Chamber and committees

As of this morning, the return rate stands at 85.7 per cent, with the enumeration of 2,238,784 households. That is an increase of 6.5 percentage points since the start of the extension period, on 1 May, and it amounts to 144,431 extra households being enumerated. The geographical return rate is also encouraging, with 25 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities passing the 85 per cent milestone, and a further five passing 80 per cent.

Field Force enumerators continue to visit households that are yet to complete the 2022 census. So far, 1.59 million households have been visited and offered help to complete the census, either online or with a paper copy. That work continues.

The number of households yet to return their census form stands at 373,701. All have been written to a number of times, and the majority have had a visit from enumerators. In recent days, a final reminder communication has been sent to all those households.

I am delighted to be able to confirm to Donald Cameron that the most significant increase in response during the census extension period has been in the city of Glasgow, and more work is under way.

I encourage Donald Cameron and all other members, now that they have the opportunity and the public’s ear, to encourage everybody to take part. Householders have until the end of May to submit their census return. Our absolute priority is to support and enable those who have not yet done so to complete their census return, adding to the more than 2.2 million households across Scotland that have already done so. For those who have yet to complete their census return, help and support is available via the website, census.gov.scot, or by calling the free helpline on 0800 030 8308. The field teams, who have carried out more than 1.5 million doorstep visits, will continue to support people to complete their census returns.

The Scottish Government has made its views clear to the UK Government. We are deeply concerned about the UK Government’s plans to override the protocol unilaterally and the catastrophic damage that that could cause to Scotland. Kate Forbes and I have written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Foreign Secretary, respectively, calling on the UK Government to re-engage constructively with our European Union partners. We have received no reply, and we have had no meaningful discussions with the UK Government on the matter.

The UK Government’s threats to breach an international treaty that was signed in good faith just two years ago could spark a trade war that would have disastrous economic consequences for Scotland and for all parts of the UK. For the UK Government to even contemplate such reckless action in the midst of a cost of living crisis is unthinkable and indefensible.

The deterioration of the dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol, such that it necessitates intervention by Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and Richard Neal, the leader of the US congressional delegation visiting Europe this week, is a grave cause for concern. The prospect of a trade deal between the UK and the United States will recede rapidly if the UK Government maintains its reckless attitude to negotiation with the European Union.

Far from identifying the benefits of Brexit, the UK Government seems determined to seize upon every imaginable harm that can be extracted from Brexit. We can only hope that the UK Government will, indeed, listen to our US partners, pull back from its irresponsible threats and focus instead on dialogue with our EU partners and on finding a durable agreed solution.

I do not think that Willie Rennie understands what the Northern Ireland protocol is. We are talking about the UK Government breaching the Northern Ireland protocol. Having said that the deal was “oven-ready” and that it was a fantastic deal, the UK Government is unilaterally threatening to break international law. I am surprised that Willie Rennie does not know that—he should know it. There is a world of difference between that and a Northern Ireland protocol that was agreed by both sides and could be workable if the UK Government was prepared to live up to its international treaty obligations.

Throughout the census collection extension period, a range of work has been undertaken to increase the return rate. The marketing campaign was extended, with updated messaging informing people about the extension and reminding them of the legal requirement to fill in the census. That updated messaging was featured across television, radio and the press. Updated digital and outdoor adverts were targeted at local authorities with lower return rates to encourage completion, while media partnerships have been created to increase return rates among young people who live away from home. Field events have taken place across the country to support people to complete their census return, with events being held at places of worship, universities, colleges, supermarkets, libraries and leisure centres. Those events will continue this week and into the weekend.

In addition, a quarter of a million postcards and more than 400,000 reminder letters have been sent to households that have not yet completed their census return.

I am extremely grateful to Clare Adamson for bringing forward this motion and securing the debate today. It is right that we celebrate the life and legacy of Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham and mark the recent publication of research by Dr Lachlan Munro that confirms this extraordinary man’s place in Scotland’s history for modern readers.

I would like to thank the various speakers for their passionate and interesting contributions right across the chamber: Jenni Minto, Stephen Kerr, Kenneth Gibson, Christine Grahame, Richard Leonard and Paul McLennan. It is a rare thing indeed that there is such unanimity in any Parliament and particularly about a man with so many facets to see that there has been such unanimity in respect of the mark of his lifetime.

It is important that the Parliament remembers how the significant achievements of R B Cunninghame Graham in campaigning for social and political change in the late 19th and early 20th centuries have influenced and shaped Scotland and still do today. This is the second time that R B Cunninghame Graham has been the focus of debate in this Parliament. We recorded our appreciation of his devotion to justice and Scotland on 20 June 2012 on the occasion of the publication of a then new collection of his writings by Alan MacGillivray and John C McIntyre.

Dr Munro’s thorough analysis of R B Cunninghame Graham’s contribution to Scotland’s political and cultural history is a hugely welcome addition to research available on this most interesting man. Describing R B Cunninghame Graham as

“the most contentious, controversial, and contradictory Scot of his generation”,

Dr Munro seeks to understand him as both an outstanding politician and a keen writer. For the first time, this research examines his political influences, which included William Morris, Engels and Marx. It examines contemporary newspaper reports, Cunninghame Graham’s speeches, his socialist journalism, as well as the memoirs of those who knew him, including his early socialist, and later nationalist, colleagues.

The book reveals Cunninghame Graham’s close relationship with Keir Hardie and argues that it was Cunninghame Graham, inspired by William Morris, who first saw the need for a party for working people. Cunninghame Graham and Hardie’s support for Scottish home rule is explored, as are Cunninghame Graham’s evocative Scottish writings, which Dr Munro contends were also deeply political.

The book also explores the early labour movement in Scotland, which turned into the National Party and then the Scottish National Party. Cunninghame Graham felt that the establishment of a Scottish Parliament with full control over all Scottish affairs was essential—a firm belief, the chamber will not be surprised to hear, that I whole-heartedly share.

I am delighted that Dr Munro’s analysis includes Cunninghame Graham’s nearly 30 books, including 200 short stories and sketches, history and travel books, which draw on his many travels and adventures in Scotland and in his beloved South America as inspiration.

Cunninghame Graham has long been Scotland’s forgotten personality, politician and writer. Dr Munro explores the complex reasons for his eclipse from public attention despite Cunninghame Graham being one of the most famous and controversial Scots of his generation, whose career in the public eye spanned over 50 years and saw him move from aristocratic beginnings to being a radical part of the British political establishment and a figure loved by people from every class in society.

In this fresh appraisal, Dr Munro challenges previous accounts of Cunninghame Graham as a romantic idealist, an aesthete and an adventurer. Acknowledging the apparent contradictions in his life, Dr Munro shows that Cunninghame Graham’s political activities, as well as his writing, were fuelled by his deeply felt moral outrage. As Dr Munro says, Cunninghame Graham was seen

“not solely as a politician, nor an author, but as an eloquent, disquieted, principled, fervid moralist and contrarian.”

As we have heard in the debate, R B Cunninghame Graham lived a fascinating life. Born in London with Spanish heritage, educated at Harrow, an adventurer in Morocco, a cowboy and long rider in the Americas. Throughout all of that, he was a Scot and his influence on modern Scottish political life should not be underestimated. As we heard, he entered the House of Commons in 1886 as a Liberal MP for North West Lanarkshire and left in 1892 as that Parliament’s first sitting socialist member. Radical at the time, but familiar now, his electoral platform included universal suffrage, free school meals, free education, an eight-hour working day, home rule for Scotland and the abolition of the House of Lords.

As the motion states, R B Cunninghame Graham was also known as “The Miners’ MP”, fighting to end the poverty and hardship faced by mining communities in Lanarkshire. He would be pleased, I am sure, by the action that is being taken right now by the Scottish Government to ease the wounds of division and bitterness inflicted on Scotland’s mining communities during the miners’ strike of 1984-85. I am speaking, of course, about the Miners’ Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Bill that is currently making its way through Parliament.

The bill seeks to secure a pardon for miners and their households for certain offences that were committed during that strike, which was the most bitter and divisive industrial dispute in living memory. The pardon will help to restore dignity to miners and mining communities by removing the stigma of a criminal conviction. By offering a pardon, the Scottish Government is doing what it can within its powers to bring some comfort to miners and others convicted for the strike. I am confident that R B Cunninghame Graham would have approved.

Today’s debate will help to set the record straight. It celebrates the achievements of this reformer who fought so hard for the people of Scotland and their home rule. It is important that he is remembered as one of modern Scotland’s founding fathers.

I want to add my warm congratulations to Dr Munro on the fruits of his work over a number of years, which has led to the publication by Edinburgh University Press of this assessment of R B Cunninghame Graham in one volume. This fitting testimony to Cunninghame Graham’s literary and political achievements will give modern readers the opportunity to assess and enjoy the remarkable range of his work. It also goes some way to explain why Cunninghame Graham has received so little serious attention in the 86 years since his death. Cunninghame Graham’s commitment to social justice for all, to Scotland and to literature has left a remarkable legacy for us today.

I congratulate everyone who took part in the debate this afternoon and commend this new book to everyone with an interest in our political history that continues to shape us to this day.

I will be happy to.

We have been taking a strategic approach to PCSD across Government and ministerial portfolios—climate, energy, education, health, trade and procurement.

As I said in response to Willie Rennie’s intervention, I will be summing up at the end of the debate so, in my closing speech, I will be happy to reflect on any ground that I have not been able to cover or that other members have yet to cover in the debate.

I still have to make some progress before I get to Erasmus, which I suspect is what Willie Rennie would wish to ask me about. I will be answering his points.

The report emphasises the prioritisation of policies, effective collaboration and coherence across Government. Underpinning that is a recognition of the value that a continuous process of improvement in measurement of impact adds to our work.

Scotland is determined to be a good global citizen. The publication of “Scotland’s Global Affairs Framework” yesterday underlines that point and provides that focus as a strategic approach for our international work. As the committee’s report emphasises, Scotland has a huge range of businesses and civil society groups that are either operating overseas or focusing on issues of global importance. Collectively, our country has huge strengths not only in international affairs, but in related areas such as human rights, conflict resolution, international development, climate justice, energy security and public health. The framework provides a structure for the Government to promote those strengths internationally.

This is the first time that we have met since the foundation of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs—I was pleased to see representatives of all the parties at its launch—so I take the opportunity to say that it is great news, given that Scotland has lacked a central institute that could bring together knowledge and expertise in an international context, that we have now delivered the council, which was explicitly stated as an aim in our programme for government. I greatly look forward to its work in the months and years ahead.

Before concluding, I return to the query that Willie Rennie posed in relation to Erasmus+. The Scottish Government was hugely disappointed by the decision of the UK Government not to associate with Erasmus+, which currently prevents Scotland from participating fully in its own right after 2022-23. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of educational mobility, and since the UK Government decision we have continued to engage in dialogue with the European Parliament and the European Commission on how we can maximise our institutions’ access to the EU programme.

In our programme for government, we have committed to developing a Scottish education exchange programme to support the international mobility of staff and learners and work to resecure Scotland’s access to the Erasmus+ programme, and that is exactly what we will do.

I would be absolutely delighted to do so. I would be grateful if Stephen Kerr could tell us when his comments will move on to the committee’s report, which is the subject of this afternoon’s debate.