Fiona Hyslop: there's no room for complacency in EU referendum debate

She called for cross-party support as she set out the Scottish Government's case in support of the UK's membership of the European Union, during a debate at the Scottish Parliament.

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Ms Hyslop said the issues at stake are far bigger than what she described as "a civil war within the Tory party".

She told MSPs: "This issue is quite stark, it is bigger than any of this in terms of the internal dynamics within the Conservative Party. This has got to be about the future of not just this country but the European Union as a whole and our impact on the wider world.

"We as a parliament have to show political leadership to the people of Scotland and that's what we intend to do with the motion today.

"I want to appeal to all involved in this debate. To the Leave campaign to cease their smear, speculation and their downright ludicrous arguments, and to the Remain campaign to realise that if the biggest risk is complacency at the polls that their incredible Project Fear tactics will dissuade, not persuade, voters to turn out at the polls.

"The EU is not perfect but it is a remarkable achievement that in over six decades has secured co-operation over conflict, pursued a shared sense of collaboration, exchange and purposeful endeavour to work in concert, not just to advance the interests of its own members but the world on a global scale.

"And it is on that positive basis that the Scottish Government is of the view that Scotland as part of the UK should remain in the EU."

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Ms Hyslop highlighted benefits of EU membership including the guarantee of workers' rights and protections, human rights, trade and investment, and action on climate change.

She added: "Being in the EU offers a better chance to tackle the international big challenges of energy security, climate change and international pressures.

"There is no agreement or detail from the Leave side about what they are offering for the future."

Scottish Conservative external affairs spokesman Jackson Carlaw also criticised the "litany of competing apocalyptic arguments on either side".

He added: "All of these or any of them may be true but I think they have become a blizzard and a distraction in this debate."

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Reflecting on the history of the European project, he said: "The battlefields of Europe are now the holiday playgrounds of Europeans, that is a significant change in the step of life across the European continent and one that people too easily dismiss and now set aside as if it was something that was always inevitable and something which is irrelevant."

Mr Carlaw added: "The idea that the European community somehow acted as a brake on our prosperity, somehow interfered with all our economic, taxation and industrial and economic policy, is an absolute nonsense.

"In meaningful terms the sovereignty of policy in this country rests with people in this country, and I think that the interference and the dead hand of Europe is sometimes exaggerated for effect rather than in any respect to its reality."

He continued: "Ultimately I want to be an internationalist not an isolationist, and therefore I want to vote with all those others who wholeheartedly decide on June 23 that the right decision for this country is a vote to Remain."

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: "The vision of nations across the continent coming together has never been an easy one, but it has survived economic turmoil, the fall of communism, and expansion to welcome nation after nation.

"The changes we lived through in the first 60 years of our European family and the 43 years since we joined is nothing compared to the upheaval that we are living through now.

"The shift of power and prosperity to the east, the spread of jihadism, growing inequality, a more confrontational Russia, climate change, conflict within nations, the refugee crisis, disillusion with democratic politics and the rise of the far-right and anti-European parties that fill that void.

"This is a test for all of Europe, but Europe's eyes are currently on us."

She added: "There is a variety of views on Europe within Labour, and we will hear a bit of the socialist case for Leave from my friend Elaine Smith.

"But in contrast to the civil war in the Tory Cabinet, or the confusion of nationalists who argue that we can share sovereignty with every European nation except our nearest neighbours, Labour will campaign enthusiastically for our place in the European Union."

Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer said the EU debate has been hijacked by "two different wings of the Conservative Party".

In his maiden speech, the 21-year-old member for West of Scotland said: "They expect us to choose between an isolated, inward looking UK or a Europe of the corporations and the bankers.

"In that debate, it's no surprise that many progressives are tempted to vote Leave, even if I respectfully disagree with those on the left that ultimately decide to do so."

He said the European Union "has brought huge benefit to our environment", forcing the UK to eliminate acid rain, smog and dumping raw sewage in the ocean, and to clean up beaches and cut air pollution.

Liberal Democrat MSP Alex-Cole Hamilton said: "The Brexiteers, Margaret Mitchell and her colleagues, would have you paint a very nice picture of what it would be to reclaim all of our sovereignty, but it is a doctrine of isolationism - pure and simple.

"In this increasingly globalised world, human traffickers will never recognise that isolation, climate change will never recognise that isolation, and nor will terrorists.

"So, if we were to leave we would be a tiny archipelago of islands adrift in a sea of economic uncertainty.

"That is why the Liberal Democrat benches are so proudly, full-throatedly backing the Remain campaign."

In the debate, just three MSPs made speeches in favour of leaving the EU - Tories Margaret Mitchell and Graham Simpson and Labour's Elaine Smith.

Ms Mitchell branded the European Union a "failing and outdated institution", and told Holyrood: "A vote to Leave restores the freedom to trade with the rest of the world, as logically as the EU exports more to the UK than we do to the EU there are tremendous advantages for the EU still continuing to trade with the UK."

But she stressed: "The key argument for voting to Leave goes far beyond the economic one and centres around the free movement of people.

"The European Union's other 27 member states together have a population of 500 million, the UK has a population of 65 million. With an aging population we need more migration but the free movement of people means we can't choose those we need with the skills to grow our economy.

"Instead, anyone from this 500 million population can come and live in the UK. And whilst I understand why other parts of the EU would want to come here to improve their standards of living, this has the potential to put unsustainable pressure on schools, the health service, housing etc, with translation costs alone already impacting on public services.

"And the access these economic migrants gain to our benefits system in turn impacts adversely on pensions and other benefits which UK citizens have worked, in some cases a lifetime, to secure."

She also argued that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's repeated claims that a second independence referendum could be triggered if Scotland votes to stay in the EU but the UK votes to Leave would actually encourage some Scots to vote in favour of Brexit.

The Conservative said: "She is sending out a clear and unambiguous message to those in Scotland who voted against separation, or who are sick to death of talk of a second referendum, that to avoid this they should vote Leave."

She concluded: "It is impossible for anyone to predict with any certainty what the future will hold whether we are in or out of the EU, but we are a talented and innovative people with financial institutions that are respected worldwide. We are a force to be reckoned with, we should grasp the opportunity to realise this potential and vote Leave."

Tory Mr Simpson claimed the EU is "nothing more than a political project".

He argued: "It's a first class gravy train, with no stops, where the buffet car serves only the finest food and never mind the cost. And it's one way to ever closer union. We have the chance to pull the emergency cord and jump off, to set ourselves on another, freer course."

Leaving the EU would give Holyrood more powers over areas such as fishing and agriculture, he said, adding: "Why would anyone in this chamber not want that?"

Mr Simpson said: "The choice on June 23 is to stay or leave, the question voters must ask themselves is really very simple - how do I want to be governed?

"That's what it comes down to in the end, we can argue about prices, the economy, immigration, security, and there are valid arguments on both sides in all these areas, but ultimately it comes downs to this - do I want decisions affecting my country to be taken by people out with these borders?

"Do I think it is right that unelected and unaccountable European judges can overturn decisions of democratically elected politicians? Do I think it is right that policies can be decided by unelected bureaucrats and imposed on this country?"

Labour's Ms Smith welcomed the opportunity to put "a different perspective" in a debate dominated by Europhiles and a few centre-right Eurosceptics.

She said the wider EU debate "has been dominated by the right, quite often with racist undertones".

She added: "It's important that a legitimate left-wing case for leaving is actually voiced in the debate.

"The key argument of the official stay campaign, and I am not in any official campaign, is that things can only get worse if we leave.

"But that ignores the role that the EU has actually played in intensifying austerity and reactionary politics.

"I do appreciate that many colleagues on the Labour benches are enthusiastic about staying, as outlined by Kezia Dugdale, but from a left perspective I think there is a need to assess what the EU is and what route is most likely to offer the best prospects for the working class and employment rights.

"Personally, I am not convinced that (the best route) is being part of an undemocratic superstate with mass unemployment, falling living standards, and growing inequality.

"We only have to look to the Greek tragedy and 50% youth unemployment in Spain to see that."