Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Cross-party support for Right to Food Bill
Elaine Smith has welcomed the support of MSPS who have backed the principle of introducing a Right to Food bill to the Scottish Parliament.
The Central Scotland MSP highlighted how a crossparty selection of 28 of her counterparts expressed their support for the proposed bill, which seeks to enshrine the internationally recognised right to food into Scots law.
The key principles of the bill had previously been supported by a large majority of respondents to the public consultation held last year.
The bill has obtained sufficient support to be introduced to the parliament, however it will be unable to proceed further before the end of the parliamentary session.
In response to her bill obtaining the right to be introduced to parliament, Ms Smith, a Labour member, said: “My proposed Right to Food (Scotland) bill received support from the required number of MSPS across parties to be introduced to parliament.
“While this is not possible before the end of this session, it does reflect the growing recognition across parties of the importance of taking action to enshrine the UN recognised Right to Food into law and giving effect to this right in Scotland.
“The public consultation on my bill found strong support for enshrining the Right to Food as a priority.
“It is vital that the Scottish Government give priority to addressing the issues we have in our food system, and to tackling the food insecurity and poverty which an unacceptably high number of families in Scotland continue to face.
“I hope that the Scottish Government’s future actions on Human Rights, including any prospective new Human Rights bill, will reflect the strength of support I have found for taking radical and swift action to ensure that no one in Scotland goes hungry.”