St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3
The next item of business is a debate on motion S2M-5113, in the name of Dennis Canavan, that the Parliament agrees that the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill be passed.
I thank the non-Executive bills unit and the convener and members of, and clerks to, the Enterprise and Culture Committee. A special word of thanks is also due to Maureen Conner, who has done a huge amount of research and other work associated with the bill.
Tomorrow, Scots all over the world will celebrate St Andrew's day. St Andrew is Scotland's patron saint, and the St Andrew's cross is embodied in our national flag. At one time, St Andrew's day was a popular day of festivities throughout Scotland, but unfortunately domestic celebrations have dwindled over the years. Recently, the day has probably been celebrated more by expatriate Scots and their descendents in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
There are St Andrew societies and clubs in many parts of the world, and if St Andrew's day were properly recognised at home as a national holiday, that would enhance such international celebrations and help to promote Scotland on the world stage. That is part of the reason why I introduced the bill to make St Andrew's day a national holiday in Scotland.
I accept that the bill will not automatically trigger a national holiday for everyone because the Parliament does not have the power to enforce recognition of holidays, but it will send out a strong signal. The bill will be a parliamentary proclamation in favour of making St Andrew's day a national holiday, and I believe that recognition of the holiday will grow in the years ahead as a result.
The Executive's position is that the bill should be a replacement, rather than an additional, holiday. My preference is that it should be an additional holiday because we are at the bottom of the European league for the number of public holidays. However, I agreed to the Executive's compromise suggestion because I am realistic enough to understand that the bill has no chance of getting parliamentary approval without the Executive's support. It is important to establish the principle of a St Andrew's day national holiday, and I am confident that, in the years ahead, recognition of the holiday will grow and constructive negotiations between trade unions and employers will lead to it eventually becoming an additional holiday.
There is overwhelming support in the country for my proposal. A MORI opinion poll indicated that 75 per cent of people are in favour of it, and 85 per cent of the respondents to my nationwide consultation were in favour of it.
I realise that opinion is divided in the business community, but surely a St Andrew's day holiday should be seen by many businesses as an opportunity rather than a threat. That is especially true of businesses that are related to tourism, culture and entertainment.
I will give two small examples of enterprise initiatives that arise from St Andrew's day. I am wearing a St Andrew's tartan tie. The tartan was designed and the tie produced by a small company called International Tartans, which specialises in such products. That business is doing very well indeed. I am also wearing a heather badge that was produced by pupils at Torry academy in Aberdeen to celebrate St Andrew's day. Those pupils are members of a school enterprise group called support base one enterprises. The positive recognition that they receive by selling their products helps to raise their self-esteem and the profits are donated to the Aberdeen branch of Children 1st.
The entrepreneurial spirit of those schoolchildren should shame some of the pusillanimous people in our business community who made the absurd claim that a St Andrew's day national holiday would be bad for Scottish business and bad for the Scottish economy. For example, the Scottish Licensed Trade Association made the bizarre suggestion that a St Andrew's day holiday would mean a loss of trade for Scottish pubs. When I told that one in an Irish pub, everybody burst out laughing and the bartender said that if a publican cannae make a profit on St Patrick's day, he shouldnae be in the business. It is preposterous to claim that St Patrick's day is somehow bad for Irish business and bad for the Irish economy. The St Patrick's day celebrations mean an injection of €80 million into the Dublin economy alone, and they help to promote Ireland internationally.
The international dimension of St Andrew's day is important for our celebrations at home and abroad. St Andrew is an international figure and, in Scotland today, we have people from many nations, from different ethnic origins, from different cultures and from different faiths. Last Saturday, many of those people took part in a St Andrew's day march and rally against racism and fascism that was organised by the Scottish Trades Union Congress. We should encourage such events, so that all the people of Scotland will have ownership of the St Andrew's day celebrations.
Parliamentary approval of my bill will not only encourage recognition of a national holiday on St Andrew's day but encourage all the people of Scotland to celebrate our patron saint and our cultural diversity. It will also encourage the people of Scotland to celebrate our national identity and our membership of the international community.
I finish by quoting Alexandra Gill, a pupil of Clyde Valley high school, who told the Public Petitions Committee:
"Surely a country with a history as old as Scotland's deserves a day when its people can reflect on their past and focus on their future."—[Official Report, Public Petitions Committee, 25 May 2005; c 1746.]
I move,
That the Parliament agrees that the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill be passed.
It is appropriate to be in the chamber on the eve of St Andrew's day to debate stage 3 of the bill. I express my sincere thanks to the Enterprise and Culture Committee for the work that it did to bring the bill to this stage. I acknowledge that we gave the committee an extra piece of work that—to its credit—it did well. That is appreciated.
I acknowledge the constructive approach that the member who introduced the bill, Dennis Canavan, has taken. That approach has played a part in helping us to reach the present point and it is genuinely appreciated. He has always made it clear that the ultimate intention of his proposal is to facilitate the creation of a national day to celebrate Scotland and its people. The Scottish Executive subscribes completely to that aim.
The bill will create a legal framework that will encourage employers and employees to substitute a national St Andrew's day holiday for an existing local holiday. We should be clear that the bill in itself will not automatically create an additional holiday. The bill is symbolic, but it signals greater celebration and awareness of St Andrew's day and represents an extremely important contribution to the on-going celebration of Scotland's national day.
The Scottish Executive is having discussions with its staff organisations to seek their views on moving a holiday to our national day. We believe that it is important to make people aware of the meaning of what has been proposed. Therefore, if the bill is passed today, the Executive will write to all local authorities and other employer organisations to say what the legislation will mean for them. We will also have a dedicated web page on our internet site that will explain the legislation, and a generic e-mail address that people can contact to ask questions about how they will be affected.
I acknowledge that it is important that the Scottish Executive should play its part in celebrating our national day, and we have demonstrated our willingness to do that. This year, we are again supporting and promoting national and international events under the one Scotland, many cultures theme. We are building on the success of last year's events. This year, events are taking place in our six cities and in many other areas of Scotland. The Executive thanks everyone who has been involved in organising those events. I wish them the best of luck. The events will celebrate a diverse and modern Scotland and will have a strong emphasis on our young people.
We want to encourage children to develop their own events and activities on or around St Andrew's day, which is why we have distributed a St Andrew's day pack to every school in Scotland. We have received more than 100 responses to our request to schools to let us know about their plans around St Andrew's day. I will mention just a few of the many imaginative ways in which schools throughout Scotland intend to celebrate that day. Scottish food will be sampled, assemblies will be held and there will be ceilidhs, fun runs in tartan and human saltires. Schools will also celebrate diversity, which is important, and many events will incorporate the one Scotland, many cultures message. Our website features a selection of the great work that is being done in Scottish schools, which allows people to see how deep the celebrations go in our society.
St Andrew's day is not celebrated only in Scotland; indeed, the Scottish Executive supports events throughout the world. More than 100 international events are taking place in around 80 countries, and we have distributed more than 90 Scotland in a box promotional boxes to Foreign and Commonwealth overseas posts to be used at those events. The First Minister will again send to Scots overseas an annual message to be read out at St Andrew's day events wherever they take place.
We are doing such things because we believe that the Government must take the lead in promoting the celebration of St Andrew's day. This year, we have invested more than £300,000 in St Andrew's day events, and we are also looking to the long term. We hope that more partners will work with us in future years to promote more events in Scotland and throughout the world.
I hope that I have made it clear, as we have tried to do in earlier debates, that we see our support for the bill as an important aspect of our desire greatly to improve the celebration of St Andrew's day and to bring our national day to much wider attention, not only in Scotland, but across the globe. I urge members to support the bill.
The Scottish National Party welcomes the fact that the bill has reached this stage, and we will certainly support the motion at decision time. We congratulate Dennis Canavan on getting his bill to stage 3, even if he has had to make compromises on his original plans along the way. It is no mean feat for a back bencher to get a bill to stage 3.
Dennis Canavan made an excellent speech in which he summed up many of the feelings that I have about what we need to do on St Andrew's day and about having a proper national holiday. The idea that pubs cannot make money on public holidays seems incredible. Anybody who has been in a bar in Glasgow during the Glasgow fair weekend will have seen the money that publicans make then.
I welcome the Executive's conversion to supporting the bill, even though that support has been a bit late and half-hearted, and even though the Executive is still opposed to a full holiday for Scots on St Andrew's day. The Executive's attitude that people can have the day off as long as they lose a day elsewhere is best summed up as a you'll-have-had-your-day-off attitude.
For clarification, we are not opposed to Scots having a holiday on St Andrew's day. We have said that people are perfectly free to enter into discussions with their employers on moving an existing holiday to that day.
If the minister had listened, he would have heard me say that people will be given the St Andrew's day holiday as long as they lose a day elsewhere. I did not say that the Executive is opposed to having a day off on St Andrew's day, but it is opposed to giving people an extra day off on that day despite the fact that we are at the bottom of the European league for public holidays.
Will the member take an intervention?
No.
Three ceilidhs and an ice show seem to be the limit of the Lib-Lab ambition for a national holiday. It is clear that the Executive will go no further than supporting a symbolic holiday rather than a real holiday and a real celebration of all things Scottish. The SNP is committed to a real holiday.
We will build St Andrew's day into the start of a winter festival programme that will include all Scotland's people from north to south, from young to old and from A to B—from Andrew to Burns. We want a festival that stretches from St Andrew's day through Christmas, hogmanay, new year's day and January to Burns night. Such a winter festival could and would sell Scotland to the world and brighten up the dark winter nights for us all. Perhaps we could even persuade shopkeepers that the Christmas season belongs after St Andrew's day and should not start just after Hallowe'en. That is a personal plea, but I am sure that many parents would agree with it.
We want a series of winter festivals that would allow us to celebrate Scotland's culture, arts, history, enterprise, sport and so much more. An SNP Government will invest substantial resources in such events. We need to invest in our culture and arts, but we must also seek out sporting occasions that we can attract to Scotland during the winter.
Most important of all, we need to celebrate Scotland's people. That means not just those who were born in Scotland but all those who have made their home here, no matter where they came from. After all, we are all Jock Tamson's bairns. We should celebrate what unites us as well as our individual uniqueness.
One of the most important elements of the celebrations must be an outward-looking and internationalist approach. Of course we must let the whole world know about us, but not in a brash, bragging "Wha's like us?" way. Instead, we must show that we are an open and friendly society of people who are ready to greet visitors from across the world as friends. The Scottish diaspora numbers tens of millions of people. We must tap into their desire to make contact with their roots and use them to send a positive message around the world about Scotland in the 21st century.
If the bill is to be more than just a symbol, it must symbolise our ambitions for our country. Let us agree that it is time for Scotland to rejoin the family of independent nations. In the famous words of Winnie Ewing,
"Stop the world, Scotland wants to get on."
I did not think that I would live to see the day when I would hear Mr Maxwell calling for people to drink more—
Responsibly.
Of course, Mr Maxwell.
The Scottish Conservatives have supported the bill since stage 1 and we will be happy to support it at decision time today.
I commend Dennis Canavan for the way in which he has pursued the issue and for all the work that he has put into winning support for his bill. He did a tremendous job in consulting interested parties and rallying support for his proposal. As Mr Maxwell said, for a back bencher to achieve the passage of a bill on to the statute book is no mean feat, especially if the back bencher is, like Dennis Canavan, not a member of an Executive party. Then again, if today's edition of The Herald is to be believed, that may not be the case for much longer.
It is rather regrettable that it has taken us so long to get to where we are today. We had the opportunity to pass the bill last year, but the Executive decided at that time that it would not support the bill and that more work required to be done. It is a pity that time was wasted when we could have made some progress.
We have always accepted that the bill will not of itself create a public holiday. As Mr Canavan admitted, it is not legislatively competent for this Parliament to create or enforce a new holiday. The bill is simply permissive.
Does the member agree that it is a bit ridiculous that this Parliament does not have the power to make simple decisions such as what should constitute an additional public holiday?
I hate to think how many holidays we would have if Mr Neil had his way. We must take a responsible attitude. Members from different parties made the case that we are at the bottom of the league table in Europe for holidays, but we must remember that we have one of the most competitive economies in Europe—perhaps the two matters are not unlinked.
The Scottish Executive's support was crucial to the bill, because if the Executive were not prepared to take the lead in encouraging public sector employees to take St Andrew's day as a holiday, it would be a pointless piece of legislation. It was vital that the Executive showed support for the bill. Our position all along was that we did not wish an additional holiday to be granted. The Enterprise and Culture Committee heard strong evidence to that effect from employers organisations. An extra day of no trading or production, for which staff would still have to be paid, would place a burden on the business community, especially small businesses. We are pleased that the Executive has come round to our way of thinking—that a St Andrew's day holiday should be granted, but as a substitute for a holiday at a different time of year. It is just a pity that the Executive did not come round to that view earlier. However, we now have the best of both worlds.
I am pleased that we will have a holiday celebrating St Andrew, who is our patron saint. St Andrew was our Lord's first apostle, a fisherman from Galilee who was executed by the Romans. Legend has it that his bones were taken by St Rule or St Regulus to St Andrews, which led to that town's foundation. We share St Andrew as a patron saint with other countries, such as Russia and Greece, so he is by no means exclusive to Scotland.
The bill will not create a holiday, because we do not have the power to do that, but it gives us the opportunity to use St Andrew's day to promote Scottish identity in the same way that the Irish have built up St Patrick's day. Just as St Patrick's day is now internationally recognised and delivers substantial economic benefit, so St Andrew's day can be of benefit to the Scottish economy. St Patrick's day is now worth about €80 million to the Dublin economy alone. We have a great opportunity to make St Andrew's day worth an equivalent sum, if not more, to the Scottish economy, and I look forward to St Andrew's day being celebrated throughout Scotland in future years.
I, too, extend my thanks to the Enterprise and Culture Committee and its clerks for a most interesting piece of work. I offer my congratulations to Dennis Canavan on having the persistence and determination to bring the bill to what we assume will be a successful conclusion today. As he pointed out, today is the eve of St Andrew's day, a day recognised throughout the world. Persistence can sometimes make a difference in the Parliament. Putting aside party divisions, I believe that one aspect of the Parliament of which we should be proud is that sometimes, as Murdo Fraser said, a back bencher can introduce legislation and succeed in having it put on the statute book. Dennis Canavan's contribution may be around for many hundreds of years, as I hope that St Andrew's day will be celebrated for as long as we have civilisation in Scotland.
Like other members of the Enterprise and Culture Committee, I regard the bill as one of the most interesting pieces of work that has been done in the lifetime of the Parliament. We saw the evolution of the legislation, the garnering of arguments and the use of sheer intelligent persuasion to bring it about. I will not be churlish and say that the Executive is a Johnny-come-lately on the issue. There has been a genuine recognition across the political spectrum of the benefits of the bill, and we should be magnanimous about that.
As members know, the Liberal Democrats support the replacement of an existing national holiday by St Andrew's day, to be celebrated on or as near as possible to 30 November. The bill will provide a focus that, over time, will encourage people to participate in a national holiday to celebrate the day. The tourism benefits of such a holiday have been highlighted. That issue is of huge importance to me, given the constituents whom I represent. One of the bullet points in our briefing states:
"Tourism businesses may receive a boost during an otherwise quiet time of year"—
other members have referred to the dark nights—
"particularly if the holiday was combined with leisure, cultural and other activities."
I make a plea for us to look at the broad spectrum of culture in Scotland. St Andrew's day should not be confined to the south of Scotland but should be for all of Scotland. I have said before that Scotland is like a diamond and that each facet expresses a different kind of culture, from my constituency and that of John Farquhar Munro in the Gaidhealtachd to the Borders and the south-west. If that can be recognised and we can build on it, that will be all well and good.
As an example of the potential for the tourism industry, it is estimated
"that Edinburgh's Winter Festivals generated £44.4 million extra spending in 2004-05 with a net contribution to income for Edinburgh of £11.3 million."
Another example, which has been mentioned already, comes from an analysis of the contribution made by the St Patrick's festival in 2003, which indicated that it was worth approximately €80 million to the economy of Dublin.
Mention has been made of reaching out to the Scottish diaspora. St Andrew's day should be celebrated by Scots all over the world. I ask members to forgive me for reiterating a point that I have made previously and which has already been hinted at, which is that other countries, such as Greece and Russia, celebrate St Andrew as their patron saint. I say, as I am sure would all our families who have lost people in wars, that if a St Andrew's day holiday means better communication and a better friendship with other countries, it will be a gift not only to our generation but to generations to come.
I hope that the peoples of Russia and Greece and expatriate Scots will celebrate and embrace this special day. It is a sure foundation—I hope that it is not too high flying to say this—that I hope will contribute to mutual understanding, friendship and the cause of peace, because there can be no finer cause. It is my pleasure to support Dennis Canavan today.
I join the chorus of approval and congratulate Dennis Canavan, who has conducted himself very ably in the course of the bill's progress. I am also delighted that he has confirmed that the reports in The Herald today have no truth in them.
I thank both Dennis Canavan and Tom McCabe for their kind words about the Enterprise and Culture Committee. I will return to the committee's report and research on the subject shortly.
I want to emphasise the fact that, in his otherwise excellent speech, Murdo Fraser created the first hostage to fortune of the election campaign when he said that
"we have one of the most competitive economies in Europe".
I am sure that Mr McCabe has written down that quote verbatim and that it will come back to haunt Murdo Fraser during the election campaign.
I was, of course, referring to the United Kingdom economy. Does Mr Neil appreciate that the competition, in European terms, is not significant?
I think that Mr Fraser is trying to extricate himself from an embarrassing situation.
Murdo Fraser also compared St Andrew's day to St Patrick's day. I hope that what we are doing will mean that St Andrew's day soon has the same impact as St Patrick's day, although I point out that, in Ireland, St Patrick's day is an additional holiday rather than a substitute holiday. That goes against Mr Fraser's position.
I know that when I lived in the States, in the Boston area, St Patrick's day was a holiday and certainly a day of celebration for a lot of people in that part of America. Indeed, it is a day of celebration in the White House, whether the President is Republican or Democrat. I look forward to the day when First Minister Salmond goes to the White House to celebrate St Andrew's day. [Interruption.] I say to members that I am willing to take an intervention.
In comparison with our other national heroes—William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and Robert Burns—St Andrew is unique: out of the four, he is the only one who was not born in Ayrshire. Despite that, we are still prepared to celebrate him—even in Ayrshire.
On the argument about the economic impact of St Andrew's day, the committee undertook research jointly with the Executive as part of our reconsideration of the bill. That research came to the conclusion, if I may paraphrase what was said, that the economic impact of the holiday depends on what we make of it. If there is an ambitious programme of celebration, both nationally and internationally, it will have major economic benefit for Scotland. However, if we do not celebrate it ambitiously enough, it will make a contribution that is either negative or zero. In essence, the economic argument boils down to what we make of the holiday.
I welcome the Executive's programme for this year as a start and hope that, as each year passes, the programme will become much more ambitious. Indeed, I am sure that, by this time next year, the new Government that will be elected in May not only will have made St Andrew's day an additional holiday but will be planning to make it an independence day holiday.
Anyone who has seen the film "Independence Day" knows what nationalism will mean for Scotland.
On a more consensual note, I congratulate Dennis Canavan on successfully promoting his bill in Parliament. It is certainly an achievement for a member's bill to clear all the parliamentary hurdles. I also congratulate him on rightly promoting the work of the pupils of Torry academy and sporting their heather. It is good for the Parliament to have reached a consensus on this matter, because, despite Alex Neil's flights of fancy and the SNP's wearying fascination with separation, we know that members from all parties want more promotion of St Andrew's day as a national celebration.
Of course, Mr Canavan's bill has taken a circuitous route. It will not, of itself, create a bank holiday, but the member has taken the somewhat unusual but nevertheless constructive step of introducing a bill that acts as a starting point for the further work that will be required to fulfil its intentions. The bill benefited from further consideration, and its progress has raised important questions, not just about how committees should consider member's bills, but about how early and how deeply the Executive should be involved in any debate on such bills. The Parliament and the Executive can reflect on such points.
The fact is that the stance that the Executive has taken has enabled people within and outwith the Parliament to reach a consensus on the bill. Once the bill is agreed, however, we face more important questions. How will we take its aims forward and what kind of event will St Andrew's day be in Scotland? I would not support the bill if I felt that it would lead to a narrow, nationalist celebration. However, I am confident that it will lead to much more than that and might, in particular, boost Scottish tourism.
The tourism hot topic in the north-east is whether the plans for a spectacular golf course and Trump boulevard will become a reality at Balmedie. However, with a holiday and celebrations on St Andrew's day, we could benefit economically not only from people in Scotland celebrating the day, but from encouraging visitors to Scotland at this time of year. We should aspire to make St Andrew's day the kind of international event that St Patrick's day has become.
I hope that, once the bill has been passed, the Executive will not only take further steps to promote the celebration of St Andrew's day, but will encourage people throughout Scotland to take the day as a holiday and will participate in the celebrations by taking a lead in organising celebrations and encouraging local people and organisations to organise their own events.
We should think carefully about what we want St Andrew's day to mean. For example, in the stage 1 debate, members asked whether, in our multifaith society, a Christian saint should be the focus of a national day and whether St Columba has a better claim on the title of national saint. Although we can reflect on those questions, I should point out that we share St Andrew as a patron saint with other countries in the world. The First Minister has stressed that he regards St Andrew's day as an opportunity for Scotland to celebrate its cultural diversity and membership of the international community. Indeed, for many years, the Scottish Trades Union Congress has used St Andrew's day to celebrate antiracism and internationalism.
Dennis Canavan cannot be any more right when he says that we should work towards such a celebration of our national day once the bill is passed. Our national celebration should befit a modern Scotland. It should not simply reflect on our past, but celebrate the country that we are and our aspirations. It should celebrate the fact that Scotland is home to many cultures and people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. If, once the bill is passed, we can move towards such a celebration, our national day will be embraced by all the people of Scotland.
Like Dennis Canavan, I am proud to wear my Torry heather and congratulate the Torry academy pupils on their enterprise.
At last, we can celebrate the welcome passing of the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill. It does not introduce a separate bank holiday but represents, at least, a positive recognition of our national day. Of course, I am disappointed that we have been unable to enshrine this day as an extra public holiday, but the bill represents a good start. Who knows what the future might hold?
We have so much to celebrate in Scotland. I do not want to say that we are the best wee country in the world, but there is no doubt that we are a great wee country with a great deal to be proud of. We have a history of travel, innovation and discovery to be proud of and a culture, environment and food that are renowned around the world. Further, we once again have our own Parliament with a magnificent building. We have our own patron saint, a flag and a date every year on which to celebrate our country. However, only now, as a result of Dennis Canavan's bill, can we begin to focus on enshrining that day in our calendar. Time will tell just how indebted we are to Dennis Canavan for his tenacity.
We have much to learn from the experience of other countries. We have heard about how Ireland has expanded its celebration of St Patrick's day and how Sweden legally recognised its national day in 1983 and then established it as a public holiday. In time, we, too, could make this a full, additional public holiday. I welcome the change of heart in the chamber and hope that the bill will provide the legislative framework for a national day of celebration. I hope that, over time, the day will develop into a holiday that reflects the pride and confidence that we should have in our great wee country.
The Green group will support the passing of the bill.
I congratulate Dennis Canavan on his achievement. I also thank the Executive, because it is good that it can say, "We was wrong." However, I urge it to do the whole-hearted thing and support the idea of a bank holiday. As Stewart Maxwell said, that can develop.
If we do this properly—which is what Murdo Fraser urged—and celebrate our identity, we are likely to build a bit more pride in ourselves without all the caveats that we have been hearing from the Executive benches about how we should not go too far in terms of celebrating ourselves. Why not? The more pride we have in ourselves, the more we will venture, the bigger we will grow and the better we will do. If that happens, we might be able to think seriously about rivalling the St Patrick's day reward that the Irish reap.
Speaking of rewards, I say to the minister that £300,000 sounds like a lot, but it is not a lot if we take into account the cost of a televised public information campaign to urge people to celebrate their identity, or of making some DVDs for the foreign market. We could do with a bit more money behind the bill.
The only thing that worries me is the thought that at some point in the future, with a forward-looking and imaginative foreign policy emanating from this Parliament, the first thing that we would do would be to send Alex Salmond to see the American president. I think not. Let us have a St Andrew's day holiday, and let us not make mistakes like that.
I have always supported Dennis Canavan's proposal that we should have an additional holiday. In fact, some time ago, I lodged a motion to that effect. He has succeeded in persuading the Executive to make some progress in that regard, but some of us will still work towards having a full, new holiday. We are being offered one if we get an SNP Government, but some of us might feel that that was a wee bit of a difficult choice to make and might not accept that offer.
We can make progress. We are in the middle of making a bit of a muddle of the holidays around Christmas and new year and the whole holiday business could do with some serious examination. We can build on the Executive's support for Dennis Canavan's idea and develop St Andrew's day as a building block for all sorts of things, especially tourism. Scottish tourism was invented by the monks of St Andrews, who promoted St Andrew as opposed to St Columba. St Andrew and his monks have a good record in the tourism industry.
We could build new activities around the St Andrew's day holiday. We could have inclusive sporting events that bring together Protestants, Catholics and people of other religions who can all support a great spiritual leader such as St Andrew. We could also have cultural events, local festivals and so on. The holiday is an important block on which such ideas can be built. All power to Dennis Canavan. Let us get stuck in and, locally, develop really good things on the back of St Andrew's day.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this historic day, when we hope to pass the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill. I speak as someone who has long supported the principle of a holiday for St Andrew's day, although I have always been of the view that it should be a replacement holiday and not an additional holiday. I also represent the royal burgh of St Andrews where the historic relics of St Andrew were placed, according to legend.
I must have misheard the member; he said that he was a long-standing supporter of a St Andrew's day holiday. I seem to remember him speaking against such a holiday the last time the subject was debated.
Tricia Marwick had better check the Official Report. I think she will find that I have always supported the principle of a St Andrew's day holiday. [Laughter.]
If members will check the record, they will see that I have consistently said that there should not be an additional holiday, but a replacement day. I said that at the previous debate on the subject. At that time, the members on the other side of the chamber doubted the intentions of the Executive and those of us who supported the continuation of the bill and said that we were killing the bill. We were not doing that; we were simply ensuring that we got the bill right. We have been proved right and the SNP has been proved wrong yet again.
I am sorry; I did not want to turn this into a political debate because we should be celebrating today, and I wanted to start by congratulating Dennis Canavan on his persistence in pursuing the bill.
It is the same bill; there have been no amendments.
Members must not speak from a sedentary position.
With the deepest respect, we have changed the basis on which the bill was introduced. When we had the stage 1 debate, the intention was to create an additional bank holiday. It is quite clear that the bill will not now do that. The reason for supporting it is that we will create a holiday for Scotland that will be a replacement holiday. That is an important distinction and it is why I now support the bill that will be passed. I did not support the bill at stage 1 because I thought that creating an additional holiday would be a serious problem.
I was surprised by Murdo Fraser's road to Damascus conversion.
What?
He is now trying to claim that the Conservatives have supported an additional holiday all along, which I do not think is quite the case either. [Interruption.]
Order.
In the time I have remaining, I want to say a little bit about history, and how important it is to St Andrews. Although I believe that the St Andrew's day holiday can become the launch pad for the winter festivals in Edinburgh, Glasgow and elsewhere, I hope that we also remember the important role that the town of St Andrews should play. St Andrew's week is in its 20th year of celebrating St Andrew's day and it is important that that week receives support and is developed as a major focus of part of our St Andrew's day celebrations. I hope that people will support that event.
I hope that we will develop links with other places that have St Andrew as a patron saint. It is important to work to develop St Andrew's day internationally, because it can only be for the benefit of Scotland.
I am sorry that some members would prefer to use today for cheap political point scoring, because that is not what I intended to do when I stood up. I genuinely believe that we have got the bill right. The principle is established that we should be encouraging a St Andrew's day holiday, just as the Parliament did when it was first established and we changed one of the staff holidays from September to St Andrew's day. We should encourage other local authorities, public bodies and the private sector to consider switching a holiday so that we can all celebrate St Andrew's day properly. I support the bill.
First, I join others in congratulating Dennis Canavan on his achievement in bringing the bill to this stage. I wonder whether it might not have taken significantly longer for the bill to get as far as it has today without his drive, determination and enthusiasm.
Before I move on, I will clarify our position on the bill by quoting from the Official Report of the stage 1 debate in 2005. My colleague Mr Fraser said:
"We should ensure as widespread support as possible for the bill."—[Official Report, 6 October 2005; c 19878.]
According to the copy of the Official Report that I have in front of me, Mr Smith said that the bill would not deliver, but I think that I heard Mr Neil telling us that the bill that we considered then is the same bill that we are considering today.
I can confirm that we are considering exactly the same bill—there have been no amendments to it whatever. The bill that Mr Smith voted against on that occasion is the bill that he will vote in favour of tonight.
It would be unfair not to allow—
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I think that the Official Report will show that I did not vote against the bill. I voted for the amended motion to continue consideration of the bill.
Now that we are clear on that point, we can move on.
I turn to the substance of the debate. For a fairly short bill, it has generated a great deal of heat. We must hope that it will generate a lot of good for Scotland. Other members have made much of the impact that the St Patrick's day holiday has had in Ireland. If we could come even close to replicating the impact that that has had on the Irish economy, we would be doing extremely well.
St Patrick's day is not the only comparator that we should be thinking about. It has been notable that in recent years our friends south of the border have made much more of St George's day than they ever used to. The bill represents a huge opportunity, which—if we are willing to grasp it—we can do much with.
Mr Canavan made an eloquent point about the attitude of the business community. It is right to be up front and to concede that the business community has had divided views on the bill's implications but, as Jamie Stone mentioned, the bill offers significant potential for tourism. On a broader front, it provides recreational opportunities—
Does the member agree that there might be opportunities to build on the bill by developing more local saints' days, such as those of St Gilbert in Dornoch and St Duthus in Tain in my constituency?
I would not seek to deny Jamie Stone's constituents a day off.
The bill offers a great deal of potential. I was glad that the minister said that the bill's implications would be clarified if it is passed, as it appears that it will be. Although it is a short bill, there has been significant confusion during its passage about what it seeks to do and what it could do. It is important that once the Parliament has passed the bill, people understand what it does and what it does not do, so that we can maximise the benefits that accrue from it.
My final point is that in a Parliament and a country in which so many things can divide us, St Andrew seems to have the potential to be a uniting factor. He is not a nationalist figure or a unionist figure; he is very much a Scottish figure. We should welcome that and should use every opportunity to make St Andrew's day as great a success for Scotland as other patron saints' days are for their countries.
Like other members, I thank Dennis Canavan sincerely for persevering with the bill. He has done Scotland a great deal of good. He is right to say that the bill will help us to enhance and promote Scotland's image and that, as recognition of the holiday grows, everyone will respect it and have it as a holiday. The sooner that happens, the better.
I liked Dennis Canavan's anecdote about the Irish publican. Ireland can teach us a thing or two about recognising economic opportunities, so we should grab the opportunity with which the bill presents us. There have been a few harbingers of doom on the establishment of a St Andrew's day holiday and Dennis Canavan has proved them wrong.
After the sincerity of Dennis Canavan, we had warnings that independence would result in terrorists flooding into Scotland, that there would be border guards and that someone would need a passport to visit their granny in Bognor Regis. Now we know that Richard Baker has watched the film "Independence Day" and that he believes that independence would be followed by the arrival of lots of little green men. He ought to get a life, just like his colleague John Reid, who made an overexuberant attack on independence.
Stewart Maxwell rightly said that we should send a positive message about Scotland throughout the world. He wants us to look outwards and to take an international perspective, and I do not think that any member could disagree with those sentiments.
Alex Neil, in his usual exuberant style, showed quite clearly how his effective convenership of the Enterprise and Culture Committee helped us to ensure that the bill came to the Parliament today for a vote. Predictably, Margo MacDonald rose to his bait about Alex Salmond; I would not have expected anything else.
Iain Smith has been doing quite remarkable somersaults during the debate. He tried to explain his position to Tricia Marwick, but if he wants to intervene to tell us exactly what his position is, he might as well have another go.
My position has consistently been that I support a St Andrew's day holiday as a replacement holiday—end of story. That has always been the case, and Mr Crawford can look at every Official Report to see that I have said that.
I am just not sure that Mr Smith can spell "consistent". That is the problem.
Jamie Stone mentioned the fact that Greece, Romania and Russia all have St Andrew as a patron saint and he was right to suggest that we could use that as a building block towards peace. With that shared position, there is no reason why our countries cannot work a lot more closely together. That was a useful point to make.
In response to what the minister, Tom McCabe said, I welcome the Executive's position as far as one Scotland, too many cultures—[Laughter.] I had better try that again. I meant to refer to the one Scotland, many cultures theme, for which the bill has been a constructive and welcome process. It has also been useful as a campaigning and marketing tool for projecting Scotland's image abroad, and we welcome the development of the Executive's proposals in that area.
The promotion of hogmanay has now been transferred from the promotion of one day in Edinburgh to the promotion of a week. I think that we could look at what happens between hogmanay and Burns day, and include St Andrew's day as well, and consider the potential for winter festivals throughout Scotland to celebrate what is good about modern Scotland and to find an opportunity to sell ourselves more effectively during the colder, darker winter months.
I am pleased, and the Executive is pleased, that after a long journey we have reached the point where the bill looks as if it will achieve a successful conclusion. That is good for the Parliament and good for Scotland.
Some of the speakers this afternoon have said that sometimes in politics we just have to hold up our hands. Mr Fraser, in his usual eloquent style, has accused us of creating a robust and vibrant economy, and I think that it is time, on behalf of the Scottish Executive, to plead guilty. Not only can we now better celebrate St Andrew's day, but we are guilty of having more of our people in employment than ever before and of being right up there in having more of our people economically active than in any other country in the European Union. We are guilty, guilty, guilty, and I think that it is sometimes healthy in political life just to put one's hands up, so we are happy to do that.
It is true to say that, when we originally debated the bill, there were some concerns about whether or not we were promoting the notion that only by a holiday could we celebrate St Andrew's day. The debate that has taken place since then and the examination of the bill have shown that there are many ways in which we can celebrate our national day and many ways, now and in the future, in which we can develop the celebration. One of the ways in which we can do that is to encourage people to consider taking a holiday at that time, using an existing holiday to do so.
There were also concerns about how the bill could be misinterpreted. We did not want to give people a false impression of what the bill could achieve, and the work that the Enterprise and Culture Committee did in examining the bill and the commendable way in which Dennis Canavan was prepared to enter into discussions helped us to clarify what the bill could actually achieve, while emphasising that it plays an important part in helping to improve the celebration of our national day. Those things stand the Parliament and the member responsible for the bill in good stead, and underline the importance of our committee system here in the Parliament.
The Scottish Executive has had the opportunity to say that it also has an important part to play. We should be helping to promote the celebration of our national day both in Scotland and outwith our borders. We have ably demonstrated that we are committed to doing that. Of course, things can always improve, and we are interested not only in enjoying this year's celebrations, but in examining how those celebrations can be expanded in future.
As the report commissioned by the committee says, it takes more than just a Government to promote a successful celebration of a national day. It cannot just be legislated for. A Government and a Parliament can give a lead, but it takes individuals throughout society to have that commitment. The Scottish Executive is absolutely committed to providing that lead. The Parliament is playing its part tonight in providing that lead. We should do all we can to encourage people in Scotland to acknowledge and celebrate not only our rich history and traditions, but contemporary Scotland. We should use St Andrew's day to tell the world that we are a strong, vibrant country, with a thriving economy—there is a consensus on that among a range of political parties—and to celebrate the fact that our country is moving ahead on the international stage.
This debate has been in sharp contrast to the debate at stage 1 just over a year ago. At that time, the Parliament was deeply divided and that deep division was reflected in the vote. I am pleased that unanimity is now breaking out all over the place and I am embarrassed about the fine words of congratulation that I am receiving from all quarters. I sincerely thank members of all parties and none who have contributed to the debate, as well as those who have not had the chance to contribute to the debate but who have expressed their support for the bill.
It has been an interesting albeit short debate. Not everybody agreed on every aspect, but some interesting points were made. Stewart Maxwell and Shiona Baird, for example, expressed regret that the Executive does not wish the St Andrew's day holiday to be an additional holiday. I share that regret and I have expressed my view that, in the longer term, it will become an additional holiday. Some members, including Richard Baker and Donald Gorrie, referred to the importance of the bill to tourism. Alex Neil, in his position as convener of the Enterprise and Culture Committee—the lead committee on the bill—took an active interest in the bill and he spoke today about the bill's broader economic impact, including the economic advantages that many businesses can derive from it.
Several members expressed opinions about the Executive's change of attitude. Margo MacDonald indicated that the Executive has at least partially admitted that it was wrong. Some members have described the Executive's change of attitude as a complete U-turn. Even if that were the case, there is nothing wrong with a U-turn, as long as the performer of the U-turn ends up facing in the correct direction.
Does the member agree that what caused the U-turn was YouGov and the polls over the summer?
I am not so sure about that, but there might be a grain of truth in it.
Some members said that Iain Smith, Tom McCabe and so on have done somersaults on the bill. As I said to Tom McCabe in the committee, if he has had a flash of enlightenment on the road to Damascus, I welcome that. I am all in favour of enlightenment and I hope that he has many more flashes of enlightenment. He deserves all the enlightenment he can get.
It is not the Scottish Executive alone that has changed its attitude and done a U-turn. I dug out some old Hansard extracts from when the Tory party was in power down at Westminster. The first is from 30 November 1982:
"Dennis Canavan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will declare St Andrew's Day a public holiday in Scotland.
George Younger (Secretary of State for Scotland):
I have no authority in the matter, as public holidays in Scotland are fixed locally by district councils."
More than a decade later, the Lib Dems seemed to cotton on. Mr Robert Maclennan—the Che Guevara of the Liberal Democrats—asked the question:
"To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will consider the designation of St Andrew's Day as a public holiday in Scotland."
I am sorry that Lord James Douglas-Hamilton is not in the chamber, but he, replying on behalf of the Secretary of State for Scotland, said:
"Public holidays in Scotland are not defined in statute, but by long tradition and practice are determined by individual local authorities in consultation with local interests. My right hon. Friend"—
that is, the Secretary of State for Scotland—
"has no power to intervene in this process."
Does Dennis Canavan agree that Robert Maclennan would never have been seen dead in a beret?
I am trying to imagine him in a beret.
When they were in government, the Tories passed the buck to the local authorities and the secretaries of state did not even seem to realise that they had powers to create additional bank holidays—the powers that I am using for the bill—under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971. At that time, the Westminster Parliament was responsible but, under the Scotland Act 1998, the schedule that designates bank holidays was devolved to this Parliament.
I have been campaigning on the issue for around a quarter of a century and have lost count of the number of times that I have been knocked back, but I have learned lessons. I remember the lesson that I got at school about Bruce and the spider—that we just have to fight, fight and fight again—and I am pleased that the bill looks like being approved unanimously by the Scottish Parliament.
In a previous debate on the bill, I reminded members of Edwin Morgan's poem that was read out by Liz Lochhead on the day that the Parliament building was officially opened:
"What do the people want of the place? They want it to be
filled with thinking persons".
I am pleased that the Scottish Executive has had a rethink on the bill since the first stage 1 debate. I am pleased that many members of the Scottish Parliament have had a similar rethink. I am pleased that the Scottish Parliament is responding to the wishes of the Scottish people by giving the people of Scotland a magnificent opportunity to celebrate our patron saint, our Scottishness and our internationalism.