Chamber and committees

Edinburgh’s festivals are vital to Edinburgh’s economy and Scotland’s status as a cultural hub, but venues have recently reported that the high costs of accommodation are resulting in performers restricting their time at the Edinburgh fringe. Will the cabinet secretary discuss with ministerial colleagues, such as Mr Fairlie and the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, further extending the running hours of ScotRail services to Glasgow and the west during the festivals, to ensure that more people can attend and more performers can access cheaper accommodation, and to spread the economic benefits of Edinburgh’s festivals across Scotland?

I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement.

The SNP response to the UK-EU deal is miserable, opportunistic, inconsistent and out of step with the interests of the Scottish people. The cabinet secretary, who supports membership of the common fisheries policy, has displayed full outrage online when it comes to fishing, but he has also displayed that he is out of touch with the vast majority of Scottish businesses and consumers.

Supermarkets have said that the deal has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of the weekly shop. Salmon Scotland, which represents our biggest food export product, has welcomed the deal and so, too, have the Confederation of British Industry, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, BAE Systems, Ryanair, UK Hospitality Industries, the Food and Drink Federation and many more organisations.

The new UK Labour Government is getting on with the job of rebuilding our economy. Meanwhile, the SNP is all over the place and seems to be opposing the deal, alongside Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch. Given the overwhelming support from Scottish industry for the deal, does the cabinet secretary not accept that opposing the deal is a major miscalculation?

I want to make some progress.

The UK Labour Government is also growing the economy, with figures announced today showing that, for the first three months of this year, the UK had the fastest-growing economy in the G7. Meanwhile, what have the SNP Government and the cabinet secretary done to deal with the mess that we have been left in? I would say that they have done nothing but complain from the sidelines. The SNP has done one thing, at least, in rebuilding relations with our EU neighbours, but, yes, it has overlooked Scottish jobs and Scottish industry by sending ferry contracts to Poland, which is hardly the action of a nationalist Government. What is the SNP’s solution? We have heard it already. It is full fiscal autonomy and independence, which would cost Scotland £12.8 billion. That is only going to damage economic growth and living standards. Sixty-one per cent of Scotland’s exports—around £50 billion of goods—go to the rest of the UK. Independence would make Brexit look like a cakewalk.

Will the member take an intervention?

What is acceptable is that the UK Labour Government is getting on with the job of fixing the mess that the Tories left in relation to Brexit. I have said to Mr Robertson—I will say it for a second time—that his policy is not for fishing to be devolved. He wants to rejoin the European Union and the common fisheries policy. I think that the context of his comments about the Lisbon treaty, when he called it “unacceptable” and “a travesty”, was in relation to fisheries.

The UK Labour Government is getting on with the job of resetting our relationship with the European Union. To support Scottish businesses and jobs, it is negotiating trade deals with the United States and India. To protect our citizens, the UK Labour Government is increasing defence spending.

Well, I will explain to the cabinet secretary that if we rejoined the EU—as is his position—we would be rejoining the common fisheries policy.

On economic growth, does the cabinet secretary acknowledge that, during the first three months of this year, the UK was the fastest-growing economy in the G7?

Last week, when Anas Sarwar responded to the SNP’s latest programme for government, he asked, “Is that it?” It was an important question, because, after nearly two decades of SNP rule in Scotland, the legislative programme was a weak and meagre one. It was symbolic of the SNP’s term in office: all spin and no substance. It was a failure to meet the needs of the people of Scotland and to concentrate on what the Scottish Government is responsible for.

Here we are, just a week later, with a Scottish Government debate on Scotland’s place in today’s Europe when we should instead be debating what is happening in today’s Scotland. I am content to debate important international issues from time to time, as we did relatively recently, and it is, of course, right that the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee considers in detail issues relating to the trade and co-operation agreement with the European Union. However, today’s debate is about deflection and grandstanding ahead of the important UK-EU summit on Monday.

There is a growing disconnect between the Scottish people and Scottish politics. That is because this Government and this place are not doing their job. We could be debating the First Minister’s inadequate plans for new general practitioner appointments; the challenges that our education sector faces, although that would rely on the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills turning up; or a plan to solve our housing emergency. However, those issues are being sidelined in favour of SNP grandstanding on Europe.

The SNP opposed European Union membership in 1973—a fact that seemed to be missing from the cabinet secretary’s history lesson earlier. It spent more on the 2019 Scottish Parliament by-election than it spent on the 2016 referendum campaign. It failed to vote in the House of Commons for membership of the customs union in the 2019 indicative votes. Further, when the SNP cabinet secretary who opened today’s debate was in the House of Commons, he described the Lisbon treaty—one of the foundational documents of the European Union—as “unacceptable” and “a travesty”. The SNP can try to claim consistent support for European Union membership today, but the record suggests otherwise. This debate is not just opportunistic, it is performative.

I am sorry, but I have already taken three. Oh—okay, if the member is very brief.

My point is that we should be focusing on the issues that matter to the people of Scotland and for which we are responsible. Our position is in line with the mandate that we received at the general election, and we will be progressing that in the months and years ahead.

We accept that Brexit has been costly and damaging, and we know—because Kemi Badenoch has told us—that the Conservatives left the European Union without a plan for growth. That and the Liz Truss budget have significantly damaged our relationship with the European Union, economic growth and living standards. People now expect us to fix that mess, and that is exactly what they gave the new United Kingdom Labour Government a mandate to do.

I am afraid that I do not know, Mr Kerr. What I do know, though, is that the UK Labour Government will be working to progress our national interests. We are also seeking co-operation with the EU where we can and where that is appropriate, in line with our manifesto. That is the position that we have set out.

I welcome the fact that the new UK Labour Government is seeking to enter a strategic partnership between the UK and the EU on trade, security and defence. The situation with the EU requires work, and we are focused on that. Next week, the UK Government and the EU will hold a summit that is part of a wider plan to reset relations. The EU provides a fantastic opportunity to support and strengthen Scottish businesses and industries, and the UK Government is hoping to agree a veterinary and sanitary and phytosanitary agreement, as we put forward in our manifesto last year. That would allow agricultural products—