This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Queen opens second session of Parliament
03/06/2003
The Queen today addressed MSPs in the Scottish Parliament as she formally opened its second session.
She said that the Parliament's first four years had shown 'clear signs of a legislature that was 'distinctly Scottish' carving out a position for Scotland in Britain, in Europe and in the wider world.
First Minister Jack McConnell replied:
"The new Parliament has learned to walk. Our task now is to ensure that, as the pace quickens, it walks in the right direction.
"With justice, compassion, integrity and wisdom at our core, we will be much more likely to do so."
The Queen, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the coronation this week, was greeted at the entry to the Assembly Hall on the Mound in Edinburgh by a piper from Lothian and Borders Police Pipe Band.
The Inverness Gaelic Choir (Coisir Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis) performed in the Parliament's Quadrangle before her arrival, while the National Youth Choir of Scotland entertain MSPs in the Chamber.
Today's occasion marked the third time the Queen met with the Parliament.
The last time was a year ago when it was sitting in Aberdeen, and she was the first Head of State to speak while it was in session.
The Queen also performed the original opening ceremony in Edinburgh in July 1999.
Full text of FM's reply to the Queen:
Your Majesty, on behalf of the members here and all of the people of Scotland, I thank you for opening the second session of our Parliament.
While our young Parliament has been in place for only four years (and some of the members have been here for only four weeks) your Majesty has been in her job for rather longer.
I was fortunate enough to be at Westminster Abbey yesterday to join the celebration of the 50 th anniversary of your coronation and I was very happy to represent the devolved government in Scotland there.
Throughout that time, your Majesty has shown a keen interest in Scotland and in the lives of the Scottish people. Not surprisingly, you visited Scotland as part of the first Royal Tour following the Coronation in 1953. Your Majesty arrived in Scotland at Waverley Station on June 23 when you were met by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh.
I am sure the members here will be as astounded as I was to learn that the Provost who met Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh that day was not Eric Milligan!
But during that tour, and since, Scots have enjoyed those visits and welcomed the support and encouragement regularly given to those who serve others in national organisations or in local communities.
We are grateful to you for the time you have spent in Scotland, for the way in which you have engaged so enthusiastically with people throughout Scotland over the last 50 years, and with our Parliament since our opening day in 1999.
On that day, the late Donald Dewar said that it was a "rare privilege in an old nation to open a new Parliament".
It was, indeed, and it was an honour to sit as an elected member of this new parliament for those first four years.
But it has also been a challenge. A challenge to establish a new voice in the land, to begin to pass good and just laws and to govern with compassion and integrity. But we met that challenge, and now we move into a new chapter. No longer establishing a new institution and learning to govern in new ways, but now using our collective wisdom to build on that start and win confidence and respect by making a difference in Scotland.
In those four short years, we have in Scotland also renewed our identity and impact abroad. We have taken our place amongst the devolved nations and regions of Europe, welcomed interest and visitors from all over the world, and seen increased interest elsewhere in Scottish affairs.
Later this year, we will be proud to host the Commonwealth Education Ministers when they meet here in Edinburgh. It will be a special occasion that will mark the contribution of Scottish education to the rest of the world.
But it will also discuss the demands which a modern education service must meet in an ever-changing world. A world where gaps in ambition and achievement still too often reflect social conditions and injustice.
It will build on the past but it will also help Governments across the Commonwealth, including our own, build for the future.
Your majesty, when you opened our Parliament on July 1, 1999, you gave us a gift of the mace, inscribed with the memorable words "There shall be a Scottish Parliament".
Also inscribed on the mace are four words which have come to mean a huge amount to all of us; wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity.
The creation of this Parliament was never an end in itself, it was a means to improve government and to improve life in Scotland. Similarly, these four words should not just underpin our actions and deliberations, they should lead us to deliver change which makes a real and sustained difference to those we represent.
To deliver justice for those who are the victims of crime, or who suffer prejudice or discrimination.
To show compassion for those who need our help to raise their aspirations or realise their ambitions, and to take responsibility for the second chance which so many sometimes need.
To behave with integrity, putting our duty of service to our constituents ahead of ourselves in ways which help rebuild confidence in elected government.
To value wisdom, whatever its source. We need to show wisdom too - the wisdom to realise we do not have all the answers and that there are limits to what government can achieve alone. But also the wisdom to listen and to act in the right way at the right time to make Scotland a better place.
The new Parliament has learned to walk. Our task now is to ensure that, as the pace quickens, it walks in the right direction. With justice, compassion, integrity and wisdom at our core, we will be much more likely to do so.
Your Majesty, we have many challenges ahead over the next four years. We are pleased that you are here with us today as we begin that journey.
Your Majesty, on behalf of the Parliament, I offer you our thanks.