That the Parliament deplores the news that 63 million women in India are statistically “missing” due to a cultural preference for boys; understands that among the reasons that there are more men than women are the large number of sex-selective abortions and better life expectancy for boys; further understands that this data comes from the Indian Government’s annual economic survey; notes that families that have a son are more likely to stop having children than families that have a daughter; believes that each human being, regardless of their gender, age, race or other factors, is of equal value, and hopes that, in Scotland, India and elsewhere, men, women, boys and girls will be treated increasingly equally.

That the Parliament congratulates Rangers and Celtic football clubs on working together on the question of where Scotland’s international football matches, cup finals and other such major games should be played in the future; considers that their suggestions of using Celtic Park and Ibrox Stadium in place of Hampden are worthy of consideration, and hopes that examples such as this of these clubs working together might also help to improve the relationship between their respective fans.

That the Parliament welcomes the Oxfam report, Reward Work, not Wealth, which finds that the world’s richest 1% own 82% of global wealth; understands that, according to the report, half of the world’s population received no share of all the wealth created globally, while billionaires have grown their wealth by $762 billion, which is enough to end “global extreme poverty seven times over”; believes that 2017 saw the largest growth in the number of billionaires in history with a new billionaire joining the ranks every two days, bringing the number worldwide to 2,043, 90% of whom are men; notes that Oxfam highlight a general trend of suppression of freedom of speech in many of the countries in which they work, with CIVICUS, an alliance dedicated to strengthening citizens, finding that there are now serious threats to civic freedoms in more than 100 countries; agrees with the words of the former US Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, who said “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.”; highlights the danger that it considers rampant inequality presents to people’s way of life; welcomes the recommendations in the report that focus on tackling extreme wealth through the use of mechanisms such as pay ratios, redistribution and eradicating the use of tax havens; deplores the scale of inequality revealed by this report, and calls on the Scottish Government and UK Government to use the powers available to them to meet the recommendations and tackle rampant income inequality.

That the Parliament notes the news that the airline, Norwegian, will be withdrawing a route to Connecticut from Edinburgh due, it believes, to delays in the reduction of Air Passenger Duty (APD) or Air Departure Tax (ADT); understands that the airline will also be reducing the number of flights to Rhode Island and Stewart, north of New York City; believes that this is the first time that an airline has said that it is cutting flights due to APD; accepts that there are arguments on both sides of APD and that there are legal complications; considers that one of Scotland’s key strengths is its tourism industry, and looks forward to further consideration of a reduction in APD, which it believes will bring with it significant potential benefits to the sector and the number of international flights into and out of Scotland.