Good afternoon. The first item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-11565, in the name of Annabelle Ewing, on St Andrew’s day 2014. The debate will be concluded without any question being put, and I invite members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak button now or as soon as possible.
I call Bruce Crawford to open the debate on behalf of Annabelle Ewing.
Motion debated,
That Parliament notes the view that St Andrew’s Day should be celebrated as a full national holiday and for it to be celebrated at home and throughout the world; believes that St Andrew’s Day is a valuable opportunity to showcase all that is great about Scotland and promote economic and cultural opportunities, and considers that, with St Andrew’s own roots in Asia, Scotland’s national day is an opportunity to celebrate diversity of cultures, faiths and ethnic origins and in this momentous year for Scotland, in which it has welcomed the world to the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup and voted in a historic referendum, that St Andrew’s Day offers a great opportunity for Scotland and its friends at home and abroad to celebrate together.
14:00
I congratulate Annabelle Ewing on becoming a minister in the Scottish Government. I thank all those who signed the motion and those who have turned up for the debate. I also thank Annabelle Ewing for creating the opportunity for me to lead this debate on celebrating St Andrew’s day.
I particularly want to reflect on Scotland’s place in the world. As stated in the motion, St Andrew himself was a man who touched many countries. The obvious countries with which Scotland has links are our friends in the Commonwealth countries across the world. It was in the Commonwealth countries that many of our forebears chose to make new lives for themselves in the more recent past and, of course, vice versa.
However, Scotland also has centuries-old relationships with our Scandinavian neighbours, and with Poland, Germany and the Netherlands. Many Scots emigrated to those countries, mainly in search of economic or military careers, while many from those countries also settled here. It was the same for our neighbouring countries across these islands, and again vice versa.
Similarly, across the world, in more contemporary times, in first maritime and then air travel, we have witnessed Scotland take her place as part of a smaller and more interdependent world. People have come to enrich our society, whether that has been the Italians and the Poles, or people from Pakistan and India and so on. In developing our place in the modern world, and as a result of our many links around the globe, we have become a much more ethnically rich and diverse country. That has helped us to retain a unique and outward-looking culture.
It goes without saying that 2014 has been a year like no other to celebrate all that is good about Scotland. Our referendum was a magnificent renewal of Scotland’s national democracy, with an enormous turnout and truly incredible levels of democratic engagement from our citizens.
When I was in Fort William earlier this week with the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee, we had the chance to speak to many 16 and 17-year-olds who were involved in that democratic process. There is no doubt in my mind, given what we have heard from the Smith commission this week and from all the parties in Parliament, that we recognise and value the contribution of those young people as part of the referendum process. I am glad that everyone is now committed to giving 16 and 17-year-olds the vote in our country.
The referendum was a spectacle, which was watched in awe across the world. The journalist Jack Wright wrote this week in his “The View from ... America” column for The National—an excellent addition to Scotland’s daily newspaper titles—as he commented on the new-found interest in Scotland and our politics, that
“Our brand is stronger than ever in the US”.
However, it is more than that. We have welcomed visitors in the second year of homecoming from all over the world. I met many of them at the Bannockburn event. We have succeeded in organising and delivering the best Commonwealth games ever, as well as the magnificent spectacle that was the Ryder cup. We have had a wide range of cultural events at which to reflect upon and commemorate this year for Scotland. One example, relating to our country’s historical heritage, was the hugely successful marking of the 700th anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn.
The Commonwealth games in particular presented a golden opportunity to celebrate the diversity of the family of nations that the Commonwealth represents and the diversity to be found in modern Scotland. Former First Minister Alex Salmond elegantly described the diversity of modern Scotland when he said:
“There are many different colours and threads woven into the Scottish tartan and all must be celebrated.”
I whole-heartedly agree with those sentiments.
The richness of that tartan is reflected in analysis work that has been done on the 2011 census. Dr Andrew Smith, senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Glasgow, said:
“What our research in the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity reveals is a picture of growing diversity within Scotland and of diversity spread across different areas of the country.”
He added:
“What the analysis also reveals is that Scotland’s growing diversity is not producing ‘polarised islands of different groups’ but a ‘mosaic of differently mixed areas’.”
Those findings are reassuring in modern Scotland, but there is no room for complacency in the Parliament or in Scottish society more generally. We must always strive to ensure that the diversity of society is celebrated and never divides us.
Just as modern Scotland is about those from elsewhere who have made their home in our country, Scots who have left these shores for opportunity have made a huge contribution to the modern world. The USA and Canada are oft-cited examples of countries where millions can claim Scottish ancestry. It is estimated that, from this wee country of ours, between 28 million and 40 million people may be able to claim Scottish descent. I was intrigued to discover recently that 80,000 people in Chile claim Scottish descent. I could not understand that number, as it is more than the figure for many European countries put together. I discovered that it was mostly about sheep and an admiral from Scotland who went to Chile to create the Chilean navy. Forgive me, but I cannot remember his name.
Will the member give way?
Yes. I am sure that John Mason will now tell me his name.
No. The member mentions other countries, but does he realise the connection with Jamaica, which also has a saltire in its flag? Scots were involved there and there are a huge number of Scottish names in Jamaica.
Yes, I recognise that although, obviously, the saltire that goes through the flag of Jamaica is yellow. Further south from Jamaica, there are places such as Guyana, where lots of Scots went during the times of the sugar plantations. Scots have made a significant contribution in that part of the world. It is a pity that the bobsleighers from Jamaica are better than ours, though.
Yesterday, I was reminded by my American intern Heidi Brown that today is thanksgiving day in the United States. On that national holiday, families are given the day off to rejoice and celebrate the co-operation between native Americans and the pilgrims during that period. Americans mark the day by feasting, as they did after their first successful harvest in 1621, and by giving thanks in a continued tradition of expressing gratitude to the native Americans. I therefore wish Americans here in Scotland a happy thanksgiving day on their national holiday.
The motion advocates the celebration of St Andrew’s day as a national holiday. I have no doubt that it is not beyond our wit to designate St Andrew’s day as a national holiday and to rearrange our calendar of public holidays to reflect that, if that is what we choose. If ever there was good reason to celebrate St Andrew with a public holiday, it is to celebrate Scotland’s contribution to the world and, even more important, to celebrate and raise a toast to those from all round the planet who have chosen Scotland as their home and so enriched our culture and daily lives.
I call Christine Grahame, who has four minutes, or thereby.
14:08
I like the “thereby”, Presiding Officer.
I congratulate Bruce Crawford on congratulating Annabelle Ewing on securing the debate to celebrate St Andrew’s day and our patron saint in Scotland. He is also the patron saint of not just Jamaica but Greece, Romania, Russia and some other countries. It is good to see Jamie McGrigor, who will speak later from the Conservative benches, in the chamber. I have to remark that there is nobody on the Labour or Liberal benches to speak to a motion celebrating Scotland’s national day, which is pretty disgraceful.
The raising of the profile of our national day is undoubtedly due in part to the reconvening of this Parliament some 15 years ago, and not least to Dennis Canavan’s St Andrew’s Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007. However, St Andrew’s day is not a full national holiday, as Bruce Crawford said, and is not yet as celebrated as Burns night.
At one time, Google displayed the saltire on its home page on St Andrew’s day. I hope that it does so this year. I suggest that members who are not in the chamber—that is most of them—pay attention and suggest to Google that it puts the St Andrew’s flag on its home page on 30 November. That is good business for Scotland, and it is appropriate.
St Andrew gave us the saltire. Flags are at the beating heart of a nation. It is symbols of nationhood, such as our patron saint and the flag that is emblematic of his crucifixion, that have carried the hearts and hopes of Scots in good and bad times, from confrontations on football pitches to those on battlefields.
Where is that symbol of our patron saint more distinct than in our flag, the saltire, which was inspired by the vision at Athelstaneford in 832 AD? I should say that I wasnae there. At Athelstaneford, King Angus—Angus is my oldest son’s name; there’s DNA for you—led the Scots in battle to defeat the Angles. The night before battle, St Andrew appeared before King Angus, assuring him of victory, and in the morning a white saltire against a blue sky appeared to both sides. It scared the Angles to bits; they lost confidence and were defeated. The image has been our flag ever since.
The saltire was also used on the nation’s coinage when it was introduced by King David I in the 12th century. It therefore has an ancient and noble lineage.
On St Andrew’s day in our capital city there is the opportunity to fly the St Andrew’s flag in a prominent position on the castle. Why does that not happen? There is a false argument that the castle is an army garrison—it is not. It ceased to be a garrison in 1920, and the army is there largely in a ceremonial capacity.
I am thankful that Historic Scotland saw the light last year and did not put the Olympic rings on the castle. I have another suggestion: why not project a large saltire on the ramparts of the castle on 30 November?
In commemoration of St Andrew’s day, St Andrew’s flag may fly over Edinburgh castle, but not in pole position; the British Government, on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, designated the castle as an official flag-flying station, therefore the union flag takes precedence. However, under the Scotland Act 1998, and by agreement between the Crown Estate Commissioners and the Scottish Office, ownership of Edinburgh castle and other historic buildings transferred from the Crown to the Secretary of State for Scotland and thence to the Scottish ministers.
The transfer of 26 properties took place in 1999. Fact. The properties included, inter alia, Edinburgh castle. The Government, through its ministers, is the owner and is therefore landlord to the MOD. The MOD is merely our tenant. It is time for the landlords, on behalf of the Scottish people, to tell the tenants to take down the union flag and fly the saltire in its place, not only because it symbolises our nation and its patron saint but because—to be frank—if it is good enough for recruiting Scots to fight in illegal wars, it is good enough to fly all year round.
Despite the narrow miss of independence—or perhaps because of it, because of those 1.6 million Scots who voted yes in the face of a unionist tsunami of negativity, and because of the baby steps that are being taken under the Smith commission, with the redefining of “substantial and cohesive”, “home rule” and “vow”—we all know, whatever side we are on in this Parliament, that Scotland’s story has not yet been told. The ending remains unwritten—but when it is written the saltire will fly everywhere.
14:13
Like Christine Grahame, I am astonished that no one from the Labour benches is here for the debate. That was also the case in the debate on Ukraine the other day; I thought that that was rather odd. Perhaps Labour members have all been rendered speechless by something.
I congratulate Annabelle Ewing on securing this debate, and I am glad to take part in it, because it is important. Christine Grahame told the story of the Scottish saltire and the legend of St Andrew, which I was about to relate, so that has taken away some of my speech.
Sorry about that.
I was very glad to learn that it was a dream of St Andrew that inspired the saltire. It is a beautiful flag and it is owned by all the Scottish people—and of course it is part of the union jack.
Quite why St Andrews was considered to be the end of the earth, where St Rule was instructed to take St Andrew’s remains, is a mystery to me, as I have always considered it a very fine town, with a great university and a marvellous golf course. Perhaps St Rule arrived on a bad day, which was made worse by a haar or something like that. He was, however, lucky to get away with his life, unlike the Hussites who arrived in St Andrews from Czechoslovakia and were burnt at the stake.
What celebrations St Andrew has inspired worldwide, particularly in Australia and Canada. In China, the Caledonian Society of Beijing, of which my brother was a previous chairman, holds a St Andrew’s ball, where an enormous amount of Scotch whisky is consumed. Amazingly, in the Czech Republic, where the Hussites I spoke of came from, they hold a St Andrew’s night as well, which is very forgiving of them. In Saudi Arabia, they hold a St Andrew’s night ball in Jeddah, but I do not think that quite so much whisky is drunk at that one.
I turn to slightly more serious matters. During my time as an MSP, I have spoken in many debates on St Andrew’s day. I have argued before that our position on making the day a national holiday is consistent and clear. We have always been supportive of the desire to have St Andrew’s day as a bank holiday, but in exchange for another day, not in addition to existing days.
That was the approach adopted in the 2007 act and we remain supportive of that. St Andrew’s day is, correctly, a voluntary public holiday. That is the approach that our Parliament takes. Strangely enough, Eton College also celebrates St Andrew’s day as a holiday and has done so for hundreds of years.
We did not support the argument that St Andrew’s day must be a compulsory national holiday, as the cost of that inevitably falls on businesses, especially small businesses, and the taxpayer.
Will the member give way?
In a moment.
The Confederation of British Industry Scotland has stated in the past that more and more firms are moving away from closing on specified days to a system in which employees have an annual leave entitlement and decide for themselves, in agreement with their employer, when to take a holiday. We would be happy for employees to engage with their employers to discuss taking St Andrew’s day off instead of another holiday if that was appropriate, which might be the case if the employee’s spouse, partner or children have St Andrew’s day off.
I will take the intervention now.
Make it a brief one, please, as the member is in his last minute.
Thank you, Presiding Officer. Does the member think that the retail sector might benefit from a holiday at this time of year, which could boost sales leading up to Christmas?
That is a good point well made.
I agree with the motion that St Andrew’s day is a great opportunity to celebrate the diversity of our cultures and faiths. We also recognise that tourism businesses can need extra promotion during the winter months, which we have talked about. We want to see a continued focus to boost winter tourism in Scotland.
I am pleased that Historic Scotland offered free tickets to many of its properties on St Andrew’s day. I pay tribute to all those enterprising businesses, shops and tourism enterprises in my region of the Highlands and Islands that seek to use St Andrew’s day to boost trade.
As a keen angler, I have always thought it very appropriate that our Scottish patron St Andrew was a fisherman from Galilee. I wish all those who have Friday off for St Andrew’s day an enjoyable day. I hope that some of them will do a spot of fishing or even enjoy some of our first-class shellfish.
14:18
I congratulate Annabelle Ewing on lodging this motion and on her ministerial appointment, as she will be a colleague in the Government. I also congratulate Bruce Crawford on taking up the mantle somewhat at the last minute. I can think of no MSP more appropriate to have done so.
I am delighted to wind up this debate on behalf of the Government. I, too, am surprised at the lack of some Opposition members, but, nonetheless, today’s debate about St Andrew’s day being celebrated widely as a national holiday is incredibly important for a number of reasons.
I particularly want to pick up the point that Bruce Crawford and, latterly, Jamie McGrigor made about this being an opportunity to celebrate Scotland as an outward-looking nation. Scots have travelled the world over, sometimes for good reasons and sometimes—such as when it comes to Jamaica—probably not for particularly great reasons. It is also a country that has opened itself up to migrants and been welcoming in that regard.
As Jamie McGrigor alluded to, St Andrew is the patron saint of fishermen and fishmongers. I am certainly not looking at any members in the chamber, particularly not at any members behind me, when I say that St Andrew is also the patron saint of singers, spinsters, maidens, old maids, and women wishing to become mothers. Also—this is perhaps a good thing for politicians—he is the patron saint for people with sore throats.
It has been seven years since the Scottish Parliament approved the bill to have a national holiday on or around St Andrew’s day. As members know, since then, the Scottish Government and public sector organisations such as VisitScotland have observed that holiday. Many local authorities also observe it but we hope that more will take up the challenge—and indeed the opportunity, as John Mason said—to take the day as a holiday.
Members will also be pleased to hear that we have gathered some encouraging evidence that suggests that the celebration of St Andrew’s day is gathering momentum. For example, in 2013-14, Scottish winter festival events recorded a total footfall of 257,884. That is an 8 per cent increase on the footfall the year before. Also, the number of private sector organisations offering free or discounted entry on St Andrew’s day increased by 140 per cent between 2012 and 2013.
Bruce Crawford’s remarks about the global Scottish diaspora reminded me of a saying that I am sure members will have heard many a time: that there are two types of people in the world—Scots and those who wish they were Scottish. In that vein, it is estimated that 50 million people across the globe claim Scottish ancestry. Many of those Scots and Scots at heart, wherever they are from in the world—from Beijing to Rio, Toronto and Brisbane—will be remembering and marking the national day, as they do hogmanay and Burns night every year.
People were quite correct to mention that St Andrew is also the patron saint of many other countries, including Greece, Russia, Romania, and—apparently—Barbados, which is fantastic. As external affairs still come into my remit, if members would want me to, I could submit myself to the country to go on a fact-finding mission to Barbados in that regard—I would be more than happy to do that.
We are working hard with our partners across the world to establish St Andrew’s day as an important day to mark. I am delighted that we are working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to promote the celebration of St Andrew’s day. I was having a Twitter exchange with the high commissioner to Zambia, James Thornton, who was at the Caledonian ball to celebrate St Andrew’s day just this week. Jamie McGrigor also gave many examples of other celebrations. We are delighted that our partners are doing all they can—as we are doing all we can—to promote St Andrew’s day across the world, as well as members here who will be celebrating in their local constituencies.
As the motion states, St Andrew’s day is also
“an opportunity to celebrate diversity of cultures, faiths and ethnic origins”
of this small country. Bruce Crawford made that point extraordinarily well throughout his speech. During this year in particular, through all the events that we have had—including, of course, the Commonwealth games in particular—we have managed to bring those communities of Scotland closer together.
St Andrew himself, of course, was an immigrant. He emigrated and travelled to many different countries, including Ukraine, Romania, Russia, Greece and Turkey, to name just a few. One programme of events that helps to celebrate that ethnic diversity on St Andrew’s day this year is the fantastic event that is called the multicultural homecoming. It is being organised by BEMIS Scotland, which is headed by the very able Dr Rami Ousta and his team. The finale of that homecoming celebration is on St Andrew’s night and the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs will be representing the Scottish Government at that event. I myself will be celebrating St Andrew’s day with our vibrant Sikh community in Scotland.
As we enter the winter festival season, it is important to remember that St Andrew’s day is not the only celebration in these winter months. We have a fantastic programme, with hogmanay a month later and Burns night as well.
I thought that some of the ideas that came from members on how we can celebrate St Andrew’s day further and give the day more prominence were very good indeed. Christine Grahame volunteered to climb the ramparts of Edinburgh castle with the saltire in her teeth in order to attach it to the top.
Absolutely—just give me the flag.
I will certainly do so, and I will also get a photographer on site to capture the moment.
On a serious note, I recently visited Stirling castle, where the First Minister—the former First Minister, I should say—had managed to secure an agreement for the lion rampant to be flown there for only the second time in 400 years. I am more than happy to explore Christine Grahame’s idea and her suggestion that we contact Google to find out whether it will be advocating the saltire on its page.
It is my hope that our 2015 year of food and drink will sustain and build on the momentum that has been generated by this year’s homecoming. I hope that all members in the chamber will be impelled to take part, thereby helping to inspire the people of Scotland and our visitors to celebrate Scotland’s outstanding natural larder; to further develop Scotland’s ever-growing reputation as a land of food and drink; and to promote and celebrate our nation’s culinary achievements not only on St Andrew’s day but throughout the year.
There is a lesson in St Andrew’s story for every single one of us. He was a man of great humility, which he demonstrated even in death and persecution when he refused to be crucified on the same cross as Christ.
There are many lessons that we can learn from St Andrew, but the best lesson, as Bruce Crawford said, is that our national day should be celebrated by all of Scotland’s communities and all Scots who have chosen to make other parts of the globe their home. I hope that, in that spirit of unity, diversity and tolerance, each and every one of us will have a very happy, enjoyable and festive St Andrew’s day.