Chamber and committees

My other question is on the flipside of that. If somebody acquires a complication because of mesh removal surgery, such as urethral transection or something in the ureter that requires additional surgery, such as a urostomy, is that covered as something that happened because of the removal surgery?

Given the 23 December announcement by the World Health Organization that the virus can spread through short and long-range aerosol, or that it has short and long-range airborne transmission, what on-going assessment is being made regarding the issuing of FFP2 and FFP3 face masks for front-line healthcare workers as a first-line prevention measure against acquiring Covid, which is already causing high sickness and absence among healthcare workers in Scotland? I remind colleagues that I am part of NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s vaccination team.

Tuesday this week marked the 33rd anniversary of the Lockerbie air disaster, which resulted in 270 people from 21 nations losing their lives when Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in my South Scotland region. I remember the night well as I was working in Dumfries and Galloway royal infirmary at the time, and I remember the huge emergency service response.

Will the First Minister join me in marking the 33rd anniversary of the disaster and sending our thoughts to the families of all those who lost their lives, and in paying tribute to all those who were involved in the huge emergency service response on Wednesday 21 December 1988? [Applause.]

It is jist comin fae ower there. A few folk have been sceptical, and I have invited all the sceptics to discuss the matter. My door is open to anybody who wants to have a conversation about what they think the issues might be and why they might oppose the move.

We have opportunities with our otter pools, the 7stanes, our miles of bonnie rivers, our lochs and the Solway coast. If Bob Doris comes back to Dumfries and Galloway, he will find that it is an outdoor rural adventure. Dumfries, as the first rural city in Scotland, will have an amazing opportunity to pursue a sustainable and green economic recovery from the pandemic.

Our world-leading food and drink sector, including local breweries and gin, whisky and rum distilleries, provides first-class visitor destinations and would hugely benefit from Dumfries becoming a city. Dumfries also has worldwide importance in innovation and medical history, as the first-ever ether anaesthetic in Europe was delivered in 1846 by doctors Scott and McLauchlan at Dumfries infirmary. As a toon, we satisfy the cultural, social, environmental and innovation criteria for recognition as Scotland’s eighth city.

The Scottish Government publication “Scotland’s Agenda for Cities”, which was revised in 2016, states that we want

“A Scotland where our cities and their regions power Scotland’s economy for the benefit of all.”

That was published before the realities of the Brexit harms were known and before the Covid pandemic. I am keen to hear from the minister what is next for the vision for cities and whether it is being revised to show how Scotland’s cities can help to power economic recovery for our regions, bearing in mind that we will have one new city in Scotland by March 2022.

For all those reasons and to aid with post-pandemic economic recovery, Mark Jardine of the Dumfries People’s Project submitted the bid with complete support from Dumfries and Galloway Council, led by Provost Tracey Little. The bid is also supported by local charities, businesses, schools, young people, community groups and organisations such as Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership.

Geographically, Dumfries would be the first city in Scotland for those heading north and the only city in the South Scotland region. If it was awarded city status, that could increase tourism, attract business and bolster investment into the entire region. Dumfries would truly be the queen of the south.

One benefit of city status is good transport links with other cities and easy access to the varied beauty of rural Scotland. We know that many aspects of transport infrastructure across South Scotland, such as bus and train links, the A75 and the A77, need improved. City status will bring greater emphasis on those issues and more attention to the need for roads investment. That will be achieved only through wider attention to our whole region.

When Perth, Stirling and Inverness received city status, they went from strength to strength, with greater job creation, increased inward migration, increased visitor numbers and improved transport infrastructure to connect them with other Scottish cities. I want that benefit for Dumfries and oor wider region. I ask the Scottish Government to do all that it can to help with that aim, so that Dumfries can be the newest Scottish city and the queen of the south. I look forward to hearing colleagues’ contributions.

I hear the chunterings from sedentary positions across the chamber. If Dumfries applies for city status, is that not part of what we want? We must have the forward-looking aspiration for the town that the idea is something that people should embrace.

Will Colin Smyth give way?

So much is going on in the south-west. The minister talked about the dairy nexus project and the investment in Alpha Solway; a lot of investment is happening in Dumfries right now. Does the minister agree that even the aspiration to apply for city status could raise awareness and shine a light on the south of Scotland?

This is the final members’ business debate this year. I hope that we can end the term on a positive, consensual note while doing something that I greatly enjoy: shining a big muckle light on the south-west of Scotland and my hame toon, Dumfries. I thank those members who signed my motion, which enabled the debate to go ahead today.

Presiding Officer, 2022 presents an exciting opportunity, as part of Her Majesty’s platinum jubilee, for toons across the United Kingdom to receive city status. Her Majesty appoints new cities. When I picked up this opportunity with Mark Jardine and the Dumfries People’s Project in June this year, I brought together stakeholders for an initial meeting. They included local elected members, council officials, community councils and organisations, community leaders, the Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenants of Dumfries, and many others.

From the meeting came the realisation that there existed many preconceptions about what makes a town qualify to be a city. So, before I extol the virtues of Dumfries and oor wider region, I want to do some myth busting. Questions have been asked about the first myth: “Don’t you need to have a cathedral?” The answer is no—Willie Coffey is laughing, because he asked me the same question 10 minutes ago. That is not a requirement for a town to be a city, although we do have an amazing red sandstone church on the Crichton campus, and it is an awfie braw place tae visit.

The second myth is that Dumfries isnae big enough. The answer to that is that there is no population requirement for city status award. Dumfries has a population of 48,229, which is mair than 16 of the cities that already have city status, including Stirling and Perth. Other issues have been raised, such as, “Ye cannae be a city acause there are too many seagulls and too many empty shops.” Sadly, all cities are tackling the same issues of empty shops and vacant, abandoned and derelict buildings. Those matters can be addressed if we aspire to do that, and they are being addressed.

I thank Bob Doris for that intervention. As he spent part of his summer in Dumfries, I would encourage all members to do that, because it is a braw, bonnie place.

We have had the issue raised of our empty shops and our vacant, abandoned and derelict buildings. However, having an aspiration to attract inward investment and inward migration to improve the town—as happened in Perth, Stirling and Inverness when they became cities—will help to tackle many of the issues that I have highlighted. Just making the city bid application has led to conversations about what needs to be done to address the issues that I have highlighted. Even some positive publicity helps.

I will turn to why Dumfries—the toon I am proud to live in, which has cultural, social, innovative and environmental attributes—is worthy of city status. Dumfries is the hame of Robert Burns. It is the birthplace of Peter Pan and the place that led Robert the Bruce to become King of Scotland. Dumfriesshire is also the hame of the savings bank founder Henry Duncan; the father of modern physics, James Clerk Maxwell; the civil engineer Thomas Telford; the first bicycle, which was invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan; the father of the American navy, John Paul Jones; the Galloway car, which was made for women by women at Tongland and Locharbriggs; the artists Jessie Marion King and Edward Hornel; the musician Ray Wilson of Genesis fame; and the actors Sam Heughan—a lot of the lassies will know him—and John Laurie from the cult classic film “The Wicker Man”. Nor can we ever forget local Dumfries lad Calvin Harris.

Dumfries has a long history and some great stories and characters. We even have oor ain ancient breed of kye, the world famous Belted Galloway.

What steps is the Scottish Government taking to further encourage women to have careers in STEM? It is not just about school; it is about encouraging women even in college or higher education.