Legislative Programme: Only political will can bring change

Speaking in the Chamber on the Scottish Government's Legislative Programme, Annabel Goldie MSP, Scottish Conservative Leader, said (check against delivery):

This legislative programme is not lacking quantity but that doesn't cut any ice with me. It is quality which matters. Indeed, much of the overdue change we need to bring to Scottish public life does not depend on an endless list of brand new laws, more and more statutes – it depends on political will and a relaxation of existing rules, laws and restrictions. Sometimes less is better than more.

And the changes that are needed are inescapable as we all strive to protect our most vital services at the very time when we also have to mop up the mess in our public finances and reduce the toxic levels of debt and deficit which we inherited.

So it is perplexing to see that the Beveridge report – one of the most important contributions to that debate – is now over a year old and sits gathering dust on the Scottish government's shelves. That independent report into our public finances set out some solid ideas.

What was Alex Salmond's response? To set up another review, the Christie Commission. Such was the success of that little endeavour that we now have a new Cabinet sub-committee to kick things around a little bit more.

All talk. No action.

A bit like the SNP plans for an independence referendum. No date, no question, and, it would seem, no idea of what independence actually means any more.

The summer offered Alex Salmond an opportunity to reflect, innovate and reform. But instead the summer has been one long whinge from Alex Salmond. One long rant about what everyone else is getting wrong.

People are getting fed up with his diet of negativity and gripe. The SNP is relentlessly hostile to anyone who dares to speak out against them or question their version of reality or challenge their proposals.

The CBI Scotland is right to ask when the referendum will be, and to point out that the fudge on offer from Alex Salmond is harmful to Scotland. All they get in reply is vitriol and bullying.

Instead of answering reasonable questions about precisely when the referendum will be and what the question will be, all we get is a defiant, blustering and evasive response about some vague day in a few years' time. This from a Party which has already spent vast sums of taxpayers' money drafting a Bill.

And the SNP looks even more ridiculous when it comes to pinning them down on what independence would mean for our currency, our armed forces, our defence jobs, the Scottish National deficit, social services and all the other essential aspects of a 21st century country. They are always quick to complain about the powers they don't have, but struck dumb when it comes to answering about what they would do and how they would pay for it.

Just today, a series of legitimate questions from the UK Treasury to Mr Swinney about a devolved corporation tax are dismissed as "predictable" and "depressing". Well if they are so predictable why didn't the SNP anticipate them and formulate the answers?

The SNP's true colours are on show. They can't deal with informed comment and criticism. Their total response is hectoring and bullying bluster which says everything we need to know about them.

And what's more, I know what the next three or four years will bring. Alex Salmond will grind on and on, day after weary day about the powers he doesn't have. I can hear him now "if only I had the powers to do this or to do that!". Well First Minister today's poll in the Times could not be clearer, Scotland says get on with your independence referendum. Get it out the road.

But if the FM won't and if he refuses or can't answer detailed questions on what independence means, will he please start concentrating on using the powers he does have?

Let me say from the outset that there are measures in this legislative programme which we can support – others which we cannot, and some which will need amendment.

My colleagues will deal with them in greater detail. But let me just highlight a couple. Firstly, sectarianism. The government was right to acknowledge the problem, right to contemplate legislation but wrong to try and rush it through. It was sensible to pause, to reflect, to consult. So let's make sure this Bill actually addresses the evil of sectarianism and contributes to its eradication.

And secondly, the reform of our police forces. The Scottish Conservatives have accepted there are compelling arguments for fewer forces in Scotland. But the issue of public accountability is paramount. We favour directly elected commissioners throughout Scotland. The Scottish government's reform of policing cannot concentrate power in the hands of one Minister and one police chief without the public protection of democratic accountability. I hope the First Minister will listen to us.

Presiding Officer this afternoon I also want to put down some markers about the big challenges facing our country and our people. Challenges which transcend constitutional issues or party politics.

3 years ago, I gave a speech which, in the light of recent developments, has a renewed resonance.

I spoke about how a new threat was emerging from the shadows. A threat which is insidious and corrosive.

But the threat to which I referred was not like drugs abuse or excessive alcohol consumption. It doesn't arise out of something that people do but rather out of something which they don't do. I am talking about parenting skills or sadly in far too many cases the complete lack of them. Too many parents don't or can't extend to their children the parenting skills so essential if young people are to have any hope of growing up with guidance, support and boundaries.

And why don't they extend these skills? Because they themselves were the children of parents who did not possess these skills. And disturbingly we may now be moving into the third generation of this parental void. Look around you, ask teachers. The depressing evidence is all too obvious. In 2010/11 the number of children referred to the Children's Reporter on grounds of lack of parental care was over 13,000. It was a reduction from previous years, but still a deeply disturbing number.

This is not some abstract bit of statistical data. These are young lives being ruined. 13,000 children in that desperate situation. And these are just the ones we know about. This is not just our nation's future, these children are the parents of the future.

So I welcome the First Minister's intention to address the issue but only time will tell if legislation is what we need.

What we do need is a long-term strategy to deal with this new problem. We can't just cobble together solutions to deal with individual problems as they arise. And we cannot hope the overall problem will solve itself because it won't.

And so on this as on other issues I will not stand by silent. I am prepared to ask the tough questions.

There is no simple solution because the causes are complex, complicated and deep rooted. There may be generations of drug or alcohol dependency, poor education and no employment. People trapped on a treadmill of hopelessness with nowhere to go and no way to get off. The human cost to them is enormous.

We need to take a fresh look at this, we need to find a new way. We cannot keep passing the buck to hard pressed social workers or teachers already under immense pressure. But our voluntary and charitable sector has a tremendous expertise, skills and experience. How do we harness that? This is something to which I will return in the months ahead.

Which takes me to my next issue. Drugs abuse.

I am proud of my Party's role in forging a new national drugs strategy – The Road to Recovery. That was one of the Scottish Conservative conditions for agreeing the 2008 Scottish Budget. But 3 years on, I am angry.

Why?

David Liddell, Director of the Scottish Drugs Forum, claims:

If you look at the rate of drug-related deaths compared to the overall population, Scottish people are seven times more likely to die from a drug-related death than their European counterparts.

That is not the road to recovery.

In June of this year we learned from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that Scotland tops the world league for cocaine consumption.

That is not the road to recovery.

And methadone, a state prescribed opiate, still contributes to a third of drug deaths in Scotland.

That is not the road to recovery.

Clearly, more needs to be done in order to turn this good and well-intended strategy into real results on the ground.

So let me put down this marker:

I fought long and hard for our new strategy based on recovery leading to abstinence.

In the months and years to come I will re-double my efforts to turn it into a reality.

A glossy strategy is one thing – but real success will only come when those who work in the drugs field get on board. So it is time to forge a new political will to make that happen.

The benefits to society will be great if we find the political will to take this task on. Lower re-offending, less crime and a safer prison environment. It will be good for addicts, good for their families and good for society as a whole.

So Presiding Officer, the legislative programme may deal with some immediate issues facing Scotland but there are other deep-seated challenges way beyond the scope of one year's law making. The First Minister has a majority to railroad anything he wants through this Parliament but I hope he has the wisdom to realise a majority doesn't make a flawed proposal good or something which is wrong right.

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