Accordingly there is no point in resolving to make the best of it in some half-hearted or grudging manner. Totally committed Quite the contrary. We are totally committed to making this parliament work successfully for Scotland in a renewed partnership within the United Kingdom. And that is one reason why I am delighted that Her Majesty the Queen will perform the opening ceremony later on this morning and why I very much regret that the prime minister, for understandable reasons, could not join us today, as originally planned. Let us hope, as our first minister said, that our fellow citizens in Northern Ireland who have had far too many days of mourning, can very soon have their own day of celebration.
History is full of ironies.
When a Scottish Parliament last met in 1707 it was the predecessors of my party, the Tories, who voted against the Treaty of Union. We were the Scottish Nationalists of that time. Our forebears acted in what they believed to be the best interests of the people of Scotland then and we intend to do so now and in the years ahead. I'm sure that each and every member of this parliament and each and every political party would claim the very same, for no one party or person has a monopoly of patriotism in this country of ours. Ladies and gentlemen, the people of Scotland have invested an enormous amount of trust and faith in this parliament and it is incumbent on each and every member of this parliament to be worthy of that trust.