 The next item of business is topical questions. In order to get as many members as possible, short succinct questions and responses would be appreciated. At question number one, I call Emma Roddick. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the UK Government's fiscal statement last week. Cabinet Secretary, John Swinney. The Chancellor's statement provided little respite for many families who are already facing a winter unable to afford essentials like food and heating their homes. The UK Government needed to use its reserved powers to provide support for those who need it most, but instead we got tax cuts for the rich and not much for anyone else. The Chancellor is taking a huge gamble with the public finances and the health of our economy, and the markets have reacted strongly. The pound fell to record lows on Monday. The cost of government borrowing has risen to its highest level in over a decade and investor confidence is plummeting. Many households are now going to face much higher mortgage costs as a consequence of those decisions. We are doing everything within our power to support people, public services and the economy, but those efforts are under threat by a UK Government beginning anew and dangerous race to the bottom. That is not a race that we are willing to run. We will not be replicating the Tory's reckless tax cuts, but we will consider carefully the correct measures for Scotland. I intend to seek advice from an expert panel specifically convened to consider the implications of the mini-budget and will also embark on discussions with business and trade union interests. The Scottish Fiscal Commission will incorporate the impact of any changes in their next forecasts. I intend to report on those issues to Parliament as part of the emergency budget review in week commencing 24th of October. The damaging impact of the UK Government decisions on Friday demonstrate why Scotland needs the full range of financial powers to avoid living at the mercy of bad decisions taken in Westminster. I thank the Deputy First Minister for that reassuring answer. Households across Scotland are facing very real financial pressures right now due to the rising cost of living. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said that the mini-budget willfully ignored families struggling through a cost of living emergency and instead targeted its action on the richest. Does the Deputy First Minister think that letting the ultra wealthy keep more of their money during a cost of living crisis should be any Government's priority? Cabinet Secretary. I don't think that that should be the case. The UK Government is pinning all of its hope on a discredited approach to trickle-down economics, benefiting high-enders as opposed to those most in need now, which should be the priority of the United Kingdom Government. Against a backdrop of political instability at the UK level, we will continue to take a responsible approach to tax policy, building on our fair and progressive approach to taxation, which has protected low-earners while raising additional revenue for public services. I can assure the chamber that the Scottish Government will take sensible, careful decisions that are about helping those who need that assistance the most. Emma Roddick. Time and time again, almost every decision the UK Government makes continues to drag Scotland down a path that its voters have explicitly made clear that they do not want. Does the Deputy First Minister agree that it is clearer than ever that it is only with the powers of independence that we can deliver on the priorities of people in Scotland and build a fairer economy for all? Cabinet Secretary. I do agree with Emma Roddick on that point. I think that what was very clear from the mini-budget on Friday was the dramatically different direction that the UK Government wishes to take in contrast to the prevailing democratic decisions that have been arrived at in this chamber, which, of course, is a product of the choices made by the people of Scotland. Of course, those two factors are not in any way separate because the implications of the UK Government's decisions on Friday will be felt acutely on the Scottish Government and on the Scottish public finances. I would have thought in a mini-budget that, at a time of a cost of living crisis, the priority would have been to support the most vulnerable and to ensure that public expenditure was boosted to cope with the raging levels of inflation that are undermining the value of public expenditure. None of that happened on Friday. Indeed, my concern, looking at the publications from the United Kingdom Government and their statements, is that the pressure on public expenditure in the years to come is going to become even more intense than what I set out to Parliament in my statement two weeks past Wednesday. Douglas Lumsden. Cabinet Secretary, you said that you would reflect carefully on UK Government tax cuts following the announcement of the mini-budget last week, but today you seem to have already rolled that out. Some of the Scottish Government's former economic advisers warned that Scotland cannot afford to fall further behind the rest of the UK in the tax gap. So why will you not ensure that tax cuts are passed on, but not to the rich but to our doctors, nurses, teachers and police who face being taxed more during the cost of living crisis than their colleagues in the rest of the UK? Cabinet Secretary. Mr Lumsden has to work out what it is he is actually arguing for, because he said in his statement that I was, I assume from what he said, that he wants me to replicate in its entirety what the UK Government has set out. If that was the case, I would be taking decisions to reward the already very, very wealthy with significant tax cuts. So that is the reality of what Mr Lumsden is asking me to do. Mr Lumsden is saying from his signature position that that is not what he asked for. I have read numerous comments on the Conservatives demanding that I just get on and do what the UK Government has done. I am going to consider it all carefully. That is why I am going to take the necessary time to do it. I am going to draw together an expert panel to provide advice to the Government. It is why I am going to engage with business. It is why I am going to engage with trade union interests. I do not think that any of us should underestimate the scale of disruption and damage that was done by the announcements on Friday. Very damaging. I have to take a careful and prudential approach in managing the public finances of Scotland, and that is what I am going to do. Mr Lumsden's colleagues can engage in sound bites, but I will place a wager in front of Parliament that, at the same time as Mr Lumsden is arguing for tax cuts, he will have colleagues coming to this chamber demanding that I increase public expenditure on other things. Those two things cannot be done at the same time in the fiscal envelope provided by the United Kingdom Government. Alex Cole-Hamilton. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Black Wednesday hit almost 30 years ago to the day. It trashed the UK economy and with it any reputation the Conservative Party had for fiscal prudence, making their removal from office almost inevitable. The parallels to this financial crisis we are experiencing now are uncanny. Much has been written in recent months about routes out of the cost of a living emergency, but literally no-one was asking who will think of the millionaires. Does the Deputy First Minister agree with me that the UK Government must immediately recall Parliament to walk back this mini-budget, reinstate the top rate of taxation, make energy companies pay their way while delivering relief for struggling families? I find myself in the rather unusual position today of agreeing with most of what Mr Cole-Hamilton said there, which is a slightly discombulating situation, but there are serious issues that he raises. Future generations are being lumbered with colossal costs of borrowing because a windfall tax has not been applied to energy companies. Various very wealthy people are being given even more money when people are facing destitution in our society, so I entirely support the call for the United Kingdom Parliament to reconvene immediately for these measures to be rectified because there is damage to individuals. We will be seeing it already. We have very disappointed people who expected they were able to be taking the course to acquire properties and to get their first step on the property ladder, and that will have been taken away from them by the recklessness of the decisions on Friday. I do hope that Mr Cole-Hamilton's call for the recall of the United Kingdom Parliament is exceeded to it, and I would support it. Question 2, Monica Lennon. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote participation in Scotland's climate week 2022, which runs from 26 September to 2 October. Cabinet Secretary, Michael Matheson. Scotland's climate week focuses on encouraging climate conversations to deepen understanding of the climate emergency and encourage action across the nation. This is supported by our climate conversations pack and a toolkit to help individuals and organisations to get involved in climate week, which is made available on the website netzeronation.scot. We are encouraging broad participation across Scotland through our social media channels and our participation with the public, private and third sector, including enterprise agencies, local authorities and community network. The Scottish Government is also delivering three public events, which sits alongside a ministerial engagement programme and a series of announcements. Monica Lennon. I'm grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for his response. This week, Zoe and her mule Falco have arrived in Lanarkshire as part of the Walk for Earth, a journey taking them from Oxford to Loch Lomond in support of the Stop Equicide International campaign. Along the way, Zoe has been having many conversations with well-wishers who have voiced their strong support for ecocide law. This is particularly poignant during Scotland's climate week, when the late Holly Higgins, Scottish Barrister, author and environmentalist in spearheading the ecocide law campaign. What will the Scottish Government do to ensure that Scotland plays a key role in this movement for ecocide law? First of all, I want to put on record my thanks to the work of Zoe and Falco in their walk at the present time in bringing attention to what is a very important issue. Members will appreciate that, in Scotland's present moment, we have very robust protections for both animals and habitats. We have also made clear our commitment to looking at how we can add further to this through a new natural environment bill and also through our biodiversity strategy. I am aware of what is a growing international campaign to see a fifth statute be added to the Rome statute of international criminal courts with a view to making a provision for ecocide. Clearly, we are monitoring developments with this very closely and the impact that that might have on Scotland's law. I am keen to make sure that, in Scotland, we are doing everything that we can to play our part both at a domestic and international level to support and tackle the issue of ecocide. I am more than happy to engage with colleagues across the chamber to look at how we can develop those further. Monica Lennon The director of Stop Ecocide International, Jojo Meta, has said that one of the most important steps that national governments can take is to publicly express their support for an amendment to the Rome statute to add ecocide as a fifth crime against peace. It has been discussed at a parliamentary and government level in 23 countries already. I ask the cabinet secretary if him and his colleagues will work with me and Stop Ecocide International to explore further how we can include ecocide law in Scotland's response to the climate and nature emergency. The cabinet secretary. We all have a collective responsibility to make sure that we protect our natural environment, not just for this generation but future generations to come. We should leave Snowstone unturned in seeking to do so and ensuring that we have the necessary robust legislative provisions in place in which to achieve that. I am more than happy to take on the invitation from Ms Lennon to engage with her and with other stakeholders around the whole issue of ecocide and how we can ensure that Scotland is playing its part in helping to support not just what we do here locally but also at a national level and internationally to help to make sure that we tackle the increasing challenge of biodiversity loss and nature loss right across the globe. Natalie Dawn Climate change in the destruction of nature are twin emergencies that need to be treated with the same urgency. Can I therefore ask the cabinet secretary what is the Scottish Government's assessment of UK Government's retained EU law revocation and reform bill and the impact that this could have potentially have on environmental standards here in Scotland? We are deeply concerned and we are fundamentally opposed to the UK Government's retained EU law bill as it is presently drafted. The retained EU law bill provides Scotland with very robust standards on environmental regulations around a whole range of areas. The concern that we have is that this bill would effectively seek to remove 40 years of protection for what can only be described as some ideological drive towards deregulation and a race to the bottom. Fundamentally, it could under mind controls around polluting substances ensuring that the standards of water and air are being maintained and the protection of natural habitats and wildlife as we have just been touching upon. That is why we are fundamentally opposed to this bill from the UK Government. To add insult to that is that the UK Government also intends to use this bill to take powers in order to legislate in areas that are in the competence of this Parliament without our consent or our consultation. That is unacceptable and I believe that this is a bill that could undermine both our environmental and natural environment protections. Liam Kerr. Scotland's biodiversity and natural capital forms a vital part of Scotland's climate response. The Sunday's Post reported at the weekend that NatureScot had withdrawn its objections to a controversial wind farm application in the Highlands. Apparently because of the development of so many other wind turbines in the area it means that it can no longer be categorised as wilderness. How does the cabinet secretary envisage ensuring that in the drive towards renewables this Government does not inadvertently compromise our biodiversity and natural capital, which is an integral part of the climate emergency and thus climate week? I can't comment on individual applications for energy consent as they come to me for ministerial consent. What I can say is that as a Government we are absolutely determined to do everything we can to make sure that we play our part in tackling climate change, to decarbonising our energy systems and investing in renewables and all the economic and social and environmental benefits that will come from that. I can also say to the member that helping our environment is by expanding nuclear provision and the potential risk that it poses and extending fracking as the UK Government has chosen to do which will obviously have a very negative impact on biodiversity and natural living. That concludes topical questions. The next item of business is a debate on motion 6063 in the name of Angus Robertson. On Scotland's population meeting the needs of our communities economy and public services. I'll allow a moment or two for members to to organise themselves and I invite members who wish to speak in the debate to please press their request to speak buttons now.