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Will the minister take an intervention?

Will the member take an intervention?

Will the member take an intervention?

The minister knows that there is much on which we agree on this issue. However, given the extent to which people are living in poverty, which she has just noted and which other members, including Natalie Don, mentioned, will the Government agree to do everything that it can do to ensure that people do not continue to live like that? Will the Government take into account—I hope to see this in the budget tomorrow—some of the levers that the Scottish Trades Union Congress has suggested it could use?

Will the member take an intervention?

It is disappointing that the stuff that is in the Fair Work Convention’s 2019 report has not been progressed. I want to be clear about whether you are saying that we could do a lot of that stuff now—particularly in relation to pay for the social care workforce, who make a big difference—and then move on to the framework bill and so on.

I thank the member for his intervention and I am glad that he made that good point.

In a similar vein, only four years ago, the same competition went to Russia, where LGBT+ people are third-class citizens; we looked the other way when it came to Putin’s actions in Ukraine at that time, and we can all see where that led.

I am sure that, as we approach international human rights day, we will be remembering those who have fought and lost their lives. Human rights are not a solution on their own, but they certainly provide a foundation for lasting peace and decency. I trust that we will all remember that in the difficult years ahead.

I join my parliamentary colleagues in marking international human rights day this coming Saturday. It is a day that always reminds us of how far we have to go to realise the dream of human rights for all at home and abroad.

I am pleased to talk on the issue for my party. Labour has a long and proud history of taking action to protect and defend human rights. It was a Labour Government that brought in the Human Rights Act 1998, ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People and built human rights into the Scotland Act 1998.

We can almost all agree that the Tory attacks on the Human Rights Act 1998 are cruel and completely regressive. I dare say that quite a few of our Tory colleagues in the chamber even think that, and it would be welcome if more of them would stand up and say so.

The narrative that eradicating human rights would somehow benefit our economy or strengthen liberty has always been completely wrong and it shocks me regularly that so many people would be willing to do away with such progress. We must resist that narrative entirely and build on the hard-won rights that exist, not degrade those that have been won through years of struggle.

I join my Scottish Labour colleagues in calling on the Government to introduce the changes to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill. That will provide a necessary impetus to guarantee that children and young people’s rights are protected in domestic legislation that cannot be done away with so easily. That would be a progressive and promising use of the Parliament’s time and provide a bedrock for future developments that can help the people who need it most.

The Scottish Human Rights Commission published a report in November with a series of recommendations for the Scottish Government on its compliance with human rights law. We have only a short time to debate the matter, but I ask the Government to respond to the points on poverty. The report points out that the Scottish Government is still not on track to meet Scotland’s child poverty targets. Food and fuel poverty persist and Scottish research highlights the fact that a household is made homeless every 19 minutes. Many of them are families with children. I think that the minister will agree that, if we have one move to make in the Parliament, it is to meet the targets on child poverty.

I take a moment to reflect on how easily human rights are disregarded when proper scrutiny does not take place and proper accountability is absent. I call on all of us to remain vigilant in protecting those principles. We can see right now the world cup going on in Qatar. That allows a regime that has no time for the concerns of workers, women and many others and has a cavalier attitude to human life to be flaunted on the world stage. All the while, the people who died are forgotten. If such countries are rewarded for dismissing human rights, what message does that send to others? We must always think about these things.

I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Thousands of jobs across South Scotland, as well as millions of pounds’ worth of business activity are dependent on fluid and unencumbered travel into England day after day. Explaining that and presenting a firm plan for any sort of border relations should surely be absolutely paramount in the prospectus. Will the Government explicitly commit to presenting a detailed plan for how that will work before any further claims to hold referendums, or de facto referendums, are made? When can we expect that?

To ask the Scottish Government when its prospectus “Building a New Scotland” will include a detailed plan regarding the economic practicalities of introducing a border with the rest of the United Kingdom. (S6O-01646)