Closing speech from the climate change conference

Climate Change event at Holyrood

Not so clever with the interwebs, these Holyrood types. The video coverage of the Climate Change event which we held in the Chamber today is only available as links to .wmv files.

Even worse, it’s in three bits! Here, here and here.

You should be able to watch it through a stand-alone media player like the very good VLC, or the dreaded Windows Media Player.

Holyrood debate – Economic Recovery

Today the Government brought a debate to the Chamber on the subject of ‘Economic Recovery’. Sadly both the SNP and the UK Labour government seem to think that recovery can happen without treating the underlying illness. Here’s my attempt to get that over in the debate:

(with apologies to Liam for including the end of his bit!)

Progress on hate crimes bill

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release 18 March 2009

HATE CRIMES BILL BACKED BY ALL PARTIES

At 5pm today Holyrood unanimously backed Green MSP Patrick Harvie’s hate crimes bill at Stage One, following the Justice Committee’s recommendation that Parliament support the general principles of the legisiation. (1) This decision means the bill will soon start its final round of Committee scrutiny before coming back to the Chamber for a final vote.

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“I’m delighted to see Parliament come to consensus on this issue. Today’s debate is an excellent illustration of the progress we have made as a country towards overcoming prejudice, and I am now extremely confident that this proposal will pass into law before the summer.

“These are crimes against whole communities, crimes which the vast majority of Scots abhor. Recording the numbers of hate crimes will hasten their elimination. Empowering our courts to take account of the nature of these offences when passing sentence will also bring us closer to their end. I am delighted that Parliament has taken a small but significant step in that direction, and I would like to thank colleagues from all parties for their support today.”

Notes

1. See: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/justice/reports-09/jur09-06.htm

M74 versus the Glasgow subway – public to pay the price?

Investigations are continuing into the damage to the Glasgow Subway which led to yesterday’s partial closure of the service, damage which may have been caused by adjacent work on the M74 Extension. The Scottish Green Party continues to oppose the M74 project, which will lead to 135,000 tonnes of additional CO2 emissions each year by 2020 and blight substantial areas in southeast Glasgow.

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“Greens have long argued that spending £700m to encourage people to drive more would undermine public transport, but we hadn’t imagined our fears could be realised quite so literally. If the M74 companies have done any structural damage to the Subway, they must repair it immediately out of their own pocket, not leave the taxpayer to foot the bill.

“Thousands of bus commuters are already facing months of disruption from this weekend onward because of the M74 work, and I don’t want to see Subway passengers subjected to the same treatment. It’s unacceptable that public transport users are again being treated as second class citizens to make way for the motoring lobby.

“We’re paying a vast sum for a motorway no-one needs, designed to shave a few minutes off road journeys and prove the SNP’s virility to the Jeremy Clarksons of this world. This money should have been spent supporting public transport, not jeopardising it.”

Notes

1. See the report from the Public Local Inquiry.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/03/20752/53467

Justice Committee backs the hate crime bill

Patrick Harvie MSP today welcomed the publication of the Justice Committee’s Stage 1 report into the general principles of his Offences (Aggravation By Prejudice) (Scotland) Bill. (1) The Committee has endorsed the principles of the Bill, which would allow courts to issue tougher sentences for existing offences where the motivation for the crime was hatred based on disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity. Similar statutory aggravations are already in effect for crimes motivated by religious or racial hatred.

Next, Parliament as a whole will vote on this report after a Stage 1 Debate, due on the 18th of this month. Scottish Ministers have backed the legislation, and are providing clerking and legal support to Patrick Harvie through the “handout bill” process. (2)

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“The Justice Committee has heard substantial evidence of the need for this Bill to tackle the prejudice which underlies these crimes, and has concluded that these proposals should indeed be supported by Parliament. I welcome that verdict, and thank the Committee for their hard work.

“I am now increasingly hopeful that this legislation will pass. If it does, Parliament will help fix a historic anomaly and provide a vital legal protection for LGBT and disabled Scots.”

Notes

1. For more information on the Offences (Aggravation By Prejudice) (Scotland) Bill, see:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/bills/09-AggPrej/index.htm

2. See: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/01/15105227

Additional Forth bridge a spectacular misjudgement

The Scottish Greens criticised today’s discussions between the Scottish and UK Governments over funding for the additional Forth Road Bridge planned by Scottish Ministers as pointless and ill-conceived. The SNP want the UK Government to lend them money for the bridge, while Labour believe it should be paid for exclusively out of Scottish budgets. Given the fact that the existing bridge can be repaired, (1) Greens believe the new crossing is unnecessary, uneconomic and unsustainable, and that the talks should instead have focused on the options for public transport cooperation between the two Governments.

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“The public were deceived when they were told that the existing bridge was under grave threat and in need of replacement. We know it can be fixed for a fraction of the cost, either by dehumidification or recabling if required, making this scheme simply a shameless bid for more road capacity. If the new bridge does get built, it will be the most substantial waste of public money ever seen in Scotland, money that will aggravate congestion and pollution rather than making a radical difference to public transport.

“Wasting billions on this bridge would be a once in a generation error, and a spectacular misjudgement by both administrations. For once, though, their petty mutual loathing and inability to cooperate might just be in Scotland’s interests. If these talks fail, perhaps next time they meet they could look instead at how to improve the public transport links between Scotland and the rest of the UK.”

Notes

1. See comments by the Bridgemaster:

http://tinyurl.com/5w3wp5

£2.4M payoffs – Scottish Enterprise asleep at the wheel

£2.4M PAYOFFS: SCOTTISH ENTERPRISE “ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL”

Reports today that Scottish Enterprise are to make massive payments to former “essential car users”, including loans to buy new cars, were greeting with dismay by the Scottish Greens. Extraordinarily, it appears that Scottish Enterprise claim this policy is supposed to form part of “a greener policy on our business travel”. (1) 300 senior staff are in line to receive between £8,000 and £16,000 each, plus interest-free loans of up to £5,000 to buy new cars. The scheme will cost a minimum of £2.4m, but could cost significantly more.

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“If Scottish Enterprise really wanted to save money and shift to greener transport, they’d be giving their staff bus passes, season tickets for the train and loans to buy a bike. They’re asleep at the wheel if they think this gargantuan waste of money is anything more than a continued subsidy to the public sector drive-everywhere culture.

“Scottish Ministers spend long enough berating the public for not living sufficiently sustainable lifestyles, but civil servants, quango bosses and Ministers themselves remain stuck in the past, clinging to the steering wheel with both hands. This is not what people pay taxes for.”