Cole-Hamilton marks VE Day

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

“Today we commemorate the moment when 80 years ago, the high command of the Allied Forces received the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich.

“Whilst war still raged in the Pacific, for the first time in 6 years, across these islands, the tension, grind and privations of wartime, gave way to lasting peace.

“In a radio broadcast to the British people and to the world, King George VI said:

'On this day of just triumph and proud sorrow, let us take up our work again, resolved as a people to do nothing unworthy of those who died for us and to make the world such a world as they would have desired, for their children and for ours.'

“His words ushered in the long peace that most of us have only ever known.

“As we give thanks today for the sacrifice laid down by the generations to come before us, we must rededicate ourselves to the promise of that peace and its furtherance for our children and theirs to come.”