Image source, bbc

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard insists the people of Scotland do not want another independence referendum anytime soon.

Mr Leonard says the people know that until the hard work is done to negotiate our way through Brexit, a referendum in 2020 makes no sense whatsoever.

He says the first minister is playing a game as no-one believes there will be or should be a referendum this year.

MSPs are being asked to vote on what they know to be a falsehood and many will do so today, he argues.

Nicola Sturgeon is using this parliament to speak to her own party and she is not even telling them the truth, he argues.

Mr Carlaw says people want to see action on education, on crime and on the economy.

Instead civil servants are being directed to spend time on plans on another referendum, he says.

He suggests the Scottish government is determined to keep Scotland "stuck in the past" instead of moving forward like the rest of the UK.

"Instead of healing the divisions of 2014, this government has exacerbated them."

Mr Carlaw says most people will see the last five years as a catalogue of wasted opportunities to improve public services in Scotland.

Isn't it time this first minister and this government put aside its "endless campaign" for a vote the majority of people do not want, he asks.

Scottish Conservative interim party leader Jackson Carlaw says the first minister knows she will not hold a referendum this year.

This debate is only for Yes supporters, shoving the issues that matter to the people aside, he argues.

Mr Carlaw says: "If only this government spent the same amount of attention on police and schools as it does on polling and spin, we might have the safest streets and the best schools in Europe."

He says most people outside the political bubble look on in "weary resignation or abject fury".

The democratic case to allow the people of Scotland to decide to become independent or not is inarguable, the first minister insists.

Ms Sturgeon suggests it is only parties who know their argument is "bust" which have to resort to "blocking democracy".

I cannot remember the last time I heard these parties make a positive case for the union, she adds.

The first minister says independence is the only way Scotland can shape its own future and build a better country.

The question for MSPs today is whether they support the principle of people having the right to choose and the right of people to change their minds.

Given what the Tories have in store, another referendum on independence is not just legitimate, it is necessary she concludes.

Ms Sturgeon says: "Having our future imposed on us by a UK government which is utterly contemptuous of our views simply isn't good enough."

The first minister warns the Tory vision will hit hardest those who are poorest and most vulnerable.

If Labour allows this it will be on them, she argues.

The first minister argues Brexit is "an affront to democracy" and she insists there has been a substantive material change with leaving the EU.

She insists independence is the only answer to this and it must be Scotland's choice to make when indyref2 takes place.

The first minister insists her party has now won three elections with a manifesto that would give the Scottish people the choice to choose their future, giving the SNP a mandate for indyref2.

Labour MSP Neil Findlay says he might have backed a "more realistic and rational" motion because he believes in the sovereign right of the people.

But it does not make sense to have a referendum until we know the exact outcomes of Brexit, he argues.

Ms Sturgeon says you either accept the right of the people to decide or you don't.

She says the government released proposals on migration earlier this week which were rejected by the UK government, adding this is not good enough.

Scottish Tory interim leader Jackson Carlaw says if the first minister was serious about building consensus around visa proposals she would have circulated them around other parties.

The first minister says the proposals are online, but says she will personally ensure Mr Carlaw receives a copy if that means he will work with the government.

Image source, bbc

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon begins by saying Scotland's future should be determined by all of us who live here and call Scotland home.

Ms Sturgeon says we will hear a lot of faux outrage from opposition parties that this debate is taking place at all.

The argument against that is Scotland will be removed from the EU against our will on Friday, says the first minister.

She says the consequences will be significant, including in terms of trade, the economy, our young people, the emotional impact on EU citizens living here and on our future population.

Image source, Getty Images

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is leading a debate on a second independence referendum.

She will insist that as Scotland will leave the EU "against its will" at the end of the week, this is a "material change in Scotland’s circumstances".

The motion, below, urges the UK government to agree to hold a vote "on a date and in a manner determined by the Scottish Parliament", preferably in 2020.

Image source, Scottish Government

Image source, Getty Images

MSPs are set to back calls for a new referendum on Scottish independence in a vote at Holyrood.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants to hold a new poll later this year, and wants UK ministers to agree to this.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rejected her call for a transfer of powers, saying the 2014 vote was a "once in a generation" event.

A vote will be held at the Scottish Parliament after this debate on whether a referendum should be held.

• Could Scotland still become independent?
• Indyref2: What does 'once in a generation' mean?
• Read more here

Click here for a full list of questions., external

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman says the report shows that the out-of hospital cardiac arrest strategy is delivering real results.

She says in 2018/19, 64% of people who had a heart attack out-of-hospital received CPR from bystanders, compared to 41% before it was launched.

One in ten of those people now survive compared to one in twenty when the strategy was launched.

The minister says this is down to the hard work of the Save A Life for Scotland, external partnership.

SNP MSP Angus MacDonald seeks a response to the findings of the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest data linkage project report.

Image source, Claire Fleck

When Mike Pinkerton called in at his local vet to pick up some food for his cat, Chewie, little did he know that he would be the one receiving treatment.

He doesn't remember anything about what happened at the vet's surgery, but he knows he is lucky to be alive.

Mr Pinkerton collapsed as he suffered a cardiac arrest - meaning his heart stopped pumping blood and he stopped breathing - and would have died there, had it not been for Henrietta Linnemann. The vet performed CPR on him for about eight minutes.

Mr Pinkerton is one of a growing number of people who survive after having a cardiac arrest outside hospital in Scotland.

A report shows that the number of people receiving CPR before paramedics arrived has reached a record high.

Read more.

Image source, Getty Images

A full list of questions is available here., external

Image source, PA media

NEWS SUMMARY

External Affairs Secretary Fiona Hyslop told MSPs this debate on the European flag was a direct consequence of Scotland being removed from the EU despite voting to remain.

Ms Hyslop also insisted MSPs directing the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is not unprecedented.

MSPs were debating whether to keep the European flag flying at the parliament during the Brexit transition period, despite the proposal having been rejected by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.

Tory MSP Liz Smith insisted this debate and vote would set a "dangerous precedent" and said people would expect debates in the chamber to address education and health issues, not flags.

The Scottish government motion points out the UK will still be in the Council of Europe post-Brexit and "directs" the parliamentary authorities to keep flying the European flag.

With the help of the Green MSPs this motion is likely to pass and the SPCB will be directed to do just that.

Image source, Scottish Parliament

It was agreed by the SPCB earlier this month it would be lowered at 23:00 on 31 January, at the moment the UK officially leaves the EU.

However Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh said there was a clear desire from all members of the SPCB that the flag flying policy should not become a political issue for debate.

All members of the SPCB, with the exception of SNP MSP Sandra White who dissented, reaffirmed the SPCB's position.

The Scottish government says it offered the compromise of flying the flag during the Brexit transition period, but that was rejected.

Image source, bbc

Mr McArthur says the spectacle of this parliament debating flag policy will strike people as bizarre.

He says this debate risks calling into question the role and neutrality of the SPCB.

The Lib Dem MSP urges colleagues not to support the government motion this afternoon.

Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur says he joined his party precisely because it is internationalist.

He says as such he agrees with many of the words contained in the government's motion.

Sadly that is not what this debate is about, he says.

Removing the flag does not make the parliament anti-European, just as leaving it up would not make it pro-European he argues.

The flags are a statement of legal fact not political desire, the Lib Dem MSP insists.