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20 years after devolution, there is much unfinished business
In contrast to the conciliatory platitudes offered by other party leaders, RICHARD LEONARD made a distinctly political speech as Holyrood hosted the Queen for its 20th anniversary celebrations
CUT THE POMP: Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard (right) addressed the Queen during a ceremony marking 20 years of the devolved parliament

I STAND proudly as the leader of the party which in government delivered devolution. I stand proudly as the leader of the party which in opposition defends devolution.

Because it is an unassailable truth that each generation has to win the same battles over again. I stand proudly, but with great humility. Today is a time for reflection, and to think of those we have lost. I think especially this morning of Donald Dewar, who at the opening of this parliament 20 years ago said: “Today there is a new voice in the land, the voice of a democratic parliament. A voice to shape Scotland, a voice for the future.”

And he would be the first to say that we have much unfinished business. We began to reform the ownership of our land, [as Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon wrote in the early 20th century]: “The land out there, under the sleet, churned and pelted there in the dark.”

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