The needs of women, particularly lone parents, rarely feature in Scotland's economic strategies, which makes European thinking critical.

The Conservatives would have you believe that we only need to be part of the European Union for economic stuff.  As with everything else, they want to take us back to the 1970s, and not in a good way. Apparently, we only need the common market and access to trade agreements.  The rest of it rides roughshod over British sovereignty, whatever that is.

I disagree. One of the best things about belonging to a broader community is the opportunity for the big to encourage the little, the rich to enable the poor, the established to educate the formative and for us all to benefit out of sharing the richness of our experiences, cultures and heritage. 

The whole point of European co-operation is to avoid us ever going to war with each other again. And with the break-up of the Soviet Union and the creation of a whole host of independent nation states, the need to ensure these nascent democracies flourish and thrive as societies and economies has become more urgent.

These are difficult times for many European countries and history has shown that often, more extreme political parties gain traction with desperate electorates.  Already, there are clear signs of a general swing to the right and signs of the resurgence of the far right across EU countries. The Labour MEP Claude Moraes has written extensively and authoritatively on the risks inherent in this.

And it’s why we need cohesion on a social level, more now than ever.  It might be trite and clever politics to appeal to voters’ baser instincts when times are hard, but it is always the weak and vulnerable who suffer when political parties play the lowest common denominator card.  That is why the EU’s work through its labyrinth of institutions on democracy, equality and social policy is so important right now.

Recently, the European Parliament passed an important non-legislative resolution on single parents.  Despite it having no practical effect (at the moment), MEPs gave a clear signal of intent by agreeing to support a number of objectives on this issue. It matters because the number of lone parent households is growing all across Europe and as the rapporteur, Barbara Matera, an Italian Christian Democrat MEP, said: “this will become a central issue and one of Europe's priorities, considering that the number of single mothers is growing.”

The resolution focused on mothers and children, because to an overwhelming degree, it is still women who become lone parents, bearing most of the responsibility for raising children when couples break up, even in the UK.

Proposals include ensuring single mothers receive housing support and priority on waiting lists for rental accommodation, a beneficiary tax regime for lone parent households and tax incentives for businesses to employ single parents or provide on-site childcare, as well as specific access to training and educational scholarships.  None of these things happen in the UK or even in Scotland, just now.

MEPs also considered it important to create family centres for support, advice and information, including on sexual health and wellbeing, and also parenting classes. To some degree, we have these kind of initiatives but they are patchy:  the Scottish Government’s commitment to invest £50 million in family centres and to produce a national parenting strategy should help address this aspect of support.

The report noted that women who are single parents are frequently less well educated and in less well paid jobs than their married counterparts. It made the link between this and poverty, for the mothers and their children. And yet, the Conservatives have removed support for young parents to stay on at school, and in Scotland, these kind of initiatives in education are being viewed as luxury, high cost items, ripe for cutting. 

Moreover, despite this being a growing societal trend -- less through the stereotype of young women having babies irresponsibly and more through relationship and marriage breakdown -- in Scotland, in economic strategies and initiatives, the needs of women, particularly lone parents, rarely feature. 

Childcare, as anyone who has ever needed to use it knows, is expensive, sparse and nigh impossible to access if your child has a disability or additional support needs.  Nor is it particularly suited to shift or part time working. Yet, it has low political priority.

MEPs coming together to agree such objectives and proposals gives us cause for hope, that there is a real gain to be had in sticking together and thinking through the kind of policy response we need to make to address shifting demographic trends and different economic circumstances.

It’s the kind of thinking sadly lacking from political discourse currently on these islands.  And despite what Eurosceptics might tell you, proves why we need to be in Europe.