The first thing that I would say to Alexander Stewart is that I already addressed that point in my previous answer, when I said that we are increasing spending this year for culture and the arts towards the £100 million annual increase to which the Scottish Government is committed. I am making the case vigorously within Government that we should do that as quickly as possible. If Mr Stewart and his colleagues want to support that increase in culture funding as much as I do, they will join me in voting for the budget after it is shared with Parliament at the beginning of December.

The Scottish Government’s long-standing investment in the youth music initiative helps young people throughout Scotland to access music-making opportunities. In 2021-22, that funding reached more than 360,000 children and young people across all of Scotland’s local authority areas.

We provide Creative Scotland with £500,000 annually to administer the youth arts open fund. In 2023-24, the fund supported 73 community-focused projects across 27 local authority areas, delivering to more than 6,000 children and young people.

Since 2012, the Scottish Government has provided funding to Sistema Scotland to deliver its Big Noise projects, which offer children and young people access to music making.

Will the member give way?

Was that a yes?

I offer my thanks to members across the chamber for their speeches this afternoon. It is clear from the range of most of the contributions that the level of challenge that Brexit has presented across the rural economy and beyond is understood and taken seriously.

There are many issues that need to be taken into account when we consider how we address those challenges, and I will share my initial reflections on today’s debate.

As we have heard today, the food and drink sector has been beset by a range of challenges in recent years. We know that there are increasing risks to Scotland’s food security, including from climate change and events such as the conflict in Ukraine. A strong political relationship with one of the world’s biggest agrifood exporters and our closest geographical neighbours does not just support our agrifood businesses, but strengthens our overall food security in terms of our trading relationships and critical supply chains. The European Union shares our values and our goals, and having friends that do so is critically important in the current geopolitical situation.

Speeches in today’s debate have laid bare the impact that the loss of freedom of movement has had and continues to have on Scotland’s rural and island communities. We are clear that Scotland has distinct demographic challenges and that, in response to that, we need a tailored migration route for Scotland that will support our public services, our economy, our communities and, in particular, those rural and island communities that have their own distinct challenges resulting from Brexit.

This Parliament has previously supported broad calls for a tailored approach to migration that supports Scotland’s economies, communities and public services. Right now, there is a significant opportunity for the new UK Government to work with the Scottish Government to deliver on our shared priorities.

I agree very much with Murdo Fraser about the value of libraries, including the community hub aspects of their work. A lot of very innovative work is going on across Scotland, with libraries providing additional services for communities. Mr Fraser has made a point very strongly about the value of those libraries and I hope that his local authority will listen to it.

On the budget process, Murdo Fraser will appreciate that I am not in a position to give any sneak previews of what might be coming in the weeks ahead but, again, the points that he has raised will have been heard.

The Scottish Government supports the Scottish Library and Information Council, which provides leadership and advice to Scottish ministers, local authorities and the wider libraries sector. In the year 2024-25, we are providing annual funding of £665,000 to SLIC in recognition of the importance of our public libraries and to support the excellent services that they provide. That includes £450,000 for the public library improvement fund, which supports creative, sustainable and innovative public library projects throughout Scotland, with £200,000 awarded to individual projects. The projects that have been successful for 2024-25 are due to be announced soon.

I am sympathetic to the criticism that Tim Eagle outlined in relation to recent decisions by the UK Labour Government. For the record, and for members of the farming community and exporters, who are keen to understand the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party’s position, will he clarify whether his party is in favour of a veterinary agreement with the European Union?

Will the member take an intervention?

I am grateful to Colin Smyth for taking interventions so early in his speech.

I asked this of the new Conservative Party spokesman on the subject, who could not answer the question. Will Mr Smyth tell us the position of the Scottish Labour Party in relation to a food and drink agreement or a veterinary agreement, which would be transformational for the sector? Is he impressing on his colleagues in London the fact that support for such an approach goes wider than the Scottish Government? Is that something that the Scottish Labour Party can get behind?