Keith Raffan: It is right that we should debate Iraq today, because little of what has happened since we last debated the issue has been good for the people of Iraq or happy for Britain and our involvement there. The reason for war—that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction—has not been and is not likely to be proved. The occupation of Iraq is achieving the opposite of what it set out to...
Keith Raffan: Will the member take an intervention?
Keith Raffan: Does the minister agree that resources are all-important in this area? Does she share my concern that the bids from the local alcohol action plans, which are crucial to tackling alcohol misuse in Scotland, amounted to more than 15 times the money that the Executive could provide? What additional resources is she going to provide to enable us to make the national alcohol plan an effective reality?
Keith Raffan: Will the member give way?
Keith Raffan: Will the member give way? Come on.
Keith Raffan: Will the member give way?
Keith Raffan: I will have to give lessons to Mr Sheridan in how to pronounce Plaid Cymru properly in Welsh and with passion. Increasingly, I look forward to the referendum campaign and to the idea of a Tory and Scottish Socialist Party partnership, with Mr McLetchie and Mr Sheridan sharing a platform. I am not sure that there will be many people in the audience, however; it will be light—very...
Keith Raffan: I will give way in a second. Institutions and ways of operating that worked for a Europe of six members need modernising and streamlining to cope efficiently with a Europe of 25 members.
Keith Raffan: Obviously, Nicola Sturgeon is eager to hear my speech and is anticipating my remarks. I will, of course, address that issue shortly. By the way, I must say to Miss Sturgeon while I am at it that although we are a very hard working party, we do not actually meet in conference in August. I do not want her to be clueless, but to be clued up, so I will make available to her later our detailed...
Keith Raffan: Will the member give way?
Keith Raffan: We will take no lessons from the Tories on referendums. They did not have one on Maastricht and they have only converted to the idea as a political ploy; they are currently full of political ploys, whether on tuition fees or on Europe. Mr Gallie should get off his self-righteous podium and remember the past. He took nearly half of his speech just to list the Tory leaders of the past 15 years....
Keith Raffan: I will not give way to the member. She can state her position when she winds up. If she intends to backtrack and not stand with us, with Labour and with the pro-European parties in fighting that referendum, she ought to say so clearly now, rather than be ambivalent about it.
Keith Raffan: That is exactly what I thought. The constitution is fundamental to Europe—it is exactly that. It not only draws together all the treaties, from the treaty of Rome to the treaty of Nice. It not only establishes the powers of the member states and those of Brussels—what Europe can and cannot do. It also reforms the structures of the EU to take into account the 10 accession countries, so...
Keith Raffan: rose—
Keith Raffan: Will the minister join me in expressing the strong hope that, in the simultaneous referendums on Saturday 24 April in the northern and southern parts of Cyprus—which have been so painfully divided during the past 30 years—people will vote for a united Cyprus to join the European Union a week later?
Keith Raffan: Does the minister agree that the news last week from the American Administration, about the action that the so-called AIDS tsar seems to be taking on behalf of the pharmaceutical companies, is not at all hopeful? The companies are going back on their original pledge and in fact want to sell AIDS drugs at a higher price, which will mean that far fewer people and countries in sub-Saharan Africa...
Keith Raffan: I congratulate Des McNulty on securing the debate. I certainly agree with his opening remarks about Rwanda and about the failure of the international community to stop the genocide, which is something that we must ensure never happens again. Murdo Fraser is right to point out that over the border in Uganda there is, partially at least, a success story. Extreme poverty in Uganda has been...
Keith Raffan: Do Linda Fabiani and her party support the chancellor's proposal for an international financing facility, which is a way of levering in extra money for aid and which could double the amount of aid from $50 billion per year to $100 billion per year overnight? The proposal is remarkably broad and deserves all-party support.
Keith Raffan: Does the minister agree that one way to address the rising number of people who are diagnosed with diabetes is to increase the number of specialist diabetic nurses, who do a wonderful job? They work closely with general practitioners and can spend more time with patients. They enable more careful monitoring of those who suffer from diabetes and reduce the number of hospital admissions.
Keith Raffan: I congratulate my colleague on the CPA executive, Dr Jackson, for initiating this important annual debate. I join her in welcoming the secretary-general of the Commonwealth, the high commissioners, the deputy high commissioners and the students from various Commonwealth countries who are studying in Scotland. In a recent speech, the secretary-general of the Commonwealth quoted one of his...
