Peebles High wins Dewar Debate final

Two pupils from Peebles High School won the final of the Law Society of Scotland’s Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament, held last night in the Scottish Parliament's debating chamber.

Mhairi Sinclair and Helen Whalley proposed the motion "This House believes that physician assisted suicide should be legalised".

Fraser MacDonald and Luca Delpipo from Perth High School were runners-up, and Holly McLeod and Aidan Fuge from Strathallan School, and Sandy Macdonald and Lucas Higham from Lenzie Academy also competed in the final.

To get to this stage of the competition, the students had already tackled topics such as whether democratic countries should boycott the 2018 World Cup in Russia, whether monuments to controversial figures should be removed, and whether gender quotas should be introduced in Parliament.

The winners were presented with the tournament trophy and £1,000 for their school from the Law Society of Scotland, and the runners-up received £250 from the Glasgow Bar Association. All finalists received book tokens and individual quaichs to commemorate their success, and educational books to the value of £500, to be shared by the winners and runners-up were donated by Hodder Gibson Publishers, who sponsored the event along with legal firm TC Young. A prize of £50 worth of book vouchers was also awarded to Riya Banjeree from Hutchesons' Grammar, one of a number of other schools taking part in the tournament who were represented in the audience, for the best floor speech of the night.

Deputy Presiding Officer Linda Fabiani MSP commented: "Chairing this debate was a real pleasure. Despite such a demanding topic all of the participants showed themselves to be articulate and insightful debaters – with particular congratulations to Helen and Mhairi, from Peebles High school, this year’s winners. It would be no surprise to see some of this year’s finalists back in this Chamber in a few years’ time!"

Alison Atack, President of the Law Society of Scotland, added: "I have been absolutely amazed by the quality of debate displayed in this year’s final and am delighted to congratulate Helen and Mhairi on their remarkable performances.

"Their success is well deserved and all of the 128 schools who have taken part in this year’s competition should be incredibly proud of themselves. I would also like to congratulate the six other finalists who were more than worthy opponents and debating their way all the way to the final is a fantastic achievement."