Parliament has been a success
This week is the 20th anniversary of the vote by the Scottish People to re-constitute the Scottish Parliament after a near 300-year absence.
The 1997 referendum campaign brought together many strands of Scottish political life – with SNP, Labour, Lib Dem and minority parties coming together to support a Scottish Parliament.
When the results came in, nearly 75 per cent of voters agreed that Scotland should have its own parliament, with nearly 78 per cent of people in South Lanarkshire voting yes.
After nearly 20 years of Tory Westminster rule much of the population realised that Scotland needed its own bespoke solutions to issues which Westminster was ignoring.
Over the past two decades, the Scottish Parliament has matured into the crucible of public debate and opinion that it was intended to be.
A whole generation of Scots has grown up with a Scottish Parliament, and know no other constitutional set-up.
Because of devolution, those young people can vote aged 16 for Scottish elections; they benefit from the Educational Maintenance Allowance; they qualify for free university tuition and have one of the lowest youth unemployment rates in Europe.
When freed from the quagmire of Westminster politics, people in Scotland have shown that issues of social justice, of education and of a different approach to healthcare and public services are what we find important north of the border.
Over the past 11 years, the Scottish people have voted for SNP governments that have shared their desire for a uniquely Scottish approach.
While in government, the SNP have delivered a long list of progressive policies and real, meaningful changes to Scotland. We have also protected Scotland from the worst excesses of the Westminster Tory agenda– choosing to spend our budget in ways that mitigate the pain that is being experienced by ordinary working people in England and Wales.
When it comes to healthcare, NHS Scotland is the best performing part of the NHS in the UK. The SNP introduced free prescriptions for everyone, and our nurses are better paid and still receive bursaries unlike their English counterparts.
When it comes to safeguarding social mobility and protecting the most vulnerable, Scotland has voted for SNP Governments that have ensured that there are no University tuition fees for students, and for SNP Governments that have paid Westminster directly for the disgusting Bedroom Tax so that ordinary Scots don’t have to.
Our new Scottish Social Security system, currently being developed, will exclude private companies from conducting benefit assessments, and we have scrapped the sale of social housing.
Devolution has benefited people across Scottish society. When given the chance, Scotland votes for parties who look after the most vulnerable and seeks to create a fairer society.
But we should always be restless in our ambition to make life better for the people who live here.
Over the coming months, the Scottish Government will bring forward proposals for further devolution of powers over employment, social security, immigration and trade.
Scotland is perhaps unique in the UK in that we are relatively underpopulated. We need more people to ensure that we can continue to grow economically, create jobs and have more people paying tax into the system to pay for public services.
The Tory Brexit plans also threaten to undermine the very principle of devolution by keeping powers at Westminster in areas such as agriculture, fishing and the environment as they return from Brussels.
That would be an unacceptable power grab – and we shouldn’t stand for it.
The Scottish Parliament has given Scots the opportunity to do things our way, and our way is shown to make life fairer for ordinary people.
Now the very foundation of our parliament is being undermined by a Tory-controlled Westminster.
We need to go forward in the spirit of 1997; recognising that the Scottish Parliament benefits us all in Scotland, and never more so than at these challenging times.
The Scottish Parliament has matured into the crucible of public debate