Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Official Report 881KB pdf

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Robert Burns (Economic Potential)

The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S5M-09328, in the name of Joan McAlpine, on the economic potential of Robert Burns. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament welcomes the contribution that Robert Burns continues to make to Scotland’s economic and cultural life; understands that business generated during the Burns season includes spending on food and drink, hospitality, accommodation, kilt hire, printing and merchandising; notes that the creative economy is boosted through arts events such as the Big Burns Supper Festival in Dumfries, which is the culmination of Scotland’s £390,000 Winter Festivals Programme; understands that year-round Burns-related tourism is on the increase thanks to Burns Scotland partner destinations such as the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Ellisland Farm near Auldgirth, the Monument Centre in Kilmarnock and Burns House Museum in Mauchline, as well as numerous places around Scotland associated with the poet; notes that Burns the brand helps promote Scotland’s exports and trade links through Burns suppers around the globe, including through more than 250 member clubs of the Robert Burns World Federation; understands that Burns contributes to the success of Scotland’s higher education institutions, including the Centre for Robert Burns Studies at the University of Glasgow, which encourages interest in the Bard through publications, seminar series, conferences, community and performance events, advice to exporters, research grant funding and international students and donor gifts, while providing strong strategic support to the National Burns Collection; understands that the last evaluation of Robert Burns’ economic impact on modern Scotland was completed in 2003 for the BBC by the World Bank economist, Lesley Campbell, who estimated that he generated £157 million each year for Scotland, and believes that this figure has grown exponentially since the research was carried out and that celebrations of the Bard’s birthday on 25 January will be an enriching experience in every sense of the word.

17:26  

It is now 15 years since the BBC programme “Burns the Brand” attempted to quantify in hard cash terms what our national bard contributes to Scotland’s contemporary economy. The producer, David Stenhouse, commissioned a World Bank economist, who calculated that Burns made us £157 million per annum in year-round tourism and merchandising, including the bonanza of the supper season, with all the spending that takes place on hospitality, whisky, haggis, kilt hire and even paying the piper. That was a tidy sum back in 2003, and it would have left the impoverished poet uncharacteristically lost for words, but it did not include activity outwith Scotland, and it was calculated long before the opening of the Burns birthplace museum, which receives 300,000 visitors a year, and Scotland’s £390,000 winter festival programme, of which Burns night is the keystane.

The figure of £157 million was also calculated before the watershed year of homecoming in 2009 for Burns’s 250th anniversary, which itself resulted in an additional £360 million of visitor spend and reached out to Scotland’s diaspora as never before. Moreover, the £157 million figure did not include the free advertising and promotion that our country and its businesses get via Burnsian good will, not just on the bard’s birthday but through things such as “Auld Lang Syne”, the song with which the whole world welcomes in the new year in Scots and which has been recorded by hundreds of stars from Jimi Hendrix to Mariah Carey.

Any economic study that was conducted today would surely find that Burns’s capital had increased exponentially. If—God forbid—he was a listed company, his share price would be through the roof of his auld clay biggin. The purpose of the debate is to make the point that it is high time that we looked seriously at the value of Burns the brand and updated the 2003 study.

Of course, we cannot put a price on the cultural value of Burns. In my view, he is the most significant Scotsman of his millennium. He cemented our national identity and self-confidence. He represents democracy, equality, the importance of universal education, the lyrical power of the Scots language and so much more, including—to use his words—peace, enjoyment, love and pleasure.

However, there is no contradiction between honouring Burns as an artist and recognising his commercial worth. I am indebted to the centre for Robert Burns studies at the University of Glasgow and Professor Murray Pittock, pro-vice principal of the university and Bradley chair of English literature, for advising me on the debate. I welcome Professor Pittock and his colleagues to the gallery and should say that they are not responsible for the content of my speech.

Since it was founded in 2007, the centre for Robert Burns studies has been an income generator and job creator, as befits the track record of our world-class universities. Students from all over the world come to the centre to study Burns and other writers of his period, such as John Galt and Allan Ramsay. The centre secured an Arts and Humanities Research Council grant of £1.1 million towards the editing Robert Burns for the 21st century project. The new multivolume edition, which is being published by the Oxford University Press, is edited by the centre’s Professor Gerry Carruthers, and the accompanying website and social media mean that everyone can engage with and benefit from the centre’s expertise.

The centre also provides strategic support to the national Burns collection, which is housed across 26 sites in Glasgow, Ayrshire, Edinburgh and Dumfries and Galloway. The website burnsscotland.com brings the collection together in a way that serves the general public, the tourist and the scholar. I recommend its interactive maps, which allow us to see all the different locations and what is there.

Other members will talk about other parts of Scotland—I know that members from Ayrshire, in particular, are here. I do not have time to mention everything, so I will talk about Dumfries and Galloway, where many of the collection sites are. We have the Burns House museum in Dumfries, Ellisland Farm, on the banks of the Nith, and the Globe Inn in Dumfries, where Burns enjoyed a dram and romanced the barmaid Anna Park.

The Globe is a piece of living history, where people can view—as the cabinet secretary has done—stanzas scratched on the window panes and sit “fast by an ingle” in the poet’s own chair. The Globe is a major venue in Dumfries’s big Burns supper festival, which runs from 18 to 28 January this year and is the biggest Burns event in the winter festivals programme. Audiences at the festival grow every year: last year there was a 16 per cent increase in ticketed events. The festival is an important aspect of town-centre regeneration.

The proliferation of Burns festivals is a relatively recent development, but Burns suppers, which began after the poet’s death, continue to multiply exponentially, even in the 21st century. Many are run by volunteers, such as those who are part of the Robert Burns World Federation, which has 250 members clubs worldwide, but all sorts of other people around the world are having Burns suppers. Business organisations, hotels, restaurants and loose networks of friends will all raise their glasses and sharpen their dirks this month, because Burns is fashionable. Members need only look on the booking service, Eventbrite, to see that, in London alone, Jamie Oliver is hosting a Burns night celebration at £50 per person, which includes Glenfiddich cocktails, Fortnum & Mason is hosting an event that comes in somewhat pricier at £75 a head, and Anta, the design and textile interiors company, is offering haggis canapés and 20 per cent off in its showrooms.

From Washington DC to Kuala Lumpur, such events are increasing demand for Scottish produce. The premier butcher Simon Howie says that a third of the haggis that is sold in the United Kingdom is sold in the three weeks around 25 January and that year-round sales are £8 million in the UK. Indeed, slightly more haggis is sold in England than in Scotland during the Burns period.

We all know that whisky sales are booming, with exports worth £125 every second. Around the world, many people get their first taste of malt whisky and haggis at a Burns supper, and of course they come back for more. Increasingly, people come back to sample other Scottish produce, such as oatcakes, craft beers and gins.

Many international events are held by chambers of commerce and sell themselves quite openly as networking opportunities. It is not possible to see all those disparate events on a single site, but perhaps there is the potential to explore such an approach, so that exporting companies can take advantage of an amazing network.

As much as we consider the deals that are struck and the sales of our produce, we must also consider the soft power of the poet. Ireland has St Patrick’s day, of course, which is great fun, but the mythical, snake-killing saint does not quite have Rabbie’s contemporary resonance.

Burns celebrates universalism and is now everyone’s national poet for a day—he is embraced by Scotland’s own diverse communities. I note with pleasure the briefing that members had from BEMIS, the organisation for Scotland’s ethnic and cultural minority communities, whose community Burns events this year include those of the Giffnock Hebrew community, Glasgow Afghan United and the African Caribbean Women’s Association. At the 25th anniversary of Celtic Connections this year, BEMIS will celebrate Burns at a grand, multicultural ceilidh at Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket.

Burns is for everyone all year round, not just on Burns night. Camperdown in Victoria, Australia will hold a Robert Burns festival this May that will showcase a lot of Scottish talent. Robert Burns’s native Ayrshire, of course, will have Burnsfest in the same month.

Burns continues to inspire other artists and makers and manufacturers of original merchandise. Some of that will find its way into the WeeBox, which is an amazing initiative. The WeeBox subscription home-delivery hamper, which was highlighted in Vogue magazine last month, is aimed at all who identify with or admire our culture. Each month, it arrives with quirky, original gifts of a high quality—or “mindings of home”. This month, the WeeBox contains Clark McGinn’s “The Ultimate Burns Supper Book”, by Luath Press, with a foreword by Professor Pittock, which is a do-it-yourself guide that allows even more people around the world to join in the world’s biggest party of poetry.

Burns the brand is inseparable from Scotland the brand. The Anholt-GfK Roper nation brands index, which ranks the reputation of countries, puts Scotland in 15th place out of 50 countries, which is quite an astonishing performance. Burns contributes to that success quite considerably by enhancing the way that others see us. First and foremost, of course, he enriches our culture. However, by investing in his cultural legacy, we also enrich our country and the prosperity of the Scottish people, who keep his immortal memory alive.

I think that I am due one of those WeeBoxes for letting Ms McAlpine speak on for 10 minutes.

17:36  

I thank Joan McAlpine for and congratulate her on lodging a worthy motion on the economic impact of Robert Burns.

It is quite difficult to establish the continuing economic impact of Burns on local or even Scottish economies, but the value of the ever-present and diverse books, translations, suppers, memorabilia, whisky, tourist facilities and visits to Ayrshire and beyond, not to discount the international dimension, which Joan McAlpine mentioned, is substantial and still growing after 259 years. If we had a line in the Scottish budget every year for revenue attributed to Robert Burns, I am certain that it would be significant enough to justify its inclusion in Mr Mackay’s annual statement to Parliament.

In east Ayrshire, we know that there are about a million tourist visits each year, which generate around £90 million and support more than 1,600 jobs. Burns will be a major contributor to those figures, although of course they do not include all the associated Burns activities that go unrecorded.

Each year, there are around 5,000 visits to the Mauchline museum, which is free to get into. There are also a number of other locations in and around the area, including the Burns monument and the genealogy centre in Kilmarnock, and Mossgiel farm, where Burns lived for about four years. The Robert Burns World Federation will soon move into its new premises in Kilmarnock town centre, which will be not too far away from where it all started with the publication of his Kilmarnock edition in July 1786. The federation, if it does not directly promote itself as a visitor attraction, might well find that there is a demand for all things relating to Burns in that very central and attractive location in the town.

The jewel in the crown is, of course, the magnificent Burns national heritage park in Alloway, whose stunning location attracts well over 300,000 visitors each year. The cottage, the kirk and Tam’s brig are set in beautiful gardens adjacent to the Brig o’ Doon house hotel and show what is possible with significant investment, in delivering the quality visitor experience that local and international visitors expect.

Burns continues to make us money; indeed, he is even on our money—he is on our Clydesdale Bank and Bank of Scotland notes. His work has been translated into more than 40 languages, including Faroese and Esperanto, and he is celebrated in every corner of the world.

However, we might have a wee bit of work to do to improve his standing in Japan. Some of the translations might explain why our Japanese friends are a little bemused at times—we know that when we see them translated back into English. Apparently, the immortal lines from “Address to a Haggis”

“Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race!”

have emerged as

“Good luck to your honest friendly face,
Great King of the sausages.”

That has left our Japanese friends wondering what the fuss is all about, so we might have a little way to go to improve our offering to them.

It is a pleasure to speak again in a Robert Burns debate in this wonderful Parliament of ours, and I thank my colleague, Joan McAlpine, for giving us the opportunity. I wonder what the bard would make of it all, some 259 years after that “blast o’ Janwar’ win’” brought him into this world and into all our lives.

17:40  

I congratulate Joan McAlpine on securing her motion for debate this evening and note that it is one of the most comprehensive motions that I have supported in a very long time.

With your encouragement, Presiding Officer, I will give members the opening lines of “Tam o’ Shanter”, a famous poem by Robert Burns.

“When chapman billies leave the street,
And drouthy neebors, neebors meet,
As market-days are wearing late,
An’ folk begin to tak the gate;
While we sit bousing at the nappy,
And getting fou and unco’ happy,
We think na on the lang Scots miles,
The mosses, waters, slaps and styles,
That lie between us and our hame,
Whare sits our sulky sullen dame,
Gathering her brows like gathering storm,
Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.

This truth fand honest Tam o’ Shanter,
As he frae Ayr ae night did canter,
(Auld Ayr, wham ne’er a town surpasses,
For honest men and bonny lasses.)”

As I am an Ayrshire man born and bred, and as I have been the MSP for Ayr for the past 17 years, it is a great pleasure and, indeed, a privilege to speak in the debate. As a son of the soil myself, I was brought up to have an affinity with Burns, the Ayrshire ploughman, and the language of Burns is still the language of much of the farming community in Ayrshire today. The particular dialect of broad Scots that I learned at my mother’s knee has given me insights into Burns’s remarkable work that are not so easily accessed by others. For example, apart from Emma Harper, how many people in the chamber know what to “spean a foal” means? Answers on a postcard, please.

That Burns, as part of the Scottish enlightenment, has had a remarkable impact on Ayrshire and the Scottish people as well as on the Scottish diaspora is beyond doubt. His poetry and letters have influenced millions of people, including philosophers, Presidents of the United States and working men and women the world over who readily identify with his works. As the MSP for Ayr, I have been lucky enough to be invited to many Burns suppers over the years, and one of my favourite ones is hosted by the Newton Stewart Burns club, where Alex Neil and I both spoke last year. Also as the MSP for Ayr, I regard myself as eating haggis for Ayrshire at this time of year, so it is fortunate that I enjoy it as well.

However, today we are debating the economic impact of Burns, which is significant for Ayrshire particularly but also for Scotland as a whole. I endorse all of what Joan McAlpine has drawn to our attention in that regard. The Robert Burns birthplace museum in Alloway is a must-see destination for those who are interested in his work, and it contains many artefacts from his life and times. Although I am open to correction about this, I believe that between 200,000 and 300,000 people a year visit the museum and the Burns cottage as well as the soon-to-be-refurbished Burns monument, which benefits the hotels and restaurants in Ayr and Ayrshire. Indeed, many hotels, restaurants and bars in Ayrshire have memorable names taken from Burns’s most famous works, such as the Brig o’ Doon house hotel, the Twa Dugs, Souters Inn and Willie Wastles. Robert Burns’s influence and attitudes still influence the way of life in Ayrshire today.

Although there is already a whole industry built around Burns in Ayrshire and Scotland, much more could be done to increase the number of visitors to Ayrshire. A relatively recent innovation is the Robert Burns humanitarian award, which is given every year to a suitable deserving and emblematic person selected from a worldwide stage. The award recognises their particular contribution and publicises Ayrshire and Scotland as well. Several festivals at different times of the year acclaim the work of Burns in Ayr, Ayrshire, Dumfries and elsewhere and bring welcome visitors to our relatively undiscovered part of south-west Scotland.

Although I applaud the success of the north coast 500 route as far as tourism development is concerned, many visitors to Scotland are not even aware of the magnificent landscapes and seascapes of the Firth of Clyde and the Solway Firth or that the A75 and A77 coastal routes are as good as—if not better than—the north coast 500 route. All were travelled on by Burns in his days as an exciseman and local farmer.

South-west Scotland—but particularly Ayrshire—is the hidden jewel in the crown of Scottish tourism. It has uncluttered roads—which members might like to note are easily navigated by camper vans—and magnificent restaurants such as the recently refurbished Tree House in Ayr. A warm welcome at every hotel and bed and breakfast awaits those who journey to the west to see for themselves the legendary sunsets over Arran and the Firth of Clyde.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, we in Ayrshire are not good enough at making the many millions of people worldwide who have Ayrshire and Scottish ancestry, as well as those who have an interest in Burns, aware of what south-west Scotland has to offer. I have not even mentioned the championship golf courses of Royal Troon, Prestwick and Trump Turnberry or the 40 local authority courses that are easily available and lie within 20 miles of Ayr. Nor have I mentioned Dumfries house, which is a second home of the Duke of Rothesay, or Culzean castle, which was also designed by Robert Adam and is perched romantically on the cliffs above the Firth of Clyde.

Robert Burns, his work, his legacy and his landscapes are all part of a treasure trove that is waiting to be discovered by active tourists who make their way west off the M74. I commend them, and I commend Joan McAlpine’s motion to Parliament.

17:46  

I, too, congratulate my colleague Joan McAlpine on securing the debate. She made a comprehensive and commendable speech. As an enthusiastic Burnsian and an immediate past president of the Dumfries ladies Burns club number 1, I am delighted to speak this evening.

We are eternally grateful to Robert Burns for his cultural legacy and his contribution to Scots language and poetry. However, we rarely speak about his lasting or potential economic impact in Scotland, which is realised mainly through the industries of tourism and food and drink—two very important sectors for Scotland’s rural economy.

I have been involved in Burns clubs for many years. I even attended Robert Burns celebrations when I lived in Los Angeles, so I am well aware of the international influence that Burns has. Even in LA, I was able to source my “Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race”—my Food and Drug Administration-approved haggis—from a butcher in Oregon whose last name was actually Lamb.

Burns night is an event that is marked by many. Similar events will take place on 25 January every year in some of the most far-flung corners of the globe, from Tanzania to Delhi and St Petersburg. Ahead of the debate, I was well chuffed to read a briefing by BEMIS that highlights the influence that Burns truly has on us all. Across the world, there are more than 170 statues dedicated to Robert Burns, which is more than Christopher Columbus, Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens—another writer—have. Of those statues, 14 can be found in the USA. That is not surprising, as President Abraham Lincoln counted himself a fan of Robert Burns and Bob Dylan cited “A Red, Red Rose” as being one of his greatest creative inspirations.

Many people have speculated about what exactly it is about the bard that makes his legacy so wide reaching and enduring. Whether it is his talent as a poet, his heartfelt politics or the universal humane themes of his writing, we are privileged that his work continues to benefit Scotland economically as well as culturally.

There is no question that visitors to Scotland come from across the world to visit attractions such as the Robert Burns birthplace museum, in the beautiful Ayrshire village of Alloway, and the cottage where he was born. While working at the farm at Ellisland, Robert Burns started frequenting what is now one of Scotland’s oldest hostelries—his favourite howff, the Globe inn on Dumfries High Street, which was established in 1610.

As Joan McAlpine highlighted, in Dumfries and Galloway, Burns night celebrations contribute significantly to the local economy. She mentioned the big Burns supper, which runs for 11 days across Dumfries and is now in its seventh year. The festival is intended as a winter gathering as well as a celebration of the meaning behind Burns night. It is a deliberate attempt to encourage people out of their homes to socialise with each other during the dark January evenings.

In Dumfries, the economic impact of Burns season is evident and can be measured. When I chat to the local butchers, they tell me that they benefit from the spike in sales of haggis. In turn, Scottish farmers profit from the demand for authentic Scotch lamb.

The most recent comprehensive piece of research showed that Scottish tourism benefits from the birth of its most famous poet by £157 million each year. Those findings date from 2003 and it would be interesting to see updated figures.

Although we can measure how many haggises and Scottish tatties are purchased or how many kilts are hired, as Joan McAlpine mentioned, it is more difficult to quantify how Burns the brand has helped to establish Scotland’s reputation on the world stage as a place of culture and beauty that is synonymous with the bard’s values, which include egalitarianism, intellectualism and environmentalism. Fortunately, that does not prevent our appreciating the financial as well as the cultural rewards.

I welcome the support for a south-west tourist route, which John Scott described, and I am currently promoting and involved in that project. I welcome any support to get more tourists into the south-west of Scotland.

I pay tribute to the many sonsie-faced volunteers around Scotland who are instrumental to the success of Burns night. From my own experience in Dumfries and Galloway, the world of Burns would have a hard time existing and competing without the volunteers of the Dumfries and Galloway Burns association and the Robert Burns World Federation.

I again thank Joan McAlpine for securing today’s debate.

17:51  

I congratulate Joan McAlpine on securing the debate through her motion, which I was delighted to support.

My family on my mum’s side were very much into Burns, so I grew up listening to Burns’s poems, songs and stories, although I confess that a talent for Burns passed me by. Nevertheless, I take a strong interest in celebrating Burns by enjoying haggis, totties and neeps, which I love.

In the Burns season, there will be thousands of Burns suppers. Some are very grand, some are held in community halls and some are in people’s living rooms. They take place all over Scotland, in the rest of the UK and across the world, and, as Joan McAlpine says in her motion, they generate business that supports jobs in the Scottish economy.

The Burns legacy plays a major part in promoting Scotland across the world. I was quite surprised to learn that Burns has more statues dedicated to him around the world than any non-religious figure other than Queen Victoria and Christopher Columbus.

Scotland’s promotion of an outward-looking cultural identity is flourishing to the point where the readers of Rough Guide, an online worldwide tourism blog, voted Scotland as the most beautiful country in the world. Burns is surely a significant contributor to that along with our world-renowned food and drink and our glorious glens, lochs, towns, villages, cities and coastline.

The most important aspect of the Burns season for me is that children in schools up and down Scotland will learn about the amazing works of Robert Burns, which have stood the test of time. They will learn about Scottish culture and what it was like to live in that period of Scottish history.

Burns wrote about real people, real emotions and the levels of inequality that existed for so many at that time. I wonder what he would have to say about the level of inequality that is still, if not more, prevalent over 200 years after his time. He was not impressed with the politicians of his time, whom he described as a “parcel of rogues”, so I do wonder what he would say today.

Joan McAlpine is absolutely right to highlight the importance of Robert Burns to Scotland’s culture and our economy. Long may that continue.

17:54  

Like others, I thank Joan McAlpine for the opportunity to speak on this subject.

My new intern, Chase Lindemann, started with me yesterday, and as is often the case when I have a new intern, I set him the challenge of writing a speech for me. Chase has written tonight’s speech; he has come from the United States and he has not been to Scotland before, but it is an indication of the reach of Burns that, in a short space of time, Chase has produced an insightful and interesting speech on Robert Burns.

One of the things that Chase has identified is that Sophie Craig, a 16-year-old member of the Alloway Burns club in Ayr, has been given the opportunity to travel to Hungary to promote the works of Robert Burns. She will recite poetry and songs at the Corinthia hotel for more than 300 guests, hoping to raise money for sick and disadvantaged children in central Europe. The financial benefits of Robert Burns are more diverse than we, perhaps selfishly looking in our own mirror, have thought. Sophie is a young adult who is showcasing the power that Robert Burns’s poetry has to unite people from all walks of life.

A poem such as “To A Mouse” transcends socioeconomic status, allowing all and any to delight in the humorous comparisons and links between the lives of mice and men. The universality of his message makes it easy for Burns’s poetry to reach non-Scottish ears. His poems permeate the minds of people across the planet, and haggis and whisky have spread likewise, introducing more people to Scottish culture and cuisine.

Well done to the Parliament’s canteen for providing the haggis today. Alas, there was no whisky, but ho hum, there we are.

Between 2011 and 2015, we exported £4.85 million-worth of haggis to 28 different countries. Whisky, of course, has also enjoyed an increase in exports. In 2013, 1.3 billion bottles, worth £4.37 billion, were exported.

It is my understanding that the Scottish Government has secured access to the American market for haggis. Can the member confirm that that is correct?

A whisper from the front bench tells me that it might be Canada; the States may still be off. I am prepared to be corrected if necessary, but I think that there are now some quite good vegetarian haggises and I believe that some of them are going to the States. I hope that the real thing will follow quite soon.

Tourism is also an important part of our economy, and Burns is an important part of why people come here, as well as the tartan, the bagpipes, the whisky tours and, of course, our history, of which Burns is an important part. I thank Robert Burns for creating the opportunity and helping us with that.

Burns’s poetry covers a wide range of themes, from quite short poems to narrative tales of wonderful complexity and interest. His use of the Scots language has helped to introduce 20 million Scots Americans to the language of their ancestry.

I note that Kenneth Gibson today circulated a motion asking us to rename Glasgow Prestwick airport as the Robert Burns international airport. I am sure that John Scott will be on the case, and it will be a good thing for Prestwick and for Burns.

Burns clubs do not exist only as a means of cherishing the life and poetry of Robert Burns. They encourage the young to take an interest in the poet and poetry, songs and competitions in general. Clubs are an avenue for people of all social classes. On 25 January, people in Atlanta, Georgia, in Budapest, and all the way down to Bendigo in Australia will celebrate the birth of our bard. Members of international Burns clubs will join millions of Scots by partaking in an evening of haggis, whisky and poetry recital.

For my part, I look forward to visiting the Deputy Presiding Officer’s constituency with my colleague Ruth Maguire. I am sure that you will lay out the red carpet for us as we come to speak on Burns.

My favourite place to have spoken at a Burns supper—and the most prestigious—was the British embassy in Paris, which is the most wonderful building. I have also spoken in the United States and elsewhere.

The “Heaven-taught ploughman” has given us enormous value and, before I sit down, I cannot help reminding members that the Burns family came from the north-east of Scotland.

Due to the number of members who want to speak in the debate, we will shortly run out of time. I am therefore minded to accept a motion without notice under rule 8.14.3, to extend the debate by the short time necessary.

Motion moved,

That, under Rule 8.14.3, the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes.—[Joan McAlpine]

Motion agreed to.

18:00  

I, too, begin by congratulating Joan McAlpine on securing this important debate on Burns. Mr Stevenson should definitely keep Chase Lindemann on in the speech-writing department. I say that as someone who is standing up to speak with only a few notes, so I ask members to bear with me.

I would like to point out that I am proudly wearing my Robert Burns tie for tonight’s occasion, but that comes with a confession because, although the tie was bought in Scotland, thereby contributing to our Scottish economy, I noticed this morning when putting it on that it says “Made in England” on the back. Other parts of the United Kingdom definitely also benefit significantly from Robert Burns’s global influence and reach.

Other members have touched on the big Burns supper in Dumfries, which is a greatly welcomed initiative that has brought in audiences of up to 9,000 people to more than 100 shows across 50 locations in Dumfries and Galloway. Every year, the big Burns supper goes from strength to strength. This year, I am particularly delighted that Camille O’Sullivan, one of the mainstays of the Edinburgh festival, is appearing in Dumfries, and that I secured tickets for that just before they sold out. There is something for everyone at the festival, and I am sure that, like me, Joan McAlpine and others will enjoy seeing performers such as Eddi Reader, who has a close affinity with Burns. Burns’s universal nature and ability to unite people certainly goes a long way towards bringing together people who perhaps do not always agree politically.

For me as the MSP for Dumfriesshire, where Burns has really close connections to many local communities, there can be absolutely no denying his central importance to the local economy. I find it amusing when I am out and about at places such as the Brow well, which is just outside Ruthwell, and bump into all sorts of people from all parts of Scotland and the world who have been visiting sites along the Robert Burns trail. It is important that we work harder and pull together on a cross-party basis and that we get as much support as possible from the Scottish Government and VisitScotland to ensure that the trail is easy to follow and well promoted and that people know just how much there is to see across what is a very interesting part of Scotland.

For those from Dumfries, it is often tempting to think that Ayrshire tries to steal Robert Burns from us, but we still have him—he is still in the mausoleum. However, in the south-west region, we have to work better to promote the shared link that we have and to make the most of the visitors who make their way to Burns’s birthplace by encouraging them to follow the trail through his life and getting them to travel to Dumfries.

There are more modern influences. Last year, I was delighted to attend the reopening of the Annandale distillery after 99 years. We can see how important Burns is to the area and his significant economic draw from the fact that the distillery chose to name one of its two new whiskies Man o’ Words after the bard. It has a particularly special and funny importance, because it is believed that Robert Burns used to go there to collect his excise duties when the distillery was in its former life. It is also important to reference, as Alex Rowley has, how young people continue to enjoy Burns and get involved in his legacy. It is really important that we look to maximise those opportunities for the future in this year of young people.

18:05  

I thank my colleague Joan McAlpine for bringing this debate to the chamber and highlighting in her really interesting opening speech not just the cultural but the economic benefits that Robert Burns brings us.

Of course, without Irvine there quite simply would not have been a world-famous poet called Robert Burns for us to debate. That is why I was surprised and a wee bit disappointed to have seen no reference to the town of Irvine on the website for the centre for Robert Burns studies to which the motion refers.

I spoke at length last year, and make no apologies for repeating today, about how Irvine is without a doubt the cradle of the poet. In 1781, a young Robert Burns arrived in Irvine as an apprentice flax worker. By the time he left Irvine the following year, he had resolved to

“endeavour at the character of a poet”,

in large part due to the friendship that developed between Burns and local sea captain, Richard Brown, who encouraged him to become a poet.

Burns the man may have been born in Alloway, but Burns the poet was born in Irvine. It thus seems fitting that Irvine is home to the oldest Burns club in the world, which has an unbroken history since it was first established in 1826. Later this month, Annie Small will be installed as the first-ever female president of the club in its nearly 200-year history. As a lifelong egalitarian and a man who expressed support for women’s rights long before such views were remotely fashionable, I am sure that the bard would have welcomed that as much as I do.

As well as the oldest Burns club in the world, Irvine is home to the Wellwood Burns Centre and Museum, which cares for a hugely impressive collection of Burns-related items ranging from priceless original manuscripts and letters to rare and significant books and paintings. Among the museum’s collection are six of the original manuscripts that Burns sent to the printer John Wilson in Kilmarnock, for his famous Kilmarnock edition. Visitors can also see the world-famous painting “Burns in Edinburgh” that was painted in 1887 by C M Hardie, as well as a set of five large oil paintings of scenes from “Tam o’ Shanter” that were commissioned by the club.

The museum possesses original letters from Robert Burns to his friend David Sillar, as well as a letter to Robert Burns from his brother, Gilbert Burns, dealing with family and farming matters. That is just a small snapshot of the vast array of unique and priceless Burns-related items and artefacts held by the museum in Irvine—a museum located in the heart of the very town where the poet was created.

I trust that members will by now share my surprise and disappointment that Irvine’s Burns club and museum are not listed alongside the likes of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and the National Library of Scotland as a must visit for Burns enthusiasts. It is often said that Irvine is the best-kept secret in the Burns world. That seems to be the case, but we do not want it to be a secret any longer; we want Irvine to enjoy the national and international recognition that it deserves, and we want to see Irvine take its place as the Burns-related cultural tourism hotspot that it should rightly be.

As Burns’s day approaches, I would like to extend an invitation to the cabinet secretary and the minister—and, indeed, bearing in mind Oliver Mundell’s contribution, to all members in the chamber—to come and see the magnificent collection in Irvine. Come and see the museum—I look forward to welcoming you all.

18:09  

First, as others have done, I thank Joan McAlpine for bringing the motion to Parliament and allowing us all the chance to celebrate collectively the work of Robert Burns and his impact on our culture and economy.

This debate is framed around the impact that Burns has had on Scotland’s economy but, as Ms McAlpine and other speakers have mentioned, we remember not just how that impact operates but also how it came to exist. Burns is, as sometimes needs to be emphasised at this time of the year, a poet with an output at least as important as anything written by anyone anywhere in the 18th century world. It is an output that more than stands the test of time. If his only work were “Tam o’ Shanter”, so ably performed by John Scott, Burns’s reputation would be assured, but of course he wrote much, much more.

Burns wrote powerfully not just as a Scottish patriot but as a man passionately interested in internationalism, in the French revolution and in American slavery—something that is demonstrated, to pick one illustration, by a letter to Elizabeth Kemble, the well-known actress renowned for her performances in anti-slavery plays. His anthem “Auld Lang Syne” is sung the world o’er, from Times Square to Sydney Harbour and, as Ruth Maguire has said in setting the record straight, he also has a special importance to the people of Irvine.

It is Burns’s sense of the importance of liberty for individuals and for peoples and his sense of humanity and responsibility for one another that prevail today—and all from a man who would most probably have found himself in prison if he had too explicitly suggested that he might have the right to vote. The Robert Burns humanitarian awards are one way in which the Scottish Government seeks to reflect that legacy. It is a truly international legacy, as Emma Harper, Stewart Stevenson and many others have emphasised tonight. Working in partnership with BEMIS—empowering Scotland’s ethnic and cultural minority communities—the Scottish Government has provided funding to support the multicultural celebration of Robert Burns that other speakers have referred to.

Burns is also an icon of Scotland. As Ms McAlpine mentioned, that has a direct impact on our economy and our tourist industry. What some would call the Burns cult is itself part of our national culture. It began in Burns’s own lifetime and the first Burns suppers were scarcely after his lifetime. Burns was a celebrity and a rock star, as well as a thinker and a poet, and we overlook that at our peril.

At times in the 19th century, admittedly, the Burns cult may have got slightly out of hand. Long before the widespread celebration of Christmas in Scotland, at least one artist sought to depict the “nativity” of Burns in messianic terms, and some exhibitions on Burns’s life in the past have at times resembled reliquaries. I have an early childhood recollection of visiting Alloway and seeing, among other things, some of them of questionable relevance, a sock believed to have belonged to Robert Burns.

I think that Scotland now makes a more concerted effort as a country to share with the world Burns the man and the poet. We also do a pretty good job of explaining just what Burns has meant for the Scots language and musical tradition. All that and more is now evident from the hugely impressive Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, which was supported by an £8 million grant from the Scottish Government, and in 2016 attracted more than 140,000 visitors to see its world-class collections.

That capacity to draw people to Scotland is truly significant economically, and the Burns season is important not just to our butchers and distillers but to our tourism industry. Likewise, homecoming 2009, which celebrated the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, attracted some 72,000 additional visitors to Scotland and generated net additional expenditure of £53 million. I agree with John Scott that we need to ensure that the undiscovered jewel that is the south-west of Scotland is discovered by more people and that Robert Burns is at the heart of that.

Events such as the big Burns supper in Dumfries and Galloway have gained worldwide recognition and attracted talent and visitors from across the world. As Ms McAlpine mentioned, that gem among pubs that is the Globe Inn in Dumfries is truly worth celebrating in its own right.

Willie Coffey mentioned the huge impact that Burns has had on the economy of Ayrshire. In 2017, around 62,000 people attended the eight events that celebrated Robert Burns, which were funded from Scotland’s winter festivals. Burns night 2018 is gearing up to be an even bigger and better event.

On occasions like this, there is sometimes the temptation to fear that there might be some truth in MacDiarmid’s observation—made, no doubt, after hearing a bad immortal memory—that

“A’ they’ve to say was aften said afore”.

With a number of speakers, many of whom represent places in Burns’s life, speaking eloquently today, we hope that we have confounded that expectation and have managed, as a Parliament, to lay another modest stone on the cairn of Robert Burns.

Meeting closed at 18:15.