South of Scotland SNP MSP Emma Harper has recently moved to re-establish the Cross Party Group on the Scots Language in the Scottish Parliament. The Cross Party Group previously existed for several years during the early days of the Scottish Parliament and was chaired by individuals such as Irene McGugan and Rob Gibson and included MSPs from several parties. Ms Harper commented that it was now the appropriate time to restart the group given that the Scottish Government was committed to bring forward legislation on the language similar to that which has previously been enacted on behalf of Gaelic by the former Labour-Liberal coalition.

As part of this restart Ms Harper has contacted Dr Michael Dempster, Director of the Scots Language Centre, an asked if the SLC would formally accept the role of the group Secretariat. A date is also being discussed for a first meeting in the coming weeks and Ms Harper has asked anyone with an interest in Scots policy to get in touch and be included.

She concluded by saying “Whether you speak or scrieve (write), re-establishing the cross party group is one way to further one of our national languages... As part of the SNP manifesto, there was a commitment to establish a board, through legislation, to help promote the Scots language and its interests….Now is a great time to progress the group, to help aid the government in taking forward Scots language legislation, and it will allow us to keep the pressure on to make sure this is taken forward in a timely manner.”

An audio version of this story in Scots is available below.