Immigration

– in the Scottish Parliament at on 19 April 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Fulton MacGregor Fulton MacGregor Scottish National Party

The First Minister will be aware of the case of Olya Merry, who was ordered to leave the United Kingdom by the Home Office, despite being married to a Scottish citizen and having a Scottish daughter. Olya and her family, who are in the gallery today, are delighted that interventions by the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs and local politicians have led to the Home Office’s decision being paused for review.

Will the First Minister confirm that the Scottish Government will continue to put pressure on the UK Government to ensure that Olya is permitted to remain permanently at her home in Coatbridge with her husband and daughter? Will she also confirm that the Scottish Government will continue to demand the devolution of immigration law, so that Scottish citizens are not affected in a similar way in the future?

Photo of Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Sturgeon Scottish National Party

First, I welcome the Merry family to the gallery. I am sure that the whole Parliament will also want to welcome them.

Fiona Hyslop raised the case with the Home Secretary last week. We will continue to make appropriate representations in order to give the Merry family the peace of mind that they require about the right of Mrs Merry to remain permanently in Coatbridge with her husband and daughter.

This case, and the appalling treatment of the children of the Windrush generation that has come to light this week, demonstrate more clearly than has perhaps been the case previously that we urgently need a humane immigration system across the whole UK, and not the hostile environment that Theresa May has been so keen to put in place. We need a system that respects human dignity, that recognises individual circumstances and which does not focus on arbitrarily cutting numbers and unjustly forcing people to leave the country that they have come to call home. That is the sort of humane immigration policy that I want to see in place. We will continue to argue very loudly and clearly for that.