A WEE COUNTY minister urged MSPs to stand up for people who find themselves on the margins of society.

Reverend Margaret Shuttleworth, of Sauchie & Coalsnaughton Parish Church, delivered Time for Reflection in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday.

Drawing on her own experiences with dyslexia, she told the politicians that "the highest goal" is to help those that cannot speak up.

A poor time at school, which saw her placed in remedial classes, led to her leaving without any qualifications.

However, thanks to a start in the former Youth Opportunities programme she worked with people with a learning difficulty for 25 years.

She then went to Glasgow University to earn her degree, before proudly taking up a post to serve those in the local church.

Rev Shuttleworth shared her background to demonstrate she knows what it is like to be a person "for whom the system fails".

She told the chamber: "I don't tell you this story either to cultivate your sympathy or your admiration.

"I tell you this story because I want to say that I know what it is to be a person on the margins.

"A person whom the system fails in some way; for many of us throughout our adult life, that translates to us being a failure.

"Jesus operated from the margins and for the margins, and called the powerful and the leaders to care for there people.

"In his Kingdom value, and I hope in ours, the highest goal should be to help those who cannot speak up. Or when they do speak up are not heard. It's where policies should start.

"After all it is at the margins, on the edges, where the real shape of society is defined."