 Mae yw dynnau ddwylog ar gyfer hynny y dyfodol 4.8.1 i'w gwrt deallu George Adam o'i ddwygo llyfr Gwrsgol Cymru yn fuysbeth Cymru Ion o'r ddarganiad nôl i gael'r dynnu. Felly mae'r ddydigol yn api'r llyfr ddweud, y prydweud o'r debiadau cynny o'r ddychynig o'r ddweud sy'n gweithio i'r ddwygo llyfr o'r ddwygo llyfr, ddweud o'r ddwygo llyfr o'r ddwygo llyfr o'r ddwygo llyfr o'r ddweud yllafodd, oherwydd wrth ei wneud yn wneud ei dim o gylliannol o gylliannol o fewn rhanio'r ddweithio cyfrydd o gylliannol, ac yn gyhoeddgwch o'r bwyl yng Nghymru gwnodeg yn gwybodaeth sydd hi'n gwybodaeth o eich cyfrifol mewn lleoedd. Ieithaf, mae'n gwirioneddol y cwyl bell, iweithi'r cyfrifoedd ar gyfer yr Baill, a'n gwirioneddio i gwaelwyd ac i'r gyfrifoedd mae'n fynd i'r cyfrifoedd, Fuêr, ijogurm I will probably use this bill as an example of two colleagues of how to manage a bill through Parliament. No amendments at stage 2, everything done in consensus and no amendments at stage 3. I welcome the conveners of both committees that I have worked with as we have managed to find that consensus, which is often lacking in this chamber. It's good that I am that person who is bringing that consensus to the chamber, because, as we all know, I'm all about consensus in general. Yes. It never lasts. We'll see if it will. Will the minister concur that actually one of the reasons for the straightforward nature of this was the preparation that was done, and I'm sure that the investigation that was undertaken in the committees, and indeed the undertakings to some outstanding matters which were resolved by your assurances given on evidence to those committees? Minister. I agree with the member as well, because in the spirit of the debate we're having here today it is all about making sure that we all feel we've delivered something in this bill and working together to make sure that it works. I notice that the member is wearing retweets bowtie there, a women's social enterprise with the spirit of Ukraine tartan. We're not starting a new fashion trend. It was something we were given earlier on today anyway. More seriously, this bill seeks to make a small but important change in relation to the law governing those who can stand as candidates in our local government elections. Before I turn to the discussion of the bill, I would like to put on record my appreciation for all those involved in the successful running of last month's local government elections. The electoral commission and others are still taking stock of how the election went, but it is clear that for the second time since the pandemic started, a major nationwide poll has been held safely and securely, and I thank all those involved. The 6 May also marked the second national election held since changes were made in 2020 to extending voting and candidacy rights in Scottish-devolved elections to foreign nationals. Voting rights were extended to virtually all persons aged 16 or other living in Scotland, who either have left to remain in the UK or who do not require such leave. In relation to candidacy rights, the Parliament did not quite go so far. Foreign nationals with indefinite leave to remain in the UK were given the right to stand in the Scottish Parliament in local elections. The new law made clear that EU nationals with or pre-settled status could stand as MSPs and councillors despite Brexit. However, foreign nationals with limited leave to remain, for example, the right to remain in the UK for a 30-month period were not given the right to stand as candidates in the Scottish-devolved elections. The bill is therefore needed to fully implement the four treaties that the UK Government has agreed with Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Spain in relation to voting and candidacy rights in the local government elections. By agreeing to those treaties, the UK Government has opened a door to allow people with limited leave to remain to stand as candidates. As a result of the bill that we are debating today, nationals with Portugal, Luxembourg, Spain and Poland will be able to stand for election as a councillor in Scotland. The bill is set to expire during its term of office. The new UK Elections Act makes corresponding provision for other parts of the UK. However, the Scottish Government has ambitions to go further in this area. I am currently considering topics for consultation on electoral reform to be held later in the year. My intention is that the consultation to look at issues surrounding a wider expansion of candidacy rights. For example, to stand in the 16- and 17-year-olds and to explore what would be involved in an extension of other foreign nationals with limited leave to remain. This will take forward the shared policy programme undertaking to promote legislation on electoral reform that enables more people to stand as candidates at Scottish Parliament and local government elections. In relation to the bill before us today, I am pleased by the extent of the cross-party support for its proposals. No amendments were brought forward in stage 2 or today. There was one issue, both the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee called for further consideration. That was in relation to the process of removing a country from the list of countries by virtue of which candidacy rights are provided under the bill. Both committees highlighted that the bill appeared to give the Scottish Minister's discretion on whether he would be able to move a country from the list when an agreed candidacy rights treaty came to an end. It is not the Government's intention to create broad power in this area. I have made it clear in my view that ministers would not be able to use the power conferred by this bill as means to extend candidacy rights unilaterally should a treaty be cancelled. I also explained that the level of discretion provided by the bill was necessary to afford a degree of flexibility in the event of a candidacy rights treaty being suspended rather than cancelled. Accordingly, the bill ensures that the Scottish ministers will have the same discretion as UK ministers have to deal with any suspension of candidacy rights in the most effective way possible. I hope that this explanation has reassured members and I remain grateful to both committees for their consideration of this bill. In conclusion, the bill is required in order to implement treaties agreed by the UK Government. While its scope is limited, it is an important part of our continuing conversation on candidacy rights and the question of who should be empowered to stand in our elections. I commend the bill to the Parliament and encourage all members to engage in the Government's consultation on electoral reform when it is launched. I move the motion asking that the Parliament agrees that the Scottish local government election, candidacy rights of foreign national bill, be passed. I now call on Stephen Kerr for around six minutes. I congratulate the minister on piloting this important piece of legislation through Parliament in such a smooth way. I would put on record that even though the minister and I have regular differences of points of view I'm always grateful for the good humour with which she approaches the tasks that this Parliament presents before him. I'm going to make a very short speech, which I'm sure will come as a relief to you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and to my own colleagues and, indeed, to the minister. But there's been an outbreak of... I'm the central focus of all this consensus. I'm overwhelmed that that's how my colleagues feel. I would wish to say something in connection with this important piece of legislation. I'm delighted, of course, that the UK is forging these treaty relationships with the countries mentioned, and I hope there will be many more such treaties because that's an important part of the role that the United Kingdom plays in the wider world. I think it's important that the wider world and the citizens of the wider world play an important part in the life of our country in Scotland and in the United Kingdom as a whole. I raised some issues during the stage 1 debate about the importance of the powers that councillors have and the need to protect them from an overbearing standards commission. I was a little bit surprised at those comments, which probably are not without controversy, were not picked up by anybody. I'm repeating them now just in case someone wishes to refer to them at a later date, just in case. I would at this stage also like to mention the importance of helping and supporting people to become candidates for election, including the citizens who will be impacted by this legislation and others. I think it's very important that we make it easy, that we facilitate it, so that people, our friends, our neighbours, those in our communities that they feel from other countries and within our own communities that they can stand for election. I think it's incumbent on us who enjoy the privilege of elected office, particularly in this place, to make it possible to facilitate that. We all know that being a candidate can sometimes be quite a lonely thing to do. It's something that frankly is only understood by those who have done it. It's a lived experience. The fact is that, in our politics in Scotland, as soon as someone puts their head above the parapet, they can sometimes become a target. I think that that is a shame. I think that the example that we're probably showing a little of this afternoon in this chamber should be the example that we try and shine a brighter light on for the rest of the country. That is that we can disagree with each other quite strongly. I don't think that I could be absolved from responsibility for disagreeing strongly, but I think that it's important that we learn how to do that without being personally disagreeable. Just last night, I was on a debate night on BBC. We had a very civil debate among the audience and also with the panellists, but, of course, opening my Twitter account this morning, I realised that mentioning that I have children who live in England and who, in grandchildren, live in England, has meant that people have responded by saying, why don't you go off to England and live in England? I think that that kind of unnecessary personal abuse, that's low-level abuse compared with some of the stuff that you can read on my Twitter account, but I don't think that that has a place in our politics. I hope that all of us in the chamber can readily agree with that. I think that we need to treat each other with civility. I think that we need to avoid personal invective, and I think that we do need to support and respect each other, and that can happen here, and it can happen in the broader community of those who are engaged in the political life of our country. That way, we will get more and better people coming forward for election. I don't think that it does our politics any service if we are seen to be personally bitter and abusive of one another. I would hate to think that we would eventually limit the pool of those who stand for a political office to a very small group of hardened party stalwarts. I think that that would certainly not be good for Scotland or for our politics. Sometimes I think that politicians probably develop a persona that they intend to create to maybe intimidate, maybe scare the opposition, and I don't think that we need to do that on a personal level. I think that the battle of ideas that is politics, I think, is a rich place to spend one's life and energy in, and I hope that that in itself gives us sufficient reason to want to be engaged. We need good people to stand. We shouldn't be doing anything to put people off. I think that, as I say again, it bears repetition that we don't want to limit the pool of people who will stand as candidates for any of our parties to the desperate and the obsessive. We want people who are living their lives and feel that they can make a contribution from wherever they come in society, that being involved in politics and putting themselves forward to be a candidate is a good thing to do. There are many sensitive and complex issues that we need to deal with as politicians. I recognise that I'm probably running out of time and no one will intervene so that you can give me more time when I know that we are up against the clock. I think that there are many things that we could say about the importance of candidates, the importance of people serving in their communities, particularly as local councillors. We touched on that at the last time that we met. I support this bill, Deputy Presiding Officer. I want to see people encouraged by our example to become involved in politics as candidates. I'm delighted to have played a small part to support the minister in bringing this bill carefully and smoothly through the processes of this Parliament so that we can build a country and a political system that exemplifies the civility, the patience, the kindness and the good humour that has been on exhibition in the chamber this afternoon. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Kerr. I would note that in embracing the consensus you perhaps strayed a little from the substance of the bill and that your short speech did exactly exceed your time allocation by 30 seconds. Nevertheless, you embraced the spirit of the debate. I now call Neil Bibby for around five minutes, Mr Bibby. Thank you, Presiding Officer, for the opportunity to speak on the Scottish local government election candidacy rights of national bill. The non-contentious bill, which is unusually has had no amendments lodged in either stage 2 or stage 3, as the minister said earlier. The whole Parliament is behind the small but important measure to ensure compliance with treaties in relation to candidacy rights. It is limited to extending local government candidacy rights to any nationals of Portugal, Luxembourg, Spain and Poland who have had limited form of leave to remain in the UK. It's important to stress that only a small number of people are affected as EU nationals with settled and pre-settled status already have candidacy rights in our elections. There's another side to this that we should not forget. Those treaties will give similar rights to UK citizens living in Portugal, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal. Given the disastrous loss of rights inflicted on UK citizens since the UK left EU, it is some small comfort that the ability to participate in the democratic process in these four countries will be afforded to UK citizens living in those countries. It's a small symbol of continuing links between those countries and the United Kingdom. Yes, there have been some concerns about the bill, but as Mark Mootfield said earlier, the minister has largely addressed those. I do hope that the question of any additional financial burdens on councils won't be forgotten, particularly as the Scottish Government has announced substantial cuts to council budgets. In my stage 1 speech, I praised the contribution made to Scottish society by people who were born in other countries. It's important to keep repeating this, particularly when we read about unacceptable racist incidents, which, though small in number, are nonetheless important and unacceptable. I want to use this debate to pay tribute to those who come to this country and want to enhance our communities. For a tiny few, this might mean taking the opportunity to stand for election where the law permits. For the vast majority of the welcome new members of our society, it will be working in essential jobs, volunteering in local communities, building friendships and helping to broaden understanding between people of different cultures. I'm sure there are numerous examples of the contributions made by those who have come from Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and Poland, and today I extend my heartfelt thanks. Presiding Officer, I want to make special mention of the contribution made through Life in Scotland by the substantial Polish community that now is resident here. Those who have come from Poland have become essential for our service industries. Polish tradespeople have made their mark on our building services industry. Polish worshipers have boosted the congregations in many of our churches, and Polish-speaking children have enhanced many of our schools. Shop-selling Polish goods are now a common feature in many of our towns. In my own west of Scotland region, there are many examples of the contribution being made by those born in Poland. I'm sure that the minister will join me in particularly recognising the contribution of the Polish community in Wrenfrewshire. Presiding Officer, I want to close by saying that it's only right that, as well as praising those who have come from Poland, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg for their contribution to Scottish society, that we use these treaties as a way of extending their right to participate more fully in the democratic process of this country if that is what they wish to do. This bill will take the necessary steps to plug small gaps and I commend it to Parliament. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Bibby. We now move to the open debate, and I call Bob Doris to be followed by Alec Rowley. Mr Doris, for around four minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This bill, in many respects, has been a fate of complete since it was drafted. Put simply, and I welcome it, the UK Government has signed treaties with Portugal, Luxembourg, Spain and Poland, which offer reciprocal candidacy rights to nationals who are resident in each other's countries. A fate of complete is either our Scottish Parliament took steps to ensure that our legislative framework took account of the provisions in those international treaties or the UK Government understand would have legislated directly on said matters themselves. Some might say, Prime Minister, although not me this afternoon, given the consensus that's broken out, that that's a good indicator that power devolved by the UK Government is power retained when it suits them. But don't worry, Mr Kerr, I'm not going to talk about the Internal Markets Act, which is a power grab, or the Brexit freedom's bill, which is also a power grab. Rather, I'm going to talk about the happy instance for the absolute policy alignment between this Parliament, our Scottish Government and the provisions within said UK treaties. The bill will ensure that those reciprocal rights can be exercised in Scotland at council elections as they should be. We all support that. Those from EU countries with indefinite leave to remain or pre-settled status will already have such rights, and the number impacted is likely to be small. Of course, I take the view that all those who have made their home here in Scotland should have the opportunity to both vote in and stand for elections taking place in Scotland. So, in effect, I wish we were confirming the rights outlined in the bill this afternoon on a consistent basis across EU 27 countries and nations. Why should someone in Spain or Portugal or Italy or other EU countries have varying rights with each other when it comes to living, working, standing for elections or voting in elections? I want to put that on the record today. Indeed, the Scottish Government has a strong track record to maximise the democratic rights of all those who have made their home in this country. The Parliament has already passed the Scottish elections franchise of representations Act 2020, section 1, which extended the franchise to include those with the legal right to live in Scotland, including refugees, and the minister mentioned that. However, only those with indefinite leave to remain can have candidacy rights and we have to return to that and address that again. Yes, indeed. I am very grateful to the deputy convener for what he has done. It is not right that, although it sits out with the strict ambit of this bill, one of the challenges that we did find was the availability of accurate data about who fell within various aspects of legislation that has been passed up here, but also from Westminster as to how many people it would affect. Bob Doris. Mr Whitefield, of course, was convener of our committee who led on this bill, was absolutely right. We did find a challenge in getting robust data in relation to that, and that is a matter that we will have to return to, I think, in due course. I think that, as I did at stage 1 in the debate, I also want to highlight the Scottish Government's consulting and legislation electoral reform that enables more people to stand as candidates in the Scottish Parliament and local government elections more generally. Wider election rules and, dare I say, I am sure that the minister will not be enamoured by this particularly, but we perhaps have to look again at the alphabetisation bias in local government elections where A to Z gives you more likely to succeed in local council elections. There is an opportunity not just to look at candidacy rights, but also to look at how we run said elections, as you can see, the minister is delighted by that. I look forward to this bill becoming an act here this afternoon, this evening. I want to finish with something that Mr Bibby said, because this is also about making sure that we send a clear message to all those who have made lives in Scotland, built lives here, and called to their society. You are welcome, we want you here, you have backed our society, we want to back you with your basic human right to be involved in the democratic process here in Scotland, not just to live and work, but to vote and to stand for election. In some small way, Mr Bibby addresses that. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Doris. I now call Alex Rowley to be followed by Mark Ruskell for around four minutes, Mr Rowley. Presiding Officer, I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate on behalf of Labour. As Neil Bibby and Bob Doris both said, if passed the Scottish Local Government Elections Candidates' Rights and Foreign National Bill will ensure nationals from Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Spain can stand as candidates in local government elections in Scotland. The UK government has already agreed these terms with the countries mentioned through the treaties which mutually allow nationals of our respective countries to stand as candidates in elections and this bill puts those treaties into law. Further, the bill will allow Scottish ministers to add additional countries to the list in the event that they enter into treaties with the UK and remove countries from the list if they are no longer party to a treaty with the UK. Labour supports this bill to extend candidacy rights to nationals of any country that signs a treaty with the UK and to ensure compliance with the UK government treaties that have already been established. There is little opposition to this bill as it largely serves to enshrine in law what has already been agreed by treaty. The bill does not appear to create any additional management burdens for local government elections. Indeed, in the written submission to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee on 22 February this year, the Electoral Management Board for Scotland stated, in submitting nomination papers at a local government election in Scotland, the candidate must satisfy themselves that they are qualified to stand, taking their own legal advice if necessary. Candidates must sign a declaration that they are qualified to stand. The returning officer will not seek any further evidence in support of that declaration. Practically, therefore, this bill adds no further duties to the work of the returning officer in the operation of local elections. However, while the bill may now not add additional burdens to the management of local government elections, there are minor issues with the bill that should be highlighted before the implementation of this bill. One issue that should be raised is the increased risk of local authorities having to conduct by-elections in the instance where a sitting councillor's immigration status changes. While there are only a small potential risk in this regard, it is important that it is considered as local authorities must be aware of the potential for a situation to arise where they would be required to fund an unexpected election due to the individuals being elected with limited leave to remain in the country. As such, Labour called on the Scottish Government to ensure that local authorities are clearly made aware of the potential need for additional funding, no matter how small the risk may be to cover these election costs, we are content with the Cabinet Secretary's commitment to work with local government to avoid issues in this regard. A further issue was raised by the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee, who pointed out that a future Government might not consider itself bound to remove a country as a result of a treaty change and that Scottish ministers might exercise discretion in relation to the timing of the removal of a country from the list. To answer that concern, Labour supported the call by the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee for the Scottish Government to bring forward an amendment to address the issue and remove any elements of discretion from those decisions. I note that the amendment on this issue from the Government was not forthcoming. So, in closing, despite the outstanding issues, the Government's amendment, Scottish Labour supports the proposal set out in this bill. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Rowley. I now call Mark Ruskell to be followed by Willie Coffey again around four minutes, Mr Ruskell. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I recently spoke with probably around several hundred people on the doorstep in the run-up to the council elections in Stirling. I met people who had come to Scotland to study, alongside those who have now finished studies, but have decided to remain and seek work. I met people who had come to Scotland to escape persecution and had been granted refugee status, as well as those who are still in limbo seeking asylum. I also met people who have come to Scotland to set up businesses as well. The majority of those people, when I spoke to them had views on many of the local issues that were the subject of debate, from bin collections to the state of housing. Some of them were so engaged in those issues that I would have happily voted for them if they were standing to be one of my councillors. Sadly, a large number of those people still believed that they could not vote, let alone stand in elections, and many were not even registered. The franchise bill passed in 2019, did address a long-standing democratic deficit, whereby thousands of people who had made Scotland their home were unable to vote or stand in elections. We are still some distance away from realising that truly residence-based franchise where everyone who lives here has the right to vote and stand in Scottish elections and understands their rights as well. We also still have the imbalance on age, where 16 or 17-year-olds can vote, but they cannot stand for election. I did meet a number of young people on the doorstep who I would have been happy to vote for as well. Greens supported the franchise bill at the time, but I also asked at the time the Scottish Government to go further, both on voting and candidacy rights, to ensure that people living in Scotland were not prevented from participating in our democracy due to restrictive immigration conditions placed on them by the UK Government. I lodged amendments, and despite some sympathy across the chamber and from Government, we are unable to make the changes at that time. As it stands right now here in Scotland, you can vote if you have a temporary form of leave to remain, but you cannot stand as a candidate. That does fall short of the parity that we want to see in Scotland's electoral franchise. The bill goes some way towards fixing the disparity. The legislation will grant expanded candidacy rights to some nationals, but only based on treaties agreed by the UK Government with individual states. It is ironic that this expansion of candidacy rights is being triggered by a UK Government that is hell bent on further constricting electoral rights for others from introducing mandatory voter ID, removing automatic rights of voting in candidacy rights that EU nationals enjoyed before Brexit. If I can get time back, I will. Certainly. I thank Mark Ruskell for giving way. I just wanted to ask him whether he thought it was important that there was reciprocation in terms of these voting rights. We have obligations, don't we, to our citizens who are living in other countries that they also can have the privileges. I agree with him. We would like the people he's mentioning in his speech to have in our country. Mark Ruskell. I think that the best way to ensure reciprocation would be for us to rejoin the European Union as a fully-fledged independent Member State. We'll leave that for another year. When I lodged amendments to expand voting in candidacy rights, the Government did say that there were concerns at the time, but now more than ever we need to take down those barriers. Electro-registration is not a real barrier as people with limited leave to remain are probably the most heavily verified persons living in the country. It's also clear from today's bill that it is possible to expand candidacy rights to people with limited leave to remain. Put simply, if we're going to improve candidacy rights for some people, then why not improve it for all? I very much look forward to the Government's consultation. Great to hear the Minister announce that today into expanding rights for all those people that I met on the doorstep, and some of them I want to devote for as well, so that they can not only vote, but they can also potentially stand for election in Scotland as well. I think that if we can continue this process of reform, we're going to have a better democracy and be a better nation as a result of that. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Ruskell. I now call Willie Coffey, his final speaker in the open debate and joins us remotely around four minutes, Mr Coffey. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Having listened to Mr Kerr earlier, I was a bit alarmed that I might be speaking in the wrong debate, but in the spirit of kindness and generosity, his comments, although mostly nothing to do with the bill, are still very welcome nonetheless. When this matter came to the chamber at stage 1 on 29 March, we recognised that the bill, whilst being pretty short, provided an important route to participation in the democratic process for people from lots of more Poland, Portugal and Spain as set out within the treaty process entered into by the UK Government. It enables those people to put themselves forward to be local councillors in Scotland, and I still support the bill, despite it having to emerge as a reaction to what is a piecemeal and odd process of extending such democratic rights in my view. Citizens from other parts of Europe and the world will still need to wait for a treaty to be entered into in order to afford them the same sort of democratic rights, rights that they previously held, but were removed by Brexit. At least it embraces to a degree the direction of travel we spoke about last time in that it widens the goal of democratic engagement in Scotland, a direction of travel supported by the Scottish Government. It's worth restating, Presiding Officer, that previous conditions lied that the right to be a candidate depended on whether a person had an dividend leave to remain in the UK or whether they had pre-settled status. The bill, when passed, will enable people from the countries mentioned who do not have settled their pre-settled status come candidates if they wish to do so, and that's in line with the agreements posed by the treaty arrangements. Confirming those rights on people to be local councillors representing their communities will certainly be welcomed, but I say again that it's hardly a satisfactory route to bring about something that was previously the case before Brexit. Presiding Officer, I mentioned a couple of possible issues last time that I think needed to be clarified, and I think my colleague Alec Rowley also mentioned one or two of these areas, are what happens if a person becomes a councillor and their immigration status change? Would that automatically mean that a democratically elected councillor was legally no longer a councillor triggering a by-election? Very unlikely, I know, to your curb, but it requires some clarification, I think. Similarly, what happens if a treaty itself comes to an end? Would that also legally end that person's right to remain being a councillor and cause a by-election too? They're very unlikely events, but I imagine that provision would need to be made for such circumstances, and I would be obliged to the minister if he might be clarifying those points. Presiding Officer, the very short bill will give effect to the intention and purpose behind the UK Government agreements when they come into force. Now, hopefully, our Parliament will re-establish normal arrangements for democratic participation in the not-too-distant future and won't have to play thick and fiddle to treaties being entered into by other jurisdictions in order to gain what other people's rights have by right. The Standards and Delegated Bill's committees have done a good job for us in considering the bill, and I've posed a number of questions that may arise as a result of changing circumstances. Now, moving forward, my hope is that the bill itself can be amended to extend candidacy rights to all foreign nations, living in and making a valued contribution in Scotland, and that will be consulted on later this year. Lastly, Presiding Officer, let's support the bill at its final stage today. Thank the committees for their work and look forward to this very short but important bill becoming law in Scotland, and affording certain citizens the right to become councillors, a right that all of us have enjoyed for many, many years. Thank you very much, Mr Coffey. We now move to the closing speeches. I call Mark Griffin for around four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As my colleague Neil Bibby confirmed, we will be supporting the bill today and we are keen to extend candidacy rights to nationals of any country with which the UK signs a treaty for mutual candidacy rights at local elections when they have any type of leave to remain. Local decisions are clearly enriched when they have the real experiences, different ideas, voices from across the local community involved and occasionally strong voices that are needed to not just stand up for the community but occasionally stand up to central government too. I'm pleased that we can ensure compliance with treaties agreed with Portugal, Poland, Spain and Luxembourg, affording people from those countries and ours, mutual candidacy rights. Yes, this legislation is a consequence of the UK leaving the UK a matter raised by a number of colleagues in this and the previous stage 1 debate but it is a necessary and simple piece of legislation. Presiding Officer, this legislation establishes the rights for people to stand but it doesn't set the conditions to maximise the breadth of candidates that me might want to see come forward. Bob Doris. I'm just wondering I absolutely agree in relation to intervention of those rights. I think myself and Mr Ruskell, during his contribution, were both suggesting that those rights should exist irrespective of whether the UK secures a treaty with a European union country on the basis that someone is living and working and committed in Scotland and they are sure to have those rights along with their neighbours irrespective of which European union country they hail from originally. Mark Griffin. Absolutely, we agree with that too. Simply just respond to the bill and the treaties that we have in front of us today but certainly the principle that Bob Doris elab certainly must occur. So what I'm surprised here is that you, the Labour Party, don't seem to be in favour of reciprocation. What about our fellow British citizens who are living in these countries where they may not enjoy these rights? Surely we have an obligation to them to help them to have the same privileges as we are happily giving to the citizens of those countries in Scotland? Mark Griffin. That is clearly what I've said already in my speech that this is about a reciprocal nature that these treaties are about enabling candidates to stand out in these countries from other places as much as it is given citizens from here the right to stand elsewhere and if I didn't elaborate fully in my answer to Mr Doris clearly I would expect that would be a right which would be afforded to citizens from our country and in other countries where we were given them the right to stand here but happy to take another intervention if I've got time, Presiding Officer. Mark Griffin. I'm grateful for the clarification but that wasn't obvious from the reply that Mark Griffin gave to Bob Doris. Mark Griffin. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As I was saying that this piece of legislation does give establish the rights for people to stand but doesn't set the condition to maximise the breadth of candidates that perhaps we would like to see represent our local communities. Just a month ago a new generation of enthusiastic councillors had just been elected to office to improve their communities and to help their neighbours from social care, children's education or housing and economic development but also the bread and butter of local roads cleanliness and in collections they'll now do everything they can to make changes and decisions on services that affect people's daily lives but Presiding Officer, that is not without challenges as Stephen Kerr stated in his opening statement that those who have been elected a matter of a month ago will face abuse and harassment they'll take on a full-time more than a full-time job with long hours, very little pay and they'll have to work with a local government workforce that is very demoralised at the moment and those challenges look set to grow and I think that does put at risk our chances and the opportunities of having the best pool of candidates in those future elections I said in March at stage 1 that the candidates who do go on to be elected will be forced into taking decisions that mean scaling back and cutting services while they struggle to keep up with local demand. Millions have been ring fenced out of those locally lent candidates control and since 2013 918 million pounds has been slashed in real terms from council budgets now it's a constant task of budget after budget cutting local services that grinds down local candidates in local democracy is that a job that we think would be attractive to people from Spain, Poland, Portugal and Luxembourg who have made Scotland their home I'm not so sure that's not what people go into a local government to do I'm pleased that we can meet the candidacy rights today and support the bill but I think Parliament does have a wider job of considering the best conditions that we can have for the best pool of candidates in 2027 thank you I now call on Tess White for up to five minutes Deputy Presiding Officer it's not often that in this chamber we're in agreement especially when a bill has been brought forward at an expedited pace there is I'm pleased to say consensus today in support of the bill and no changes at the amending stages that means there's less to say in our speeches I will persevere however albeit less colourfully than my colleague this legislation completes its parliamentary passage after the local elections in May when we were reminded of the importance of local democracy and what an immense privilege it is to represent communities across Scotland this bill is required because the UK government has agreed four treaties with Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Spain for reciprocal voting and candidacy arrangements in local government elections while Scotland's law on voting rights already complies with the treaties further legislation is needed to comply on candidacy rights as such this bill is necessary and welcome the Scottish Conservatives would of course welcome similar agreements in the UK agreements the UK government makes with other countries as we've said I note from the bill's policy memorandum that it would have been possible for the bill to go further for example by extending candidacy rights to all foreign nationals with limited leave to remain however the decision was taken to limit the bill's scope given the expedited timeframe of the bill to allow ratification of the treaties with Poland and Spain and I think that was the right decision one point that emerged during the scrutiny of this bill by both the DPLR committee and the standards committee it was in relation to Scottish ministers functions where a candidacy rights treaty ceases to apply specifically there was some debate as to whether Scottish ministers should have a power or a duty to remove a country from schedule 6A in the event of a suspension of treaty rights this was largely because it is difficult to anticipate the intentions of future governments and as parliamentarians we must be mindful of future proofing legislation where we can I understand that after consulting with counterparts in the UK government the verdict was that it would be preferable to maintain consistency between the Scottish and UK bill provisions as always the devil is in the detail and I'm grateful to both committees for their commitment to scrutiny when legislative timelines are very tight and that's how it should be yes Mr Whitfield I'm very grateful for the member to give way and it allows me to put on my record my thanks as convener to her for the period of time that she spent on this committee but would she also agree that with the expedited timetable in relation to this bill actually the very clear discussions that took place between committees and government and the undertakings that were sought offered allowed the procedure to pass much more reasonably than perhaps may otherwise have been the case Thank you Mr Whitfield I will agree the way that the processes were conducted with the committees, with the minister was a role model so thank you for that and thank you also for his thanks for my committee contribution Scottish electoral law has of course been amended quite recently with the Scottish elections franchise and reform act 2020 it was this legislation that extended the franchise to prisoners with sentences of less than 12 months a move I and my party did oppose the SNP green government has signalled their policy programme that it again intends to consult on a wider expansion of candidacy rights alongside other electoral reform proposals the Scottish Conservatives will consider any future proposals carefully and finally during the stage 1 debate the minister was receptive to ideas that members may have in relation to electoral form in Scotland I hope that spirit of co-operation will continue as the Scottish Parliament looks again at electoral reform in the coming months thank you Thank you very much indeed Ms White and I call on the minister to respond to the debate for up to 6 minutes I would like to thank all the members for their contributions here today it's been a debate where we've all agreed on this very small but tightly focused bill and it's been a perfect way we've managed to get it through the process but I'd like to make all the members aware that wireless bill is tightly focused upon candidacy rights in relation to international treaties we should not lose sight of the fact that our law and voting rights is already one of the most generous in the world but as we have said here today we can still do better the issue of who can stand in elections that is fundamental part of democracy and I look forward to further debate over the course of the year on a wider expansion of candidacy rights amongst other electoral reform issues turning to the points raised today during the debate I'd like to start with Willie Coffey's contribution where he said about what would happen if a councillor's leave to remain expires and the answer to that would be the Home Office is considering this matter currently, it's expected that any successful candidate would still have to meet any other conditions of their leave such as participation in a job or course tied to their leave to remain if leave to remain expires during a councillor's term of office and they were unable to extend their leave or switch to a different form of leave the person would cease to be a councillor and a by-election would be called and on that issue of the by-election that many members brought up as well the electoral management board for Scotland estimated the cost of a local government by-election at £50,000 so that along with the limited number of individuals and people who would be going forward would not leave as councils I'd like to mention as well about the impact of a treaty coming to an end the bill ensures that there will be no difficulty in avoiding any adverse impact on a serving councillor or on-going election at the time of a treaty being cancelled this is because the bill enables the Scottish ministers to make transitional arrangements in any regulations removing candidacy rights conferred as a right of the bill some of the things that Mr Rowley mentioned would happen with local government if there was the issue I've explained that issue there but just to talk about some of the numbers the exact population figures are not available but the Office of National Statistics data suggests that there may be around 62,000 Polish 14,000 Portuguese 11,000 Spanish and 3,000 Luxembourg nationals resident in Scotland but most of those people are likely to have settled or pre-settled status so they will already be able to stand as candidates so there will be no significant cost to the direct result of the bill if it's passed one of the other things that came up during the debate was what else do we have planned in the future and many of the members said many of the ideas that they had Mark Ruskell being one of the ones in Mr Dorris as well the programme for government set out an undertaking to prepare legislation to enable more people to stand as candidates at the Scottish Parliament and local government elections and to improve the accessibility of elections and further focus of improving accessibility for those with sight loss it's also set out an aspiration to work to increase voter registration and active participation in elections by underrepresented groups including non-UK citizens and young people and I also expect the consultation to address a number of issues raised by the recent UK elections act such as in relation to campaign finances intimidation and harassment and if Mr Dorris still struggles with his ABCs then he can engage with the actual process that we're having over the summer period and Mr Dorris, yes, I had a fair idea that might happen, Bob Dorris I don't have trouble with my ABCs I just think it disadvantages to the XYZ local government elections under single transferable vote is the measure series open minded to changing that so the bias is eliminated Minister with someone whose surname is Adam you probably find I have some skin in this game my counsellor sister the same would probably say the same but one of the things is as I said to Mr your colleague Mr Gibson when he asked me the same question 24 hours ago was a case of if anyone can come to me with a plan that we will all be happy with the result of the election at the end of the day then we will look at that but until that day I think where the most important thing for us all is to ensure that we all agree at the end of the day and currently that's not an issue within the local government elections so I'd like to mention some of the other points the other points were brought up earlier on Mr Kerr and I were unusually polite to one another Presiding Officer during this debate because that has been all about the consultation and the sheer easy way that we've managed this bill but Mr Kerr and I have had a number of rammies in this chamber and I take on both many of his points of view and would direct them towards our electoral reform consultation as well and make the appeal to everyone to actually look towards that as well because I take on his points in particular with regards to how people who would want to get involved in politics with some of the toxic things that are happening out there in the public life and it's one thing I think all those politicians need to be wary of and need to ensure that we say that to others involved in the process as well and I Mr Bibby had some concerns with additional financial burdens to councils which I've explained I don't believe there would be but one of the things he brought up was about the Polish community particularly in areas like Renfrewshire I would say Paisley or Greater Paisley but that's just me Presiding Officer but basically he talked about the Polish community within our areas and I think that's important part of this bill that shows what we're all talking about here and I think to people that you come to our country you're a constructive part of it and please take part in the democratic process but I'm often minded and I think I said it at the committee of an old SNP councillor who's no longer with us Jim Mitchell who used to say to me this is a funny situation we find ourselves in only a tiny small percentage of people get involved in politics and then we spend the rest of the time falling out at each other so I always try to find a way to fall out with everyone and to try and find consensus whenever I can because at the end of the day that's what's expected from us from our electorate so one of the things that Mark Ruskell brought to the debate was the important point about participation in our local democracy and engagement with our communities and he said he wanted to extend the rights again and I think again there are ways that we could possibly work in the future to see what he's exactly looking for on top of what we've heard here today so just very quickly in closing I'm pleased that this bill has attracted wide-raising support in the chamber today and I personally along with the conveners and both committees take all the glory for that because it was all about the consensual way that we all work together to make that happen but I would also like to repeat my thanks to in particular the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee for their consideration during this so only thing left for me to say at this stage, Presiding Officers I invite all the members to agree to the passing of this bill Thank you that concludes the debate on the Scottish local government elections candidacy rights of foreign nationals bill it is now time to move on to the next item of business another question to be put as a result of today's business and that is that motion 4818 in the name of George Adam on the Scottish local government elections candidacy rights of foreign nationals bill be agreed there will be a short suspension just now to allow members to access the digital voting system