Chamber and committees

It is quite right that Parliament celebrates Scottish food and drink fortnight.

I will start by quoting from “The Scots Kitchen” by F. Marian MacNeill, a Scottish author, suffragist and founder member of the Scottish National Party:

“The art of a country always has its roots in the soil—it is the natural conditions and products that determine the general character of the national cuisine.”

She was talking about our natural larder.

Argyll and Bute is a natural larder, with a lush landscape, nutrient-filled waters and passionate food producers. Wherever you go today in Argyll and Bute, its wonderful food and drink is only a footstep away. Last week, I ate langoustine in Oban, locally caught sea bream served with vegetables from our own allotment, and I toasted a sadly departed friend, Jenny Compton-Bishop from Jura, with local gin.

In Argyll and Bute, people know the strength of locally, sustainably produced, raised or caught produce. Shops proudly display “Shop Local, Eat Local” posters. My local shop in Port Charlotte gives locals and visitors the chance to buy local produce, and that is replicated across the island and Argyll and Bute. The towns that I visited during recess—Oban, Lochgilphead and Campbeltown—have new delis and food shops opening, and established shops are expanding their ranges. The Scottish Government’s £10 million investment in Scotland Loves Local is helping to revitalise our high streets by encouraging people back to them.

Throughout the pandemic, the food and drink sector has worked together for the common good to support communities. For example, Argyll Bakeries employed a chef who prepared ready-made meals, which became key stock items across the constituency. Distilleries provided hand sanitiser and local hauliers supported volunteers to distribute food packages. As the First Minister said yesterday, co-operation and working together allow ideas to come to fruition with far better outcomes.

In 1784, the French traveller Faujas de Saint-Fond told of the variety and abundance of Argyll’s table. On the island of Mull, he described the breakfast table

“elegantly covered with … plates of smoked beef, cheese … fresh eggs, salted herrings, butter, milk, and cream … currant jelly, conserve of myrtle; tea, coffee, three kinds of bread and Jamaica rum”.

Sadly, Mr Rennie, there was no broccoli.

The coalition that we have formed with the Green Party will look at everything in the round—it will look at the way in which we produce items and the environment, and I think that that can only be positive for our natural larder. [Interruption.] I will not take an intervention; I will continue. Argyll and the Isles Tourism—[Interruption.] I will not take another intervention; I will continue.

Argyll and the Isles Tourism Co-operative is known as Wild About Argyll, and has established taste-of-place trails. They support small-scale, high-quality specialist producers, giving visitors an opportunity to speak to local people and sample their very special produce. If people have not visited Argyll, I suggest that they come and discover them; I know that the trails will capture people’s imagination and captivate their taste buds.

For spirits and beer, there are more than 20 distilleries and breweries, all using the natural larder of Argyll and Bute in their processes. The water, the botanicals and the peat all enhance their flavour and, with the stunning scenery, where better to raise a toast?

There is coffee and cake from Southend to Dalmally in phone boxes, cafes and horse boxes—we find a lot of uses for horse boxes in Argyll—where people can find wonderful home baking, to be washed down with a mug of Tiree Crofter tea or Argyll roasted coffee.

There is also the seafood trail. Loch Fyne herrings were historically celebrated for their delicious flavour and were sent in barrels to Edinburgh. As Finlay Calder—I am sorry; that is the wrong name. I am getting my politicians and my rugby players mixed up—they are both from Dumfries and Galloway, I believe. [Laughter.] There is also langoustine, crab, lobster, salmon, mussels, oysters, queenies, halibut and white fish—the rich bounty of our sea—and artisanal sea salt and kelp.

On the farm produce trail, we have lamb raised on the hilly uplands, Highland cattle on the less favoured land, milk in Kintyre and Bute and, of course, barley for whisky; and some producers are diversifying into ice cream. We also have the new vegan trail—Rothesay’s Bute Island Foods is the home of Sheese; it is a manufacturer and world exporter of the vegan cheese.

As I said in my first speech in the chamber, a permanent solution must be found, and quickly, for the Rest and Be Thankful. We also need a reliable and versatile ferry fleet. Everyone depends on being able to travel throughout Argyll and Bute safely and easily. I am pleased that the minister and his team are bringing new energy and commitment to solving those issues, and I thank the transport minister for his earlier detailed update on the Rest and Be Thankful.

Of course, our food and drink businesses are currently focused on keeping the shelves full as they face huge labour shortages and keeping employees safe as the pandemic continues, as well as on getting to grips with the new processes, paperwork and information technology services involved in exporting their products to the EU as a result of the chaos of Brexit.

One shellfish operator I spoke to exported 60 per cent of his catch to the EU in 2019; now, he no longer exports there, and has to find new markets. Thankfully, Scottish Development International has done amazing work in that area, but the food and drink industry needs Scottish Government support to enable it to adapt its produce to meet the requirements of new buyers. This morning at the Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee, we heard evidence from the food and drink industry about its fears. It is imperative that those fears are heard and that urgent action is taken.

It is said that you are what you eat, and that is true of nations as well as individuals. Argyll and Bute’s larder, and Scotland’s larder, are vital to our health, wealth and wellbeing. Imagine what we could do with those resources in an independent Scotland.

Feasgar math. Tha mi a fuireach ann an Ilè, agus tha mi ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig. Ron àm seo, bha mi ag obair ann an roinn Ghàidhlig a’ BhBC airson faisg air fichead bliadhna.

Following is the simultaneous interpretation:

Good afternoon. I live on Islay and I am learning Gaelic. Before this, I worked in the Gaelic department of the BBC for almost 20 years.

The member continued in English.

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on the national Gaelic language plan, and I thank my colleague Alasdair Allan for lodging the motion. My constituency of Argyll and Bute is the land of the Gaels and has the motto “Seas ar Coir”, or “Maintain our Right”, and that is exactly what the national Gaelic language plan and forthcoming Scottish language bill should do.

I grew up on the east coast of Scotland and was introduced to Gaelic by my hill-climbing father. Driesh, my first Munro, means the thorn bush or bramble, Cairn Gorm means the blue cairn and Ben-y Hone means the mossy hill. Neither of us had Gaelic, but the descriptive names of the hills and mountains that we climbed embedded in me a connection between landscape and language, as featured in the programme “Tir is Teanga”, which my colleague Alasdair starred in, if I remember correctly.

Throughout my almost 20 years at BBC Scotland, Gaelic was the constant thread. I supported Gaelic programme makers as they created a wealth of output for the audience, including “Dè a-nis?”, “Eòrpa”, “Coinneach MacÌomhair” and coverage of Am Mòd. There were programmes on radio and television, giving Gaels of all ages a voice and giving Scotland programmes from a Gàidhealtachd perspective.

While at BBC Scotland, I learned about the rich array of Gaelic dialects across Scotland, and I have learned even more about that from living on Islay. The island is famous for its good whisky, or “uisge-beatha meth”, whereas on Lewis it would be “uisge-beatha math”. On Islay and in some other areas of the Gàidhealtachd, “a” is “e”. Mainland Argyll Gaelic is different again, but with similarities to Islay Gaelic. “Beul Chainnt” was a fantastic series that celebrated the variations across the Gàidhealtachd. Those differences should be invested in, retained and supported.

The motion notes that Gaelic is in a “precarious position” in vernacular communities across Scotland.? It is. In my home village of Port Sgioba, or Port Charlotte, very few houses in the old village are occupied as permanent homes.? I know a number of young people who have moved away because of the difficulty in getting on to the housing ladder.

The Mull and Iona Community Trust has just built two family homes, which were hugely oversubscribed, and The Oban Times recently had a prominent article on the difficulty that local people, or incoming key workers, have in acquiring property. However, as Alasdair Allan said, Glasgow is looking at opening a third and fourth Gaelic school, while the Gaelic school in Inverness is full to capacity and Edinburgh is consulting on a new dedicated Gaelic school. No matter how much valuable work Bòrd na Gàidhlig does, it is working in an economic climate that, sadly, drives out young Gaels to the cities. That could be described as the economic clearances.

However, we have an opportunity to use Gaelic and other Scots languages as an economic stimulus. We should give our wealth of languages and dialects the Scotland-the-brand treatment to encourage folk to learn and use them—not only to eat local but to speak local.

Schools across Argyll and Bute are providing pathways for learners and fluent speakers. We need to encourage primary schools to teach Gaelic and to connect the older generations with the younger ones by using language as the glue.

Gaelic is one of Scotland’s natural resources. The 2016 VisitScotland visitors survey found that, with no prior promotion, 34 per cent of respondents felt that Gaelic, as a national language, enhanced their visit to Scotland. VisitScotland has built on that lure of language for visitors and has launched its first Gaelic toolkit to help tourism businesses to develop their Gaelic offering.

I look forward to working with communities and other organisations to shape the next national Gaelic language plan to ensure that solutions across na Gàidhealtachd is nan Eilean are found in order to maintain the land, the language and the people—tìr is teanga is daoine.

To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are for future investment in the school estate. (S6O-00063)

All over Argyll and Bute, we have excellent schools—they are fantastic places to learn. However, on the islands of Islay, Mull and Tiree, our high school estate needs upgrading. Our teachers are the best, and our children’s school staff deserve a building that mirrors the excellent teaching that takes place inside it. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the quality of teaching must be mirrored by the quality of the buildings, and that funding should be forthcoming?

Will the Scottish Government consider supporting rural communities by providing centralised purchasing of defibrillators and on-going materials in order to reduce the need for communities to raise funds to cover value added tax?

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support unpaid carers. (S6O-00021)

I thank the minister for his very detailed answer.

In Argyll and Bute, third sector organisations such as the Dochas Fund provide fantastic support to unpaid carers. Although such organisations were delighted with the 2016 act, the investment in them does not cover their costs. Can the minister—I was about to promote him by calling him “cabinet secretary”, like you did with Maree Todd earlier, Presiding Officer—outline the support that is available for organisations that support unpaid carers? Will the Scottish Government consider those organisations’ views during the consultation process for the national care service?

To ask the First Minister to join me in this, national carers week, in recognising the immense contribution that carers make to the health and wellbeing of our loved ones across the country, and to give an update on the commitment of the Scottish National Party Government to establishing a national care service.

I welcome Màiri McAllan to her role.

Farmers in Argyll and Bute are very concerned about the precedent that the hastily negotiated tariff-free trade deal between the UK and Australia sets. It was agreed even before the Trade and Agriculture Commission had been set up to scrutinise the economic impact of such deals.

The deal places consumers above producers. Farmers across my constituency work hard to produce top-quality cattle and sheep, and they are central to the communities in which they live. However, as Duncan Macalister, who is chair of NFU Scotland’s Argyll and the Islands region, said to me yesterday, farmers

“are price takers, not price makers.”