SPVII [Forth and the Fife Valley] Troe2339 speaks on Justice

Troe enters the Grand Room at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow on a small stage to cheers from the supporters in the room who have had a little time to grab a beer or other beverage and a few snacks.

“Ladies and gentlemen and non-binary friends, let's start with a song.”

Everybody looks at the song text that was left on everyone's seat. And to the tune of a single guitar player on the stage everyone sings The Red Flag.

“Thanks for that. Let's give a round of applause to our guitarist Jeremy, who has agreed to play more for us later tonight.”

The crowd gives Jeremy a round of applause.

“Now, I am here today to talk to you about a topic near and dear to my heart. As you all know, for a lot of this past term I have been Scottish Labour's Spokesperson for Justice. Justice is one of the most important devolved matters in my view and the Scottish justice system has always been separate from the rest of the United Kingdom.

“The past term, I have helped author legislation which will change the age of criminal responsibility from the abysmally low 8 years today to a varied one between 12 and 14. An 8 year-old is certainly not mature enough to serve a sentence, much less to understand their actions and their consequences. Don't you agree?”

The crowd applauded and there were calls of agreement.

“I have also submitted legislation which seeks to make several charges of sexual nature more gender neutral and less relying on penetration by the male genitalia. This, I believe, will ensure that rape of male victims is taken more seriously and that the current under reporting is helped in the right direction. It also ensures that there is no bias in the law one way or the other and brings the law into the 21st century.

“Furthermore, I also submitted through the UK Parliament a reform of our Law Officers which will separate the political aspects and the leading of the prosectuational service in the role of the Lord Advocate. A politically appointed chief legal adviser to the government should not be the one who picks and chooses whether a person is fit for prosecution, whether a case should be appealed and so on. Instead the office of the Director of Public Prosecution for Scotland will be created and the appointment must be approved by Parliament and the appointment will be non-partisan through using the existing Judicial Appointments Board.

“The Scottish justice system is luckily a quite well-functioning one, but that does not mean it cannot be improved, and if elected I will of course continue to fight for necessary reforms and I hope that the other parties will be willing to work together on such reforms. We must not become complacent, as there are still things to do. Anonymising the judicial appointments process to make it more fair and to eliminate any potential biases, conscious or not, is an example of an important one. It is also something I have already started working on, and hopefully next term a government led by the Scottish Labour Party will spearhead this reform. However, no matter the make-up of the government I will propose the legislation and I hope to pass it with great support as it is a good way to ensure equality and eliminate any potential discrimination.”

The crowd applauds once again.

“Now, I think I have talked quite a bit about justice and I would be happy to talk even more, but instead let us have some more nice music from Jeremy and I will be enjoying some of the lovely hotdogs we have prepared. But if you are still interested in hearing more about justice and justice reform, and believe me I could talk for hours about it, then you are more than welcome to approach me and talk to me. I am also happy to talk about many other policy areas or even other things, so don’t be shy. Now, let us give it up for Jeremy one more time!”

The crowd applauds as Jeremy moves into the centre of the stage and starts playing There Is Power in a Union on the guitar and singing along. Troe moves to the food area and gets himself a hotdog whilst discussing several different topics with some supporters.

Later in the day Troe went canvassing around the smaller towns of Fife and the Forth Valley to talk to the residents about his campaign and the Scottish Labour Party’s and his own policies.