been elected, I have been asking how we move forward and I cannot find out what the stumbling block is in that respect.

Okay.

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.

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.