 The next item of business is a debate on motion 1.6.5 in the name of Kate Forbes on economic recovery. I would invite members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request to speak buttons. I call on Kate Forbes, cabinet secretary, to speak and move the motion. It is impossible to overstate the devastating impact that the past 14 months have had on every aspect of our lives. The pandemic has shaken our society and economy to their core, and whilst our collective efforts in tandem with the success of the vaccination programme have been instrumental in suppressing the virus, our fight to overcome it continues. I emphasise that it has been our fight, a shared fight. The pandemic has affected everybody, and today, in my first speeches, the cabinet secretary for the economy, I want to thank businesses and workers for their sacrifices. Their livelihoods have been on the line for over a year. The essential restrictions have saved lives, but not without cost. The Government owes a great debt of gratitude to everybody who put the needs of the country ahead of their own financial or business interests, and I would like to thank them. I also want to pay tribute to Fiona Hyslop and Fergus Ewing. Both worked night and day to represent the interests of Scottish workers and businesses. Over the last year, I watched both of them up close as they met with Scottish businesses on an almost hourly basis, listening to and acting upon their worries and fears, and I would like to put on record my thanks and recognition of them. What can the finance secretary say to my constituents involved in the tourism and golf sectors that are dependent on international visitors such as China and America? Those businesses might be allowed to reopen under the current restrictions, but the fact is that those visitors are not coming. Are those businesses going to continue to get support until international travel is encouraged once again? I was going to come on to business support, as the member might expect. I will go into a bit of detail then, but he is right in saying that those businesses that depend more on international travel will be impacted for longer. I think that there is a point to be made about the kind of businesses that we continue to support, albeit as a person who has also got to find the budget for it. There has been no further consequential support for businesses, so those are challenges that we have to weigh up. I was going to come on to Scotland's economic performance, which quantifies the sacrifices of the nation's businesses and workers. While the Scottish economy grew by 2.1 per cent in March, the economy remains 5.4 per cent below the level of February 2020. While the latest output figures indicate that we are taking tentative steps towards recovery, some sectors have clearly been hit harder than others, some of which were mentioned by Willie Rennie. Businesses continue to face considerable challenges as we emerge from lockdown. For example, the output from our accommodation and food sectors remains 70 per cent below its pre-pandemic level. There are glimmers of hope, however, with latest survey data showing around 74 per cent of businesses in the accommodation and food sector trading in mid-May, up from around 34 per cent at the end of April. With Scotland's unemployment rate at 4.3 per cent and the UK's at 4.8 per cent, it is clear that our labour market continues to depend in part on the furlough scheme, which was still supporting 325,000 Scottish jobs in March. Much has been said about economic recovery in recent weeks, but the challenge is stark. In my first speech, I want to clearly outline our vision for Scotland's economy and the steps that we are taking. Before I do, I want to speak to the many businesses who are still focused on survival. Getting businesses open safely and back to full profitability is crucial, and work is on going, looking at how we move to more normality later in the summer or earlier in the autumn. Supporting businesses has been and will continue to be a focus for this Government. Businesses in Scotland have directly benefited from £3.6 billion in support—more than a third—of total Covid-19 funding. I know that the cabinet secretary is aware of the concerns of the taxi trade, and she spoke highly of a meeting that she had with you the other day and felt that you had acknowledged their concerns, but could you clarify what financial support is going to be available because there is some confusion about it? I thank the member for that question, which is a perfect cue for what I am about to come on to say. I was talking about the support for business. We are the only country in the UK to provide 100 per cent non-domestic rates relief for all retail, leisure, aviation and hospitality premises, all year reducing businesses' cost-base so that they can invest in restarting. We will continue to listen to businesses to understand their challenges and how best to support them. That is why we have allocated up to an additional £40 million for the culture sector, including £25 million for a further round of funding for businesses who previously received support from the performing arts venues relief fund. I made a little progress on the substance, so I will happily bring you in. The performing arts venues relief fund and the culture organisations and venues recovery fund for businesses who were eligible but did not receive funding originally. Those funds are being administered by Creative Scotland and will be launched soon. We have also allocated up to £62 million for taxi drivers and operators, bringing the total support for the taxi sector during the pandemic to more than £90 million. All drivers who previously received a £1,500 grant under the taxi and private hire driver support fund will receive a second payment this month. Taxi operators will then be contacted by their local authorities and receive tiered grants taking their total support up to £10,000. Following discussions with sector representatives, a small number of the largest operators will now be paid up to £15,000 and will work with the sector to explore the potential for additional support for the booking offices, which are such an important part of the sector. Later today, we will publish details of up to £12 million of support being provided to businesses in the local authorities that will not move from level 2, as announced yesterday by the First Minister. In short, businesses who were expecting to open or see reduced restrictions as a result of moving to level 1 but who will now remain in level 2 will receive weekly support similar to the strategic framework business fund. There will also be additional discretionary funding. I do not know if the member wants to come in. Liz Smith, I am extremely grateful to the cabinet secretary. I can now warmly congratulate her on her expanded role in portfolio. When it came to the strategic framework business support, cabinet secretary, was a situation where only four-fifths of that money was allocated. One of the concerns that businesses had was that they were not able to access some of the money that was already there. Can you comment on that? I can. £3.6 billion of that, the vast majority was paid out directly to business. There is also funding in the form of discretionary funding, which might be what she is alluding to, which had very few strings attached and were for local authorities to distribute to those businesses that we had categorised, all of us in the chamber, as falling through the cracks. That funding, in some cases, some local authorities have paid all of it out, which is why, as part of my announcement today, we are supplementing the discretionary fund. There are other local authorities that are still sitting on some of the unspent money. I would encourage them to use that funding for those businesses who need support. I think that that might have been what she was alluding to. I realise that my time is running away with me. I very much hope, though, that, as the First Minister said yesterday, one day soon, all the restrictions will be a thing of the past. With such freedom comes the opportunity to rebuild and restore our economy. Our mission, as a Government, is to create the best conditions for entrepreneurs to seize the opportunities to produce, to invent, to scale up and, in so doing, create secure and satisfying jobs that pay a fair wage. That is the foundation stone of our society. Getting that right will combat poverty, will lead to better health and social outcomes, and will generate the public revenue to invest in the best public services. It matters what kind of economy we rebuild. Putting wellbeing at its heart is not just morally the right thing to do, it unlocks creativity and confidence, which in turn helps our businesses to innovate and grow, making them more globally competitive. To achieve that, I would love to, but I think that I am quite sure on time and I would quite like to get through the substance of the speech. To achieve that, we need to have a resilient, innovative and growing business base. That is why this Government is absolutely committed to being pro-prosperity, pro-growth and pro-business—a true champion for our job creators. To that end, in the first six months of this Parliament, we will deliver a new 10-year national strategy for economic transformation, setting out the steps to create the best conditions for entrepreneurship to flourish. We recognise the crucial role that industry leaders, businesses, trade unions, economists and other stakeholders will play in shaping and guiding that strategy. As set out in our 100-days plan, we will establish a new council for economic transformation to draw on their experience and expertise. We will go further. Pioneers and entrepreneurs will be the bedrock of this transformation. We will deliver a national challenge competition providing funding of up to £50 million to the project or projects with the greatest potential to transform Scotland. Harnessing all of our collective talents and strengths brings me to perhaps the most important part of my speech. I want to issue an open invitation to anybody who wants to play their part in rebuilding our country. Join us in leading that economic recovery. Our vision is nothing short of economic transformation. That has to be a national endeavour. Wherever you work and in whatever capacity, if you think that you can serve our country as we face the prospects of rebuilding, then that is your personal invitation. Our strength is our united vision to work together across party lines, sectors and regions to rebuild. We must unashamedly use the experience, the expertise and the ingenuity of government, businesses, trade unions and workforces to deliver greater greener and fairer prosperity. I welcome the new Opposition spokespeople to their roles. There will rightly be the opportunity for scrutiny. I expect that and I welcome that, but I also hope that there will be the opportunity for constructive sharing of suggestions and ideas. This is an official invitation to the entrepreneurs and the thinkers and the job creators and the hard workers that we need to work with us to make Scotland thrive. Let me now turn to some of the specific actions that we will take to deliver our vision. We know that the transition to net zero is one of Scotland's greatest economic opportunities. Pursuing a green recovery will accelerate that transition to make sure that we are investing in a sustainable future. COP26, hosted in Glasgow this November, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put the transition to net zero at the heart of all that we do. It is essential that this transition is just, which means that, as we reduce our emissions and respond to a changing climate, the journey is fair and creates better opportunities for everybody, regardless of where they live, what they do and who they are. For sectors such as oil and gas, we will work with you to ensure that you and your employees are part of that transition. I do not know how much time I have got left. I am very grateful to the cabinet secretary. On that point, how many of the 100,000 jobs supported by the oil and gas industry would the cabinet secretary think it acceptable to put at risk in order to strike a deal with the Green Party? I do not think that it is acceptable to put any jobs at risk. I am absolutely unashamed today in saying that our approach to the just transition is not just to save the jobs that we have, as important as that is, but to create the jobs of the future so that Scotland is leading the way when it comes to pioneering new solutions to the challenges that we face. Helping Scottish businesses to develop new products and services is key to capturing the economic value from our low-carbon investments, pioneered in Scotland and then exported to the world. Supporting the internationalisation of our business base is one of the most effective tools that we have. We know that for a successful recovery we must ensure that no one is left behind, and that is why we are focusing heavily on employability and skills, making sure that our workforce is trained and ready to take on the jobs of the future. This year we will invest more than a billion pounds to drive forward our national mission for jobs and equip our workforce with the future skills that they need with an additional £500 million over this Parliament to support new jobs and reskill people. While no one has been left untouched by the pandemic, there is no doubt that younger people have already paid a heavy price. We cannot and will not allow that to affect their life chances going forward. That is why we have been working with employers and young people to deliver the young person's guarantee. However, getting people into work is not good enough or retaining jobs. The guiding principles of fair work are central to that economic recovery, and they must be a hallmark of our wellbeing economy. To make that a reality, we will work with employers to ensure that those already facing barriers to the labour market, including disabled, minority, ethnic people and women, are supported to contribute to our recovery. The £20 million rural entrepreneur fund will be key and will help to reposition the rural economy, placing it at the forefront of Scotland's green recovery. As well as investing in businesses to thrive, investing in improving the communities in which we all live will also pay dividends. We will continue to work with our tourism sector, which provides significant numbers of jobs and economic benefit for the whole country. The recovery work is being guided by the national tourism strategy, with the aim of getting the sector back on track to being a 21st century leader in sustainable tourism. I also want to reference the fact that digital technology needs to be at the forefront of growth. I have committed to reopening the digital boost fund backed by £25 million to provide technology support and training for small and medium-sized businesses in the first 100 days of this Government. As I draw to a close, the actions that we take today will shape our economic recovery for the next decade and beyond. Those are challenging times, but with those challenges come opportunities to reshape our economy, making it more resilient, more sustainable and more prosperous. It is undoubtedly a challenge, but I want to work in partnership with anybody else who shares our vision to see Scotland flourish. I now call on Liz Smith to speak to and move amendment 165.4. It only takes a very cursory glance at the key economic statistics that were released in Scotland last week to recognise the extent of the challenge that the cabinet secretary has just outlined. Although there have been some limited signs of growth, as she indicated, the Scottish Fiscal Commission is still telling us that it will be 2024 before the economy recovers to its pre-pandemic levels. Of course, that has huge implications for people's jobs and for people's real disposable income. In her last budget speech before the Scottish election, Kate Forbes said that the key guiding principles behind economic policy must be, and I quote, certainty and stability, that businesses and communities deserve nothing less, that we should always have people's jobs at the forefront of our minds since employment is a critical component of that economic recovery. We entirely agree with that in terms of certainty and stability, even if we have fundamental differences of opinion about the details of some aspects of economic policy, particularly on tax and on enterprise. That budget that Kate Forbes delivered was, of course, the biggest dividend for the Scottish Government since devolution, with revenue returns up 11 per cent on the previous budget, but it does not hide the fact that many businesses are still seriously struggling, still in desperate need of support, including many of them in the small business sector, which is rightly seen as the backbone of so many of our local communities. Scotland needs those businesses to survive, and that is why it is absolutely imperative that the Scottish Government acts immediately to remove any delays. I do not think that it is helpful to have a debate about whose fault those delays are. They must be removed so that people can access the money that they need. The Scottish Government's own statistics regarding the strategic framework business support fund that was published just three weeks ago shows very clearly that £80 million of support was left unspent by the time that the fund closed on 22 March. It also showed, as Pauline McNeill raised, that there was confusion over who was entitled to specific payments. Those were, for the business community, promises made but not delivered. Douglas Ross, last week at First Minister's Questions, demanded that the Scottish Government responds immediately to the concerns of the business groups across Scotland who have been increasingly anxious about the Scottish Government's approach to the business sector. I heard the cabinet secretary this morning and several times in the past where, in the first 100 days, there are lots of plans to be developed. I accept that, but it is far more than just 100 days that matter. The business community is wanting much longer-term economic policy commitments and, quite rightly, is pointing to a need for a much more coherent strategy. I think that there is a lesson to be drawn from the Higgins report, which political parties in the chamber signed up to. The principles there are about new incentives, not disincentives, when it comes to Scotland's future investment in economic growth. The Higgins report also made it very clear about striking the right balance between increased autonomy for this Parliament and the shared responsibilities for good governance. Good governance is dependent upon transparency and accountability. As I said last week during First Minister's statement, there are important lessons to be learned from the auditor general about what happens when transparency and accountability are lacking. In his recent report, the auditor general was very critical of the fact that the Scottish Government had not provided the necessary level of clarity when it came to establishing whether the taxpayer is getting really good value for money. I think that that makes it much more difficult for this Parliament to have the effective scrutiny of Scottish Government policy. The shambles that have been preswick or byfab—the ferries to name just three—should not have happened. Indeed, they would not have happened if there had been better transparency and accountability. Why does that matter? Not just because £130 million of taxpayers' money has been written off, but because it is an issue of the essential trust between Government and the public and between Government and business. We know those members who were present in the last Parliament that those who gave witness statements to our committees, especially those at the audit committee, highlighted just how important it is to have really good working relationships across the Scottish Government departments, but also between Westminster and Holyrood. To have a holistic approach, Cabinet Secretary, is very welcome, and I will come a minute to the invitation that you have just extended to the political parties. If it comes to things like the Scottish Government working with the UK Government on business capitalisation and forbearance, we are very interested to know what it is that the Scottish Government is going to do to ensure that businesses can work with the Scottish Government. One of the points that businesses often make to me, which I understand has already been made today, is the need for further support if it is needed. One of the challenges that we face with our consequential funding this year is that the guarantee that was in place last year has been removed. That means that funding can be clawed back as well as increased. It has already happened within the education portfolio. Will the Tories join me in calling for that guarantee, which was very helpful last year, to be reinstated this year? The Tories will call for anything where there is good co-operation between the Holyrood and Westminster Governments. That is absolutely critical. It is also something that has been mentioned by the advisers to the Scottish Government—Chris Stark being one of them—who is the adviser on climate change to be really clear about the shared endeavours that we have to have if we are going to ensure that there is economic recovery and a green agenda. Taking up the cabinet secretary's offer of co-operation across the party, what do we want to see from the SNP? First and foremost, an enterprise bill, which, in order to deliver and create the right jobs across Scotland, would establish those lasting partnerships between both Governments, local authorities, education and skills providers, and businesses whose work on the ground is going to be so crucial to the economic recovery. The cabinet secretary hinted at that in her own speech. Hacened progress for the circular economy bill, which the SNP had to postpone last year and which is seen by so many stakeholders as absolutely critical for the green recovery. Investment-led infrastructure projects, which can combine green objectives with jobs, with digital enterprise, effective full fibre broadband and diverse skills, which we seek to support with the right to retrain account. Rates relief to businesses and the maintenance of the poundage rates until there is the 2023 revaluation. A more tapered scheme for the small business bonus and no new Covid business regulations before 2023 in order to allow businesses to get back on their feet as quickly as possible. May I return to Kate Forbes' comments about certainty and stability? She is absolutely right about the two fundamental principles and they are exactly what business wants to see. I am sure that the business dialogues that she has undertaken are telling her exactly that. In that context, can I ask her to consider the following? Firstly, what certainty and stability can there possibly be in the prospect of yet another referendum on Scottish independence when we know that basic questions about currency, about economic borders and about the size of the fiscal black hole have not been answered? Those questions are fundamental to businesses as they plan ahead, yet all they get is this constant constitutional rumbling and uncertainty that dominates what the SNP says. Ministers tell us that if only we had all the powers that we need, we will have many more powers and businesses want us to use them wisely and with full transparency and accountability just as the Auditor General has demanded. Then we get constant jives from the SNP that the better together parties are an unholy coalition frustrating this Parliament. Well, now we have a new variety of better together, namely the unholy coalition between the SNP and Greens, which forgive our cynicism is much more to do with the drive for independence than it is for economic growth. Here is why the coalition with the Greens could be a looming disaster for the Scottish economy. Firstly, the Scottish Green Party's plans for a universal basic income set out in its manifesto could cost the Scottish economy £58 billion in one year alone and also raise taxes on all Scott. We know from a Scottish Government FOI response that the highest payment level of UBI would lead to each tax ban having to increase by 39 to 49 pence in the pound. Secondly, we know that the Scottish Green Party's plans for a wealth tax has been described by the Institute of Directors as a blunt instrument that would end up stymying entrepreneurialism. We know too that the Greens want to completely kill off the oil and gas sector. My colleague Liam Kerr has just asked this question, putting at risk more than 100,000 jobs in a sector that is worth £11.6 billion to the Scottish economy. During the election campaign, Patrick Harvie said that ending oil and gas production within a decade would be the price of the coalition deal with the SNP. Yet there is little detail when it comes to outlining the collective effect and the effective cost of those policy commitments when it comes to people's jobs and to the economic welfare of Scotland. Our amendment is absolutely clear about the need to protect people's jobs in the sectors, especially in the north-east, at the same time as working as partners within the £16 billion North Sea transition deal. However, the SNP Green amendment is really all about independence. We know that that means for Scottish businesses a lack of clarity and a lack of stability, and that is why we will speak up on behalf of the businesses in Scotland. I now call on Daniel Johnson to speak to and move amendment 165.2. Can I begin by welcoming the cabinet secretary to her expanded role and to Liz Smith to her new role? I look forward to our constructive engagement across this chamber. Let me begin that engagement with a set of questions. What do we mean by recovery? What interventions are required by recovery? How will we know when that recovery has been achieved? Indeed, what will it cost if we fail to achieve that recovery? Those are the relevant questions for this debate and must be our relentless focus throughout this Parliament. It is becoming abundantly clear that this health crisis is precipitating an economic crisis. The number of Scots out of work is quadrupled, the number of seeking relief from council tax has doubled, the depths of lockdown, the economy shrank by one quarter. Despite the relaxation of restrictions in recent months, our economy is predicted to only recover to two thirds of its pre-pandemic output. GDP is just a number, but economic consequences are counted in jobs, felt by families struggling to pay their bills, seen in teleports up and down our high streets, and the generation of young people's lives and early careers are set to be defined by the economic fallout of Covid-19. We cannot allow our recovery to be narrowly defined in terms of infection rates, numbers in hospital and mortality rates. Those are clearly the most serious measures of the pandemic. The shock waves of Covid-19 are far wider, social and economic. Recovering the lost jobs in businesses on high streets, offices and in factories will not be quick nor will it be easy. It will not be measured in days or weeks but in years. That is why this debate is important and why we must work together to use the powers of this Parliament to support our economy, to stimulate job creation and to ensure investment. Our fastest route to recovery will be through co-ordinated actions of all our Governments. Without doubt, furlough has saved the economy from utter catastrophe. Economic recovery will require similar bold action from every tier of government. However, if we are to meet the challenge of economic recovery, we must learn the lessons of the interventions that are made to date. There is no doubt that the Scottish Government has committed considerable resource and attention to supporting the economy through the pandemic. Without those actions, the situation in front of us would be far bleaker. However, the Government cannot claim that it has got everything right. We have already heard that, financially and practically, mistakes have been made. In the last financial year, the money available to the Scottish Government swelled by some £10 billion. A broad range of funds and interventions were brought forward. However, the reality for many businesses is that it has been difficult to access those funds. 21,000 applications to the strategic business fund were rejected. As already mentioned, almost a fifth of the funds available have been unspent when it closed towards the end of March. All MSPs will have had casework from frustrated businesses and charities rejected multiple times from multiple funds, with the response from ministers in this place being to point to the discretionary fund, but invariably those businesses were rejected from that too. The pace of the Scottish Government's response has also been a source of frustration to many. Barnett consequentials have been slow to be passed on to areas of need, such as local authorities, third sector organisations or businesses. Nor has the process of passing on Barnett consequentials been sufficiently transparent—a point that I would reinforce on top of the transparency points made by Liz Smith. With that budget revisions, we have to take the Government's word that it is allocating and spending money generated by the UK Covid initiative in just a moment. Those observations are not made from sense of rank or more in the hope of candour from the Government. We must ensure that support is provided and that it is more straightforward to access and that those funds are not being underspent, along with robust accountability about how and when consequentials are passed on. As a former accountant, I am sure that the finance secretary would agree with me that transparent and robust measures and robust outcomes are essential. I would be happy to take her intervention on that point. On that very point, in fact, the member and Liz Smith have both quoted figures and then criticised the lack of transparency. The very fact that you are able to quote those figures demonstrates how important it has been for us to transparently publish those figures in the hope that they will be interpreted accurately and recognise that a third of overall Covid funding has gone directly to business. It is huge, substantial and comparative with the amount that has been spent on the health service. I welcome that response. I look forward to interventions and meetings with the cabinet secretary to discuss how that transparency can be improved, because there are certainly criticisms from the Auditor General. Indeed, my initial discussions with SPICE about the lack of transparency regarding how Barnett consequentials have been passed down. We must be clear and honest about the situation faced by employers across the private, public and third sectors. Interventions through lockdown may have solved immediate cash flow issues, but many employers across all sectors have been incurring costs in terms of deferred rent, leased equipment and insurance policies, which have all loaded debt onto balance sheets across the economy. The recovery will be difficult and costly for many to navigate. Government has to prioritise assisting employers as they build back and must provide stimulus to get the economy moving again. That is why Scottish Labour has proposed repurposing Scottish Enterprise as a business recovery agency to ensure focus on those efforts. That is why we have advocated stimulus measures such as a high street voucher to kickstart the economy. We have argued that the Scottish National Investment Bank's objectives should be refocused and amended to ensure that it delivers what is needed as we seek to build back our shattered economy. Those are the types of actions that the Scottish Government must bring forward, and if and when they do, we stand ready to work with them and support them. As we consider economic recovery, perhaps it is most important to consider where we are starting from. Let's not kid ourselves that things were great before the pandemic. For too many Scots, our economy was simply not working for them. Poverty and inequality have blighted our economy for far too long. We have had far too little investment and our productivity growth has been stagnant. After 14 years of SNP administration, on each of those measures, we lag behind the other countries of the United Kingdom, with lower GDP growth and the highest number of people unemployed and claiming benefits across the devolved nations. We need bold action to achieve economic recovery, but we cannot go back the way things are. As we rebuild and recover, we must renew and improve our economy so that it works for all. Above all, we must strive to eliminate inequality, to provide high-wage and high-productivity jobs, to create investment and prosperity and to ensure that it is retained here in Scotland. We did a cooperative economy where everyone has a stake. Those are measurable things, so we must set clear targets and report against them and call on the Scottish Government to do just that. That is what is contained in the Labour amendment today, and I am pleased to formally move it. In closing, let me just make one final observation. Through the past week and this, we have heard from a number of new members making their first contributions, and it makes me reflect on my first speech in this chamber five years ago. Back then, David Cameron was in number 10, as Prime Minister, not as a lobbyist, I should add. Obama was still President Trump, just an aspiring reality TV star. So much seems to have changed. When I made that speech, politics was dominated about economic issues, not constitutional. Recovery from the crash, austerity, the rise of automation, equality in the workplace and productivity stagnation. But things happened. We got stuck after a certain vote. Those issues did not go away, but what actions did that place take? Over the next five years, we cannot afford to lose focus again. Economic recovery will not be quick, easy nor cheap. Let us all commit to that focus on the economic recovery that our country needs. We are living in unprecedented times, a global pandemic that has the potential to cause a global recession. All the while, the biosphere of earth continues to break down. Its ability to support life is decreasing every year. Even before the pandemic hit, the mismanagement of the UK economy had led to exponential growth in the youth of food banks. We saw the same exponential growth in the wealth of the already rich, the rich getting richer ever faster as the poor got poorer, and then the pandemic hit. NHS and a population who did not have any reserves, no extra capacity, and it has devastated us. As far back as 2016, the OECD was calling for countries to ease up the austerity and invest, but the UK did not listen. Well, now it is time and past time to listen. I support this motion's recognition of the hardships that have been faced and calls for sustainable recovery, secure jobs and long-term thinking that will lead to a thriving economy. Recovery means... It's my second speech in the chamber. May I finish? Thank you. Recovery means building a new economy, an economy that puts well-being of people at its heart and that doesn't put our very existence under threat. It is possible to build such an economy and actually relatively straightforward. There has been a myth around for some time now that public investment drives out private investment. In my experience, of more than 20 years in engineering, manufacturing and industry, I can tell you that the opposite is true. A lack of government investment, in fact, makes companies nervous about investing. We can see this in the failure of the UK economy to recover from the 2008 crash as quickly under austerity policies as countries did who invested more significantly. We have a window of opportunity now to build new industries, to plan and create this new economy, to ensure that the jobs are there when we need them to be. Pretending that we can keep extracting oil and gas from the North Sea indefinitely is climate change denial, as well as denial of economic reality. Go on. Liam Kerr. Very grateful to the member for taking the intervention. Does the member still want to shut down the oil and gas sector within the next two to five years, as she stated last year? I will answer this question in my speech. In 2019, the European Commission reported that the UK led the European Union in giving subsidies to fossil fuel companies. Oil companies have known about climate change since 1977, and despite that, they have lobbied relentlessly for subsidies and handouts, routinely paying their executives salaries of £10 million to £20 million a year. The UK Government's North Sea transition deal will see billions more handed over to these companies to support the development of technologies that they hope will allow them to continue to dig up and burn fossil fuels, that they hope will allow them to dodge their responsibilities and any serious commitments to reducing emissions. That is not a transition. That is more good money going after bad, which is why we will not be supporting Liz Smith's amendment today. Let's not give oil and gas companies more public money to do what they should have been doing decades ago. The corporations are not the victims here. Let's see that their workers and the communities who depend on them don't become victims either. If we can all agree that investment is needed, that secure jobs are needed, that new industries are needed, then what each of us bring to this table is our model for exactly what we should be investing in and what kind of economy and future that that investment will create. People don't exist to serve the economy. People are the economy. It should serve people to their benefit. We need to rethink how we think about the economy. The economy isn't an abstract thing. It's a real thing. It isn't in conflict with our safety or this living world. The economy is how we meet our needs on the planet that we have. The economy is about how we provide for each other. My amendment to this motion sets out the basis that I would like to see for our recovery from the pandemic and the new economy that we need to build. So what does a new economy look like? It looks like tens of thousands of new jobs in renewable energy. It looks like over 75,000 new jobs upgrading homes and building zero carbon houses. It looks like more than 16,000 new jobs upgrading Scotland's railways to deliver affordable, reliable services more like what our European neighbours enjoy. It looks like reliable, affordable bus services everywhere. It looks like livable city and town centres not given over to cars but safe for kids to play, for people to cycle and wheel and walk that encourages people to linger and enjoy and spend their money at local businesses. It looks like thousands of new jobs in sustainable agriculture, forestry and tourism. All of those things are three-way wins. They improve the lives of the people of Scotland. They create tens of thousands of jobs and they reduce our emissions. This is how we lay the groundwork for a just transition to a net zero carbon economy, using proven technology that already exists, prioritising people's wellbeing and properly investing to develop the potential of Scotland's resources and people. I urge you to support the creation of those new jobs and the building of a long-term, thriving net zero economy by supporting my amendment. We now move to the last of the open speakers, which will be Willie Rennie on behalf of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, after which we will move to the open debate and the first speaker will be Fergus Ewing. Mr Rennie. Can I congratulate Lorna Slater on a passionate speech but also welcome the other spokespeople to their positions today and the cabinet secretary for our enhanced role as well. I think that it is worth mentioning the role of Fiona Hyslop and Fergus Ewing in the contribution that they have made and I have enjoyed working with them. We have not always agreed when we have worked together but I have certainly appreciated their openness and participation and willingness to listen to the concerns that I have raised with them. Deputy Presiding Officer, you know that I like a good photo opportunity. We also know that the Government likes a good photo opportunity as well. The difference is that mine costs a few pounds whereas the Government's costs millions, and it is on the taxpayer that it costs two. If we look at companies such as BiFab, 38 million pounds cost that photo opportunity for 1,500 jobs. What has happened to BiFab? It has collapsed. We have lost that money. We do not know how much money we are getting back and those jobs have disappeared. Of course, we have had the Lachawabar aluminium smelter where we have got £575 million of financial backing on the promise of 2,000 extra jobs. None of them have appeared at all. No mention today from the cabinet secretary of those two issues in her opening remarks, which was disappointing because I think that these are major important issues as part of our economic and industrial strategy. I have been asking parliamentary questions about that. In fact, Ivan McKee answered some of those questions today. The 2,000 jobs that we were promised early on with the GFG-aligned tie-up has now been reduced to an additional promise of 70 jobs. The promise of 2,000 initially is now down to 70. I have been recused from those issues because of the ministerial and constituency conflict, but does he not recognise that intervention saved countless jobs that were on the line five years ago because of Fergus Ewing's intervention? That is typical of the Government. At the time, they blew it up. They say that we have saved 1,500 jobs at BiFab. We have saved and we are going to create an additional 2,000 jobs at Lachawabar. The return is quite the opposite. The money is lost, the jobs are not returned and the workers are let down. The reputation of the Government continues to be tarnished because we have been here before. Fergus Ewing's shipyard, apparently not just that, I have just taken an intervention. We have been here before with Fergus Ewing. Twice the cost, twice the budget, the ferries still are not ready, and we have seen the stories in recent weeks of the disaster of the ferries to the islands, where people have been let down in their communities because of the failure of this Government to deliver on its industrial strategy. We have got Prestwick, another example, and then, of course, five years ago, Sinofortone, with a £10 billion deal that turned out to be nothing. The company ended up just owning a pub in Oxford. The Government's reputation on its industrial strategy and its industrial relations is in tatters, and it needs to change. The Government still believes that those jobs are going to come to Lachawabar, despite the fact that GFG Alliance is trying to sell its plants in the West Midlands, in Teeside, in Essex, in Rotherham, in Scunthorpe, in Wales. All those companies have been sold off, but still the Government tries to convince us that those jobs are coming. It needs a major rebrand and a major rework of its strategy. It needs a proper industrial strategy, not just more talking shops that have been announced yet again today. It needs proper co-operation with the UK Government. We need to stop treating them as enemies and treat them as allies. If we start treating them as allies, we might get the co-operation and the change that we need to deliver the strategy to create jobs in this country for the future. I will take an intervention briefly. I do not understand what the member is saying. He is saying that we should not intervene at all. In the one hand, he is saying that we have intervened in the criticises for that, and then he is saying that we should not do that. In terms of the UK Government, I could go through a whole list of situations where the UK Government has refused to co-operate with us, being a shared prosperity fund, being a level and up fund, being green pots, named after situation after situation. The issue with co-operation does not lie with us, it lies with the UK Government. That is exactly what goes wrong with this Government. It is always ready to blame another Government. It never accepts the responsibility for its own actions, and that is why this Government is becoming a blow-hard Government. It is more interested in making overblown statements about jobs for the future rather than action today. It is not an activist Government if it does not create jobs. All it is is just talk. It is talk, talk, talk and never creates jobs. We need a change from this Government to have a proper industrial strategy involving the unions, involving the workforce, involving businesses that know exactly what they are doing. We need to end the talking jobs and create the strategy for the future if I can turn to a point of consensus in my last 30 seconds. We need to recognise that the investment that we have made over the last year has been significant. It is there to protect the economic scaffolding, to connect employers to their employees so that we get recovery. It can be fast, but it has also made sure that people can comply with the guidance and the rules. However, we are in danger, in the past mile, of losing all that good work and investment, because we need to make sure that financial support continues until businesses are ready to open again. If the markets are not there for them, there is no point in saying that they are able to open when, in fact, they are not able to create any profits or opportunities. My plea to the Government is to make sure that it works with the UK Government to create the finance that is necessary to keep those businesses like the ones in my constituency that are involved in golf tourism so that we can be ready to grow when the virus lifts. That is the best way of making sure that we can recover from the pandemic. Thank you, Mr Rennie. We now move to the open debate. I call Fergus Ewing, who will be followed by Douglas Lumsden. Mr Ewing, six minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It has been 14 years since I last spoke from these backbenches, so colleagues will forgive me if I am a bit rusty. I start by thanking Willie Rennie for the first two sentences of his speech. I thought in the latter part of his speech, i.e. the rest of it, he was about as close to the real facts of the situation as the famous Eddie the Eagle ski jumper was to the medal rostrum at the Winter Olympics, I'm afraid, because what he didn't mention is that in providing assistance to protect jobs at DL, at Fort William, was that we gained security for our provision of a guarantee. He says that money is gone. Actually, that's wrong. Sorry, Willie. Wrong. Not just inaccurate, but wrong. The security is provided, but what he did mention as well is that the trade unions themselves do not want this to be a political football. They do not want this to be a political football. They want us to work together, and it's for the ministers to answer as ably they will at the end of this debate. However, I can say that Fiona Hyslop and myself, for our part, over the last year, have worked unstintingly with everybody involved, including the unions and the UK Government. Presiding Officer, I hadn't meant to deal with that, but I thought out of fairness that I should not duck that. I'll just conclude by saying that I make no apology for having been involved in preventing the loss of the steel industry in Scotland and preventing the closure of an aluminium smelter that is close to celebrating its centenary. With the robust, buoyant market worldwide for commodities and in particular minerals, the prospects of continuing those businesses in whatever means are, in my opinion, reasonable, and it is that on which we should focus. Felly, Rennie? It's very quick. Where are the 2,000 jobs? I believe that there will be more jobs in time, but that will only happen because we prevented the closure and the loss of the smelter. Had it closed, it would never again have reopened. Had DL not been kept in business by Mr Gupton and the GFG, those jobs would have been gone forever. Not just those jobs, as Mr Rennie knows or should know, but all the supply chain jobs. Felly, we are debasing the economy this afternoon, and one key element of a vibrant economy is good and safe and reliable transport links. For the last 22 years, and indeed before, because I have been around a bit, I have been campaigning for the dualling of the A9 from Perth in Venice and the A96, as well as improvements to rail, air and public transport. I note the excellent news and passing today of the announcement of approval of planning permission for the new railway station for Inverness airport with a Government investment of £14 million. Excellent news for the highland economy. However, I want to ask if, in his closing remarks, Mr McKee, I very much welcome to his post and recognise his close engagement with business over the past years that he has done. Will he agree with me that it is extremely useful to get a detailed statement from the Transport Minister as to the plans to implement the dualling of both roads and that he will come before this Parliament in the autumn in order to provide those details? Progress has been made. We have seen segments complete from Concrete to Delradi, the Lunkrity to Passer Burnham section is expected to complete this winter. In February, Transport Scotland announced the next phase of dualling from Tomatyn to Moy and the start of the £115 million construction contract. However, I would say that dualling of this road is essential for the economy. It is essential for safety, because—this might not be widely known—the risk of serious head-on collisions is far greater on non-dualled roads because there is no crash barrier. Many of us will know people who have lost loved ones through head-on collisions. For safety, surely the people in the highlands are entitled to the jolt links that every other city in Scotland has. Some argue that this is bad for the environment, but I would say that we are not anti-road, we are anti-emission. We will still need roads for low-emission vehicles to drive on. It seems to me that argument is fallacious, but, above all, we need the decent transport links that the highland economy requires in order to continue to thrive and grow. I will be over the next short while speaking up on behalf of my constituents in order to continue the good work that the Scottish Government has done, but to convert the promises and the pledges into action. Thank you very much, Mr Ewing. I call Douglas Lumsden, who will be followed by Paul Sweeney. Again, the chamber wishes to be aware that this is Mr Lumsden's first speech. Mr Lumsden, six minutes. Deputy Presiding Officer, I begin today by welcoming you to your new role and also congratulate the cabinet secretary on her new role. As a former leader of Aberdeen City Council, I always felt that we had a very constructive relationship, despite us being one of the lowest funded councils in Scotland. I look forward to that continuing in the future. I am truly honoured to be here, representing the north-east of Scotland. I would like to thank numerous people who have helped me to get elected to this Scottish Parliament. My campaign team, who worked tirelessly throughout the election, my family for their patience, and three Conservative stalwarts who are no longer with us. June Morrison, Jill Wisely and Bill Berry, all of whom encouraged me and mentored me, but who sadly passed away before seeing me in our Parliament. It goes without saying that I want to thank the voters in the north-east of Scotland for putting their faith in me and I can assure you and them that I will fight every day of the week to ensure that the north-east of Scotland's voice is heard loud and clear in this Parliament. I will also fight every day against any attack on jobs in the north-east by an SNP Green coalition. This Parliament is answerable to our constituents, who now rely on us to create the conditions for sustainable economic recovery right across Scotland. The decisions that we make will impact the lives of every single citizen, every single business and every single community in Scotland, so it is important that we get it right and do not leave any citizen, business or community behind. We have a moral duty in a pandemic to work together at this critical time, not only right across this Parliament, but we should also work with the UK Government simply because it is in Scotland's best interest to use the resources of our United Kingdom to create the conditions for a sustainable economic recovery that delivers for Scotland and its people. During the run-up to this election, I remember being asked, why do you want to be an MSP? The answer to that question was easy, because I want to make life better for every single person living in Scotland. I want to see our economy thrive, I want to see meaningful employment and I want to see improvements in education and in healthcare. To that end, I believe in aspiration for the people of Scotland and that we should all strive to make people's lives better and give them the opportunities that they deserve, opportunities that my family have had. I remember when my parents took up their opportunity to buy their council house and owned something substantial for the first time in their lives and my parents worked long hours and gave me the opportunity to go to university, something that had not been done in our family before. My daughter has just finished third year of medical school and I want to make sure she and all medical students can have the opportunity to help patients with their medical needs in a safe and properly funded NHS. My son finished school this week and I want to help to build an education system second to none for all our Scotland's children and young people to ensure everyone gets the best start in life and the opportunity to pursue their career dreams be it vocational or via college or university. My niece and nephew are both deaf and one of them is at school and one is struggling to get a job because many employers still do not understand that having a disability is not a barrier to work and, given the right support and opportunity, people with disabilities make fantastic, dedicated employees. I owe it to them to knock down barriers that infringe on those with disabilities. Every day, since my arrival, I have heard politicians on the labour benches telling us that they will work with anybody to deliver for the people of Scotland. I only hope that Anna Sarwar is as good as his word because I come from Aberdeen and I still represent the UK Council of the Year for 2020. A coalition made up of Conservative and Labour members, a coalition that has put the interests of its people first. I can honestly say that Aberdeen City Council has worked tirelessly on its economic recovery for the city following Covid-19 by working with its people, its business and its communities. I find it unbelievable that the Labour Council leader in Aberdeen, Jenny Ling, is still suspended by the Labour Party despite winning local councillor of the year, not once but twice, in 2017 and 2020. It is no wonder that retories are ahead of Labour in all three Aberdeen constituencies, given their refusal to acknowledge its own talent because they dare to work with the Conservatives to deliver for the people in Aberdeen. In closing, we all want to work together to bring about real change to people's lives, but we also have to reflect on and work within the tools that we currently have to ensure prosperity for all. We also need a reality check because the Scottish Government excel at spin but fail miserably in reality. One example of what I mean is the headline in the Herald on Sunday at the weekend, when 11 years ago the SNP spin predicted 28,000 low-carbon jobs. However, the miserable reality is that only 1,400 jobs have materialised. The Conservatives are always happy to support cross-party collaboration to make Scotland better, and we will work with the Scottish Government to achieve those aims. However, the Scottish Government is required to concentrate less on spin and more on reality, if Scotland is to create the conditions for a sustainable economic recovery. Thank you, Mr Lumsden, and I call Paul Sweeney, who will be followed by Kenneth Gibson. Again, the chamber will wish to be aware that this is Mr Sweeney's first speech. Mr Sweeney, six minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I congratulate Mr Lumsden on his first speech to the chamber and to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on her taking up her new position in the Government. As I rise to give my first speech in the chamber of the Scottish Parliament, I recall a formative political experience. Sitting in a bed at York Hill hospital is a 10-year-old transfixed by the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament on television as it unfolded up on the mound in 1999. The excitement and optimism of that day remains vividly etched in my mind. Sheena Wellington's rousing rendition of his Therefore Honest Poverty jurors exhortation that the establishment of this Parliament must not merely be an end but a means to greater ends. As I watched one great labour achievement come to fruition from another, perhaps my political affiliation was inevitably influenced from that moment onwards. It was not merely the spectacle of that day that influenced my interest in politics, but the experience of growing up in a family that bore the brunt of the industrial turmoil of Clydeside in the 1990s. The anxiety of unemployment has redundancy struck the shipyards, taking the job of my father along with many hundreds of others. It burned into me a sense of anguish at seeing an industry synonymous with Glasgow's purpose. The work, the pride of generations in decline, presided over by an aloof political establishment indifferent to its fate. The economic dogma of the free market, serving the interests of a distant few, mattered more than the dignity and wealth of Glaswegians. I also realised that this decline was not inevitable, that there is no such thing as honest poverty, that it is something that Government could reverse with a sense of clear mission, innovation and determination. One of the first actions of the Labour Government and of this new Parliament was to save the governship yard from closure. It was an act that not only restored my dad's livelihood but would later give me work too. Although burning for a passion for Glasgow and everything it represents instilled from a young age, I could scarcely have imagined that the circumstances would prevail just a few years later where I would have the precious opportunity to represent this teaming, turbulent, tremendous city in Parliament, first as an MP in the House of Commons and now as a member of the Scottish Parliament. William McElvaney described Glasgow as the right hand knocking you down and the left hand picking you up while the mouth alternated apology and threat. His character, Laidlaw, described what he loved about Glasgow is that it is not a city, it is a 24-hour cabaret. If it is not already this week, I am sure that it will be by Saturday night and I am sure that Pauline will be offering us a song or two down the pub. It is certainly a city of contrasts, a tumultuous mix of triumph, hilarity, misery and tragedy. To have the honour of representing and helping its persevering passionate people in Parliament has revealed to me a whole new level of understanding about their needs and how Government policy so often misunderstands, underestimates and ill-serves them. Until you find yourself at the mercy of an oppressive inhumane policy or unexpectedly advocating for those who do, it is easy to just assume that the system works. The realisation that it does not drives my motivation to improve my city, my community. My initial naivety might have given way to an even greater resolve and fervour to help those who are vulnerable and oppressed, but I hope that it is a conviction that is widely shared by colleagues across this chamber. It was certainly a conviction shared by my two predecessors, James Kelly and Joanne Lamont, who were formidable advocates for our communities, from expunging draconian legislation that criminalised working-class football fans to speaking out against the Government's illegal failure to house the homeless of Glasgow. Patricia Ferguson and the late Maria Fife also inspired me with their fearless pursuit of social justice for the people of Milton and Springburn, where I grew up. This is an intergenerational moral crusade that has never been more urgent, but this Parliament and this Government are barely keeping pace. In the half decade that is taken to set up a modest £10 a week child payment, child poverty has risen by 50,000. By this Government's own estimations, the £10 a week child payment will reduce the number of children living in poverty by just 20,000. Meanwhile, in Glasgow alone, over 30,000 children live in poverty. Not only is it an intolerable situation, it is an indictment of a lack of ambition and a lack of political will. We are consciously planning an economy that fails tens of thousands of children, and I won't stand by while that happens, and neither will my colleagues. That is not something that we can tolerate any more. The late Jimmy Reid once looked up at a block of high-rise flats in Glasgow and observed that behind every window could be a Nobel prize-winning scientist, an Olympic athlete or perhaps a First Minister, but you know what, they will never get the opportunity, because of where they were born and the circumstances in which they were brought up. From birth, they are being denied their potential. As a nation and as a community, that tacitly accepted sabotage of young people's lives is the greatest loss to us all as a country, and in many cases it is literally a life sentence. I have seen it at first hand working with Peter Cricant at the overdose prevention pilot in Glasgow, where we witness daily the impact of social alienation and trauma on so many young lives. We can only hope that they will still be alive tomorrow, failed by a state that prioritises criminalisation over compassion. There is nothing inevitable about this economic and social trauma. It can be fixed if we, the 129 of us, here are willing to take a lead. After all, this is the Parliament that was forged in the furnaces of Ravenscraig and welded together on the banks of the Clyde. Our mission is to build up our industries, not simply stand by and observe their decline. It was heartbreaking for me to watch the convener of the Calais railwayworks in Springburn break down in tears in this building two years ago, as he realised he was the last in the long line of trade union leaders stretching back 163 years to the dawn of the railway industry, because Government ministers failed to do what was necessary to preserve those precious skills and jobs. This Parliament failed those workers and it failed my community. What is the meaning of home rule? If our industries are ruled by faceless men and board rooms far from Scotland and our Government isn't prepared to defend them or simply indulges in shallow PR the later ends in failure, I won't stand by and let the same happen to the McVitie's workers on Toul Cross and neither will my colleagues. As Evan Morgan said, we are adept at indulging in convenient Scottish fictions, unless this Parliament urgently becomes more alive to the alienation, exploitation and hardship faced by millions of Scots, unless we have the privilege of working in this chamber, test our Parliament's ability to address those ills more strenuous than ever, our country will never achieve its full potential. It's a tremendous challenge in front of all of us, but it's an endeavour that I will be relentlessly and humbly focused on over the next five years. Thank you, Mr Swinney, and I call Kenneth Gibson, who will be followed by Jamie Halcro Johnston. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'd first like to congratulate Mr Lumson and Mr Swinney on their excellent opening speeches, and thank you for congratulating you on your new post and the Cabinet Secretary on hers. With the focus having rightly been on battling the pandemic over the past year, I'm optimistic that we can now focus on delivering Scotland's economic recovery. The human cost of the pandemic is immeasurable, and I know I speak for all of us when I say our thoughts remain with those who lost loved ones or are still suffering. All of us whose jobs are businesses, possibly built up over a lifetime, disappeared, and people in vulnerable sectors like hospitality, tourism and the arts were particularly hard hit. Young people were denied a normal study and work experience because of the virus. With her economic reasons and help with social isolation and mental health, the importance of reopening cultural venues and performances developed in partnership with the sector and public health experts and supported with funding cannot be underestimated. The First Minister has made it clear that Scotland's economic recovery is paramount, and her plan for the first 100 days is now in the process of being implemented. While in 1.2 billion has been committed to drive recovery since March, Scottish ministers are focused on building a stronger, internationally competitive, resilient and sustainable economy, with a focus on getting new, high-quality green jobs. At my constituency, I know that Ions of Ireland and Cumbria, as well as mainland North Ayrshire, will find the £25 million tourism fund invaluable. The £25 million digital boost fund, providing technology support and training, will also make a real difference to small and medium-sized businesses, given their critical importance to our economy. Support for new, high-tech start-ups and also critical are the city, region and regional growth deals, as is non-domestic rates relief. To assist people back into fair and sustained work, the Scottish Government has extended fair start Scotland for further two years to 31 March 2023. North Ayrshire and elsewhere will assist in meeting the anticipated increase in demand from the most disadvantaged people in our communities. The reality is that growing up in an area of multiple deprivation is hugely detrimental and that initiative continues to help those constituents who need it. Unfortunately, as we emerge from this dark period, it becomes painful and clear that we have other serious matters impacting on an economic recovery. Scotland has taken it out of the European Union against its will. Had the UK's departure from the EU in January not been dwarfed by a global pandemic, its impact would be much more apparent. The Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee during the last parliamentary session heard from the financial sector, hauliers, farming and fishing representatives on a weekly basis of how their industries have been adversely affected and their pleas for assistance and extensions, often ignored, are downplayed by UK ministers. By the end of April, only four months into the brave new world post Brexit, new barriers to trade had already cost exporters more than £1,100 million, while Birmingham's Aston University found that UK services and exports from 2016 to 2019 were cumulatively £113 billion lower than if remain had won the EU referendum, some £1,800 per person across the UK. The impact on employment and prosperity was wholly negative. European structural funds have boosted Scotland's economic development for decades, investing £5.6 billion into myriad projects. Pre-Brexit Scottish Ministers published a plan for a shared prosperity fund, as the UK Government sadly failed to engage and work with the devolved nations. The UK Government has now imposed a levelling up fund for infrastructure projects, which bypasses any Scottish Parliament involvement and around £400 million of expected funding. Those funds should be used to benefit Scotland's high streets and communities and devolve to the Parliament to work with local authorities and other partners to deliver the most effective long-term benefits. The UK already has responsibility for many economic levers beyond our control from borrowing massively in the money markets to working with the Bank of England on interest rates and inflation. Those will need to be low to secure robust economic recovery. Already, inflation is up, fed by skilled shortages, which the Scottish Government is committed to addressing. We also have rocketing double-digit house price rises and raw material costs increases of between 5 and 15 per cent globally, impacting the inability to deliver infrastructure projects from new homes to harbours within budget. Those are very real issues with a very real impact on employment, supply chains and local economies, and we cannot speak of economic recovery without addressing them. Furthermore, in renewables UK's report changing the wrong way, it was revealed that Scottish energy producers are disadvantaged as power stations pay 16 times more for using transmission systems compared to the European average, leading to the bizarre situation in which we are becoming a net energy importer despite Scotland having a quarter of Europe's wind and tidal energy resources and a tenth of its wave energy potential. Not to mention are still vitally important oil and gas industries, which will continue to support tens of thousands of highly-paid and highly-skilled Scottish jobs over the next decade as we transition to greener energy. Scotland is the first country to declare a climate emergency and our recovery is designed to balance the economy, jobs, sustainability and the environment. I applaud that Scottish ministers did not take a break from dealing with climate change during the pandemic. No country can afford to take a year off from that. Not everyone in this chamber wants to hear this, but Governments really are capable of dealing with multiple issues and delivering across a wide policy portfolio simultaneously. The past 15 months have been a time of sacrifices, a time to mourn and a time to re-evaluate and pressed the reset button for many of us. As a nation, we must learn from the pandemic and grasp the opportunity to reshape our economy in a way that we were perhaps unable to do so before. The Scottish Government's framework for the first 100 days and beyond will result in a fair, sustainable and green economic recovery. The First Minister has piloted Scotland successfully through the pandemic, and it is now clear that, even in times of crisis, Scotland can take responsibility for its own affairs. We will see how Scotland recovers, and I am excited about the road that lies ahead beyond that. Mr Gibson, I call Jamie Halcro Johnston, who will be followed by Paul MacLennan. Mr Halcro Johnston, six minutes. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I congratulate you on your new role, as well as it is good to see the opening takeover continuing at a pace. I also welcome the contributions that we have heard from new members across the chamber today, making their maiden speeches. My Conservative colleague Douglas Lumson's excellent contribution. Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen just some of the new experience and enthusiasm that has entered this Parliament. It is a positive injection of energy and a reminder that, although there are plenty of us who have returned, this or at least can be a fresh start. The pandemic has taken a hammer blow to our economy in a way that is entirely without precedent in modern times, and worse, of course, may still be to come. We should, and we must, as an institution, be looking to improve on the last session to be more responsive, more proactive, more engaged with our constituents in Scotland's businesses, listening better to them. Throughout the pandemic, I have spoken regularly with businesses and representative bodies in my region and wider afield. Each has wanted to be listened to and to have clarity when decisions are being made, not to have a Government with the ability to foresee the unforeseeable, but one that works in the open that takes account of the cost of adapting to a changing situation. That is not an unreasonable demand. Across my own region, the Highlands and Islands, we have seen a particularly harsh impact from the pandemic on the hospitality and tourism sectors. As the Cabinet Secretary will be very aware, the Highlands and Islands is more reliant on these sectors than most parts of Scotland. While Government and this Parliament discuss recovery, businesses in Scotland are living the reality of it. I have been impressed with the ability of many businesses in my region, particularly to bounce back, adapt to start afresh and get down to the work that needs to be done, but many challenges still remain. As a region with more small, remote and island communities, we can see starkly just how co-dependence more local supply chains are. Where a business fails, whole communities can feel the aftershocks. Those communities have played their part even when local prevalence and lower risk were lower than the more populated parts of the country. However, it is disappointing that regional analysis, a more serious examination of differential impacts, seems to be almost entirely lacking. The experience of disadvantage of economic shocks will not be felt in the central belt as it is in the Highlands and Islands or even in the south of Scotland. Jamie Halcro Johnston and I represent a lot of the food and drink industry in the Highlands. Beverage is a key export for Scotland. Looking at some of the figures today, the figures for Scottish exports of beverages were down by 26 per cent to EU markets in the first three months of the year versus 2018, only down 1 per cent to non-EU markets. The Highlands and Islands are paying a price for the Brexit choices as well. I appreciate what the cabinet secretary is saying and, of course, the responses we have seen constitutional upheaval over the last years do not foist more of it on Scotland. In many ways, our rural and island communities are less resilient, and although the belated acceptance from the Scottish Government that different levels of restriction could be applied locally was positive, it did not change the fact that many venues spent long periods legally able to open but without the customers to practically do so. Of course, that left many ineligible for vital support. We are also at a blank when it comes to the future. While I welcome the fact that the First Minister in her priorities for government speech last week seems to have adopted the Scottish Conservatives proposal for rapid retraining courses, we also need to know what the enterprise is being how they are being directed to assist businesses at risk. What plans does the Scottish Government have for future support? As has already been highlighted by others, our recovery is a cause that needs more collaboration than most. Not just within the chamber but more widely with businesses, individuals and communities. The cabinet secretary has set out a motion calling for that sort of collaborative approach on economic recovery, one that brings together the public, private and third sectors, as well as parties around the chamber with common purpose. I support those sentiments, but I say gently to the cabinet secretary that such a call cannot be credible when we have SNP ministers, including the First Minister, telling anyone who will listen that breaking up the United Kingdom is essential to secure a recovery. The First Minister claimed that independence planning was put on hold during the pandemic. It wasn't. We know that because our Government took the time to release a giraffe referendum bill before the election. However, that comes as an even greater threat at a time when we have benefited enormously from the combined strength of the UK economy and our combined strength as a country. Not since the financial crash of 2008 has the security and stability of being part of the United Kingdom been so obviously apparent. We have relied on that joint security, a functioning central bank, a broad economy, to deliver the furlough scheme, without which we would have found ourselves in a depression unprecedented in modern times. One million Scottish jobs protected because of that sort of support. We have benefited from the world-leading vaccination scheme, one where the size and purchasing power of the UK has meant that we were able to do things differently. Those are not minor talking points. They have changed the scope of this pandemic and the outlook for our country for years to come. To deny that is not just ordinary back-and-forth of politics, it is genuine revisionism. I have spoken a great deal about the hospitality and tourism today, but the reality is that there are many sectors that have been shaken to their foundations. Retail is coming back, but there has been a real and potentially enduring change to our town centres. Transport from large commercial air links to self-employed taxi drivers have suffered enormously. Recovery will not be an overnight process, in some sectors it will likely take years. Some may never fully recover. We need the Scottish Government to properly listen to business and to adequately support business because we cannot afford Scotland's economic recovery to be put at jeopardy by SNP ministers without a clear vision for what is needed or a clear focus on how that will be delivered. Scotland's businesses and the jobs that they support cannot afford another five years of a distracted SNP Government with its eyes off the ball when it comes to Scotland's economy. Before I call Mr McLennan, I encourage members who are using Surface and other mobile devices to make sure that they are on mute through the debate. Paul McLennan will be followed by Paul McNeill, Mr McLenn, in six minutes. Presiding Officer, I welcome you to your post and commend the first speakers today. We had a very informative debate on health recovery yesterday in Parliament and we are all aware of the importance of the recovery in our health and social care sector. Tomorrow, we will discuss our recovery in our educational sector. Today, I want to focus on the actions and ambitions of our economic recovery on our aspirations for the next parliamentary term and beyond. The recently announced Council for Economic Transformation is welcome, and as I mentioned in my first speech last week, I will be replicating this approach in East Lothian. I want to focus on a few key actions that the Scottish Government is undertaking that will benefit my constituents. First of all, tourism town centres. There are 5,000 jobs in the tourism industry in East Lothian, and £260 million is generated every year from tourism in the county. The launch of the £10 million Scotland of Local Fund will benefit our town centres and villages all over East Lothian. The continuation of the small business bonus rate scheme is incredibly helpful, as is a non-domestic relief scheme. I know that my next statement will be no doubt court controversy. East Lothian is Scotland's golf coast. With 21 fantastic golf courses all over the county, it attracts many visitors from all over the world. The tourism sector provides career opportunities and career paths. I want to work with local colleges and Visit Scotland to grow and build those opportunities. We have just heard the cabinet secretary mention about food and drink, and the importance of that is a real important sector in East Lothian. In 2016, the food and drink industry in East Lothian was successful in establishing the first sector-bid business improvement district scheme. That pulled together a sector in East Lothian with an aim to increase not only Scottish and UK sales, but exports. It is in the process of balloting for a new oil of the bid that is due to report on 1 July. I wish them all the best. Brexit has had an impact. We have just heard from the cabinet secretary on that, particularly on the seafood sector in East Lothian. The UK Government needs to sort out this mess before markets are lost for good. I want to touch on a really important sector in East Lothian, and it has not been touched so far in the debate, and that is a voluntary and social enterprise sector. Our voluntary sector is a major employer in Scotland. It employs more than 100,000 people, contributing £6 billion to our economy. The sector works with 1.4 million volunteers all over Scotland. The sector also helps to support people to become active in their economy through employability schemes. It delivers, including programmes for disability employment. I will be meeting with volunteer senators shortly to discuss how I can work with them to build capacity. The voluntary sector throughout the pandemic in East Lothian and throughout Scotland generated an amazing sense of community. We can all work with the sector to help them to create sustainable employment opportunities. On skills development, having a skilled, flexible workforce is essential to an economy at any time. It is even more so as we recover from the pandemic. I welcome that in this financial year, the Scottish Government will invest more than £1 billion today forward our national ambition for jobs. It also includes £125 million for skills and employment support, including the young person's guarantee and the national transition training fund. That is alongside £230 million for skills development in Scotland, and I will seek an early meeting with them to ensure that we are addressing the skills gaps that exist in East Lothian, engaging with Queen Margaret University in East Lothian and other colleges and with employers in the county. On digital connectivity, East Lothian traditionally has low unemployment rates, but job density figures can be approved on. Covid has seen many people work from home and some will continue to do so when we come out of the pandemic. East Lothian Council needs to be a strong facilitator of economic development opportunities. Digital connectivity is essential. The Scottish Government will provide capital investment of nearly £100 million to improve digital connectivity in 2021-22. East Lothian Scotland needs to make the most of five growth sectors such as technology and, in doing so, take forward the recommendations of the Logan review and give us that competitive edge. I want to talk about investment. The infrastructure investment plan in the Scottish National Investment Bank sets up opportunities to invest £26 billion over the course of the next national mission with local impact. That will allow Scotland to invest in sustainable green jobs and build an economy with wellbeing at its heart. Scotland is a leader in foreign direct investment and, through the Scottish Government investment plan, will continue to be so. Economic recovery is at the heart of what the Scottish Government is focused on, attracting investment home and overseas, building on opportunities to start and develop business, sustainable green jobs and supporting vibrant town centres and tourist industries. In working with collaboration and business, education, skills and third sector colleagues, we can look forward to our economy growing and thriving in the months and years ahead. Thank you. I call Pauline McNeill to be followed by Michelle Thomson. I congratulate all the new members on their first speeches. They have certainly raised the bar in this Parliament, but all the new ministers and cabinet secretaries, and may I pay tribute to Fiona Hyslop and Fergus Ewing for, despite our sometimes differences, have shown a dedication to public service and I think that it should be recognised by the whole of this Parliament. I asked the First Minister yesterday for a specific recovery plan for Glasgow. Glasgow, a city with regional status, is so dependent on sectors such as hospitality, retail and tourism, and it has had the most severe and difficult restrictions placed on it. Glasgow, a city region, is a third of the economy of the whole of Scotland. It cannot fail, and ministers need to show that they understand that significance, and I believe, by a specific recovery plan led by ministers with the city administration, industry and commerce. Glasgow businessman and philanthropist Lord Hockey predicts that 17,000 jobs will be lost in the west of Scotland when furlough comes to an end, but it probably, sadly, might be more than that. Glasgow, a city that has endured a longer lockdown in any other city in the United Kingdom, and has had to contend with the second lowest roll-out of the first dose vaccine, where the virus has been the highest. This complacency must end in Glasgow. I have engaged with as many sectors as possible to understand the impact on business, and the hospitality sector in particular. The restrictions have been significant, and it has reduced the footfall, as people can obviously come in from neighbouring authorities when you are in a level 3. That means that, for many businesses, it has been hardly worth opening. It is important to understand that particular point, and Stuart Patrick emphasised it today, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, when he said in the Herald, that, in Glasgow, we have seen the impact of the misalignment between reopening restrictions and financial support. He points out that, when the Scottish Government announced some weeks back, that Murray and Glasgow were to be held at level 3, it is an extra weekly grant of up to £750 to be made available. He asserts that the majority of businesses will be receiving £500 a week, a lot less than that. In fact, in the previous column, he said that 90 per cent of businesses would not be receiving the £750 to deal with the losses incurred. The hotel sector is dying on its knees, and even in November, and I checked this today, the figures for COP26 in the hotel sector when it arrives in November is only 48 per cent so far. It is important to understand that Glasgow being a driver of its economy must merit some special attention. On the record, the member may or may not be aware of the city centre recovery task force, which will be convened by myself, and the work that we have done closely with Stuart Patrick and his task force to provide specific attention to Glasgow. I welcome that, but I hope that the cabinet secretary takes the point that Stuart Patrick made. The £750, 90 per cent of businesses do not get that figure, because although they are open, no-man can travel. It is really highlighting the importance of Glasgow as a metropolitan city because so many people come to Glasgow. The music sector will obviously be the last to open up. On behalf of musicians, I have asked for a meeting with Government advisers Gregor Smith and Jason Leitch to clarify the evidence on the ban on singing. I have been outed earlier by my colleague, and it is to amend the speech post. We know that I have an interest in that. However, in all seriousness, I think that most of us know many struggling musicians who have had some of the most severe hardship in their lives trying to manage. I think that it was embarrassing that Scotland was the only country that banned background music. I make no apologies for interrogating the science on this. If singing is to continue to be banned for reasons that we did nine months ago, I want to be sure that we have got that right. Last month, two venues in Glasgow, the Barrelands and St Luke's, lit up their premises with signs warning that 39,000 jobs could soon be lost due to the restriction on Scotland's music, night-time and cultural sectors. The night-time economy businesses have said that, as a direct result of ending all financial support without ending the restrictions that make our business in our sector unviable, the Scottish Government is, in effect, between Scotland's younger workers and Scotland's cultural sector and condemning thousands of businesses to bankruptcy. Backing this up, a poll conducted by the night-time industries association of its members in April this year showed that the average debt amassed by venues due to the coronavirus pandemic had reached 150,000. That debt is equivalent to several years of profit in normal times. I want to finish by pointing out that many other sectors require inclusion for a recovery Glasgow airport is a key hub of connectivity for business, the movement of freight, city breaks and businesses. We need to make sure that, when it is safe to travel, Scotland's connectivity is protected. As you have heard from chief executives Gordon Dewar and Derek Proben, they have been pleading for more engagement with the Government. I thank the cabinet secretary for clarifying today on behalf of the taxi trade at the grants and support going forward. I thank her for that. In conclusion, I would ask that, in transition to net zero and the low emission zones, a bit more discussion will be required because obviously buying new vehicles is going to be a huge burden. As a Glasgow MSP, I am unashamedly making calls for Glasgow, but I do believe that a special recovery plan is required because I believe that it is not just for good for Glasgow, I believe that it is good for Scotland's recovery. I extend my thanks to those who have given their first speeches today. Today's motion contains the term, the urgent need to create the conditions for sustainable economic recovery. The term sustainable, placed before economics, business or development, are all phrases with which we are familiar. However, they are so ubiquitous that they mean different things to different people. I should use the term sustainable economic development. That is about the strategic pursuit of our economic goals in ways that does not compromise our natural resources and ecosystems for future generations. Some people, as we know, describe that as three pillars, that of economic, environmental and social. For too many, the pursuit of sustainable economic development is often expressed as stopping various activities, but we must place as much focus on ensuring, through entrepreneurial and innovative approaches, that we build a whole economic and business system that delivers ambitious sustainable economic development. I am on the record for speaking to an ambitious agenda, and I commend the Scottish Government for its first 100 days plan. The Scottish Government understands that we are talking of complex economic and business systems with extended supply chains and significant interdependencies. The issues must be addressed at national level rather than if it were only about individual businesses or individual actions. Simple solutions are likely to be simply inadequate. Let us briefly consider people in their many roles, whether it is consumer, worker, taxpayer or business owner, people drive the economic system and a sustainable system will help to create sustainable lives. Let me just focus on one aspect, that of workers. They need to be skilled in our occupations. World trade is globally independent, so the skills of our workers must be judged internationally as excellent. That is why, in my first speech, I asked that we pursue international benchmarking and fully commit to initiatives such as world skills. I commend the Scottish Government in its plans to support women in business, but note that there must also be consideration given to systems as well as activities. There remains deeply held cultural prejudices that hold back many women and therefore development. For example, justifiable concerns have been raised that the algorithms being developed for artificial intelligence simply replicate existing prejudices that inhibit the rise of talented women. Another way of looking at elements of our system is to look at it sectorally. For example, take music, another area that I am interested in as one part of the arts. Its value in culture and wellbeing is well understood, but there is still too little understanding of its value in GVA terms. GVA excludes voluntary activity, which contributes a huge amount to the musical activity of our nation. What is to be done? We have made an excellent start, and I praise the understanding of Kate Forbes and Ivan McKee. I know that they want to deliver sustainable economic development for Scotland. Perhaps they might consider the following. First, could we consider bringing together academia, business and government in national centres of excellence to focus on sustainable innovations by economic sectors? Second, we need to find a way of better targeting public funding to support entrepreneurial activity focused on building elements of the sustainable economy. Current approaches such as those driven by Innovate UK are too restrictive and formulaic. Perhaps both of those points might be addressed in the plans for the Council of Economic Transformation. Third, we need to provide investment to enable our education sector to engage with international movements aimed at driving up standards of vocational education and training. Finally, we need to ensure that we have an environment where it is much more difficult for people to exploit the economic system. Our Parliament needs to start talking about our financial ecosystem rather than leaving it to the governance or lax governance of the Tories and Westminster. That is a theme to which I intend to return. Thank you. I call Tess White to be followed by Jenny Minto. This is Ms White's first speech in the chamber. Thank you, Presiding Officer, for the introduction, and I congratulate you on your new role. I also congratulate the cabinet secretary on her wider role. Thank you to Douglas Ross for appointing me as the Shadow Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work. I am also honoured to represent the people of the north-east. I am not a career politician. I arrive in politics at a pivotal point. I have worked on the leadership teams of global energy companies, creating jobs and long-term employment, planning their future direction or executing their clean energy plans internationally. I have worked with the CEOs of companies as well as governments. I have worked with trade unions as well as employees. I have represented industry and I have also challenged it. While the world of business is not always a role model, during my time, I have learned four key things that bring success in any organisation. Diversity of thought, keeping an open mind, respect and dignity, building on shared values to realise a vision. This is one of the most diverse parliaments in the world, and that is a good start. The true benefit of embracing diversity and inclusion in any big organisation is the resulting creativity, innovation and lasting value. I have been listening very carefully to those who argue for reform of this Parliament. I can see the case for this to affect the change that the country requires. In just four weeks, I can already see silos, groupthink and entrenched ideologies, none of which is beneficial to Scotland. I have learned that meaningful change needs to be planned carefully, a focus on both a compelling logical and emotional cases essential. Well-communicated common goals can be powerful bridges. Kate Forbes and others have described the economic recovery and its sustainability as a national endeavour. I would agree with that, but we have to better define our national organisation because I have learned that organisations well-run can be more than the sum of their parts. The more enlightened organisations harness the benefits of all the parts beyond geographies, shareholders and stakeholders and thrive as a result of their combined resilience. I believe that we can make our whole organisation, including Scotland's people and the resulting national economy, greater than the sum of its parts. Covid has shocked us to the core. At times like these, we pull together by recognising that we have far more in common with each other than those things that divide us. Without the UK Government interventions, we would not have a comprehensive vaccine programme. Our employees would not be protected with furlough nor businesses with safety nets. It is harmful to Scotland to not work as part of a team. The whole of the UK is greater than the sum of its parts. In addition, I believe that working together we can invest wisely in education, in skills training, in job creation, in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, in building sustainable and affordable housing, in providing schools and community hubs at the centre of new developments and in creating the environment where businesses want to invest so that they, their employees and their communities will flourish. We have harnessed the wind and the tides to create energy. We can use our natural resources without damaging our planet. In order to keep the lights on, we need to work together on this transition safely and sensibly. It requires certainty and stability in a time of massive flux, but we need to recognise the size and contribution of the oil and gas sector and the risks and opportunities that the transition to a greener economy brings. The north-east transition deal will facilitate a fair journey, safeguarding the skills and talent for the future green revolution. This must be in partnership with the key stakeholders such as the energy companies, the UK and Scottish Governments and the people of the north-east. It must also guarantee security of energy supply for the UK and Scotland, keeping the lights on, sourcing it locally and delivering net zero. However, it cannot happen in isolation and needs to be planned and phased in. We must recognise the challenges that a post-Brexit world brings to the other major industries in the north-east, namely agriculture and fishing. To those businesses decimated by Covid and its aftermath in the hospitality sector, we will push for the support that you need to ride out this economic tsunami. Today, I choose to look to a brighter future. In the maiden speeches, I can see the hope, although after today, slightly impractical and harmful to the people to the north-east from Lorna Slater, the humanity that is spoken of by Pam Duncan Glancy and the reality that is described by Dr Sandesh Gulhani. Finally, I believe that the increased diversity of this chamber can lead to innovation, both of thought and positive relationship building for the benefit of the people of Scotland. I dedicate myself to that goal. I will call Jenny Minto to make the last contribution in the open debate, and this is Ms Minto's first speech in the chamber. May I add my congratulations to you in your new role and also to the cabinet secretary for her expanded role? Argyll and Bute is Scotland's most beautiful constituency and it is home to the most committed and dynamic people. I feel extremely privileged to have been elected to represent them here in Scotland's Parliament. I would like to put on to record my thanks to the electric of Argyll and Bute for putting their trust in me. I promise to work very hard for them. Also, my heartfelt thanks to my fantastic activists across the constituency, led by Marie Claire Docherty, supported by Keir Lowe and Heather Wolfe, and to my husband Les Wilson, my wider family and friends. I would not be here if it were not for their encouragement and love. I am following in the footsteps of one of Scotland's most accomplished politicians, Michael Russell. I have known Michael for many years and I want to thank him for his advice and friendship. My first political event with him was at the 2014 independence referendum hustings in Beaumaud on Islay. Little did I expect seven years later to be stepping in to his MSP shoes. His shoes are big and come in many guises. Wellies, hiking boots, brogues, as diverse as Argyll and Bute. In Michael's last speech in this place, he quoted from Edwin Morgan's poem Open the Doors, We give you our consent to govern. Don't pocket it and ride away. We give you our deepest, dearest wish to govern well. Don't say we have no mandate to be so bold. Well, here's a bit of the same poem that I have chosen. What do the people want of the place? They want it to be filled with thinking persons as open and adventurous as its architecture. I'm honoured to be part of the most representative thinking and adventurous persons parliament that Scotland has ever elected. We sitting here have such a huge opportunity to shape Scotland and to be so bold. In the 10 days prior to the election, I travelled round Argyll and Bute meeting many individuals and organisations, hearing from them how Covid and Brexit had impacted on their lives and businesses and what they needed for a sustainable and resilient recovery. Argyll and Bute is one of the economic jewels of Scotland's throne crown. It has a world-class food and drinks industry that exports to every corner of the globe. With its natural resources, it will be a renewable energy powerhouse, and its spectacular scenery, history and culture draw visitors from all over the world. Woven through each of those are its people and businesses. It is their lived experience and talents that we need to embrace to strengthen our communities and economy. Argyll and Bute also needs a robust infrastructure. We have seen across Scotland, and Fergus talked about it earlier, that with infrastructure investment, population rises and economic development soars, the same must happen in Argyll and Bute. We need to be bold. A permanent solution must be found and quickly for the rest and be thankful, and we need reliable, versatile ferry fleet. Farmers, fishers, whisky distillers, hauliers, small businesses, tourists, residents and everyone, depends on being able to travel throughout Argyll and Bute safely and easily. I know that the transport minister has brought a new energy to solving those challenges, and I look forward to working closely with him to find the solutions. The Scottish Government is focusing on transitioning our economy to a sustainable one to meet net zero targets by 2045, while Contire is an ideal location for wind farms. It is being described as wind turbine heaven, but communities recognise the climate emergency and the part that their area will play in Scotland reaching net zero. However, they want some of that economic wealth to remain in Contire to benefit their communities too. I want to work with the Scottish Government to ensure that that happens. Across Argyll and Bute, there are social enterprises and development trusts, building affordable homes, creating sustainable businesses, employing people, investing in their communities and driving economic development. Tobermory Harbour Trust describes that as profit for progress. Also, there are many entrepreneurs who have created world-renowned products. The wings on Harry Potter's golden snitch were made in Loch Gilpedd. Vegan cheese is manufactured in Rothsy, and, of course, living on Islay, I cannot ignore whisky, the water of life. I began by saying that Argyll and Bute is Scotland's most beautiful constituency. It is. Tourism is a major economic driver. It has, like tourism across Scotland, been impacted dreadfully by the pandemic. I am pleased that the Scottish Government in its first 100 days will be launching a £25 million fund for tourism and a new campaign to promote Scotland. The SNP's manifesto committed to supporting rural businesses and encouraging young people to remain in their communities. By launching the £10 million, Scotland loves local to support local businesses. By listening to our farmers to develop sustainable farming support and £30 million to support island communities through the national islands plan. All bold initiatives that put Argyll and Bute's people and economy at the front and centre of Scotland. I am not sure whether you can see my shoes, but they are not Michaels. They are made from tweed from the Isle of Woollen Mill, designed to commemorate the centenary of World War I. The colours represent the sea, the land and the people. Woven together, they create, in my view, a perfect fabric—the fabric of Scotland. It is those natural resources that Argyll and Bute will contribute to Scotland's economy as we recover and be all so bold. I am sorely tempted to respond directly to some of the more pointed comments made by some across the chamber about the Scottish Greens and our commitment to delivering the structural change required to tackle the climate emergency. However, I will not, other than to say that I will take no lessons on certainty and stability from the party that has brought us the shambles that is Brexit. I will not say more than that, because creating the kind of future we need is much more important than any one of our political parties. We have made enormous strides in Scotland in recognising the need to reconfigure, to transform our economy. I am delighted to see the new focus on community wealth building, on wellbeing economy approaches and on ensuring that the economy serves the Scottish people, not the dictums of some defunct economist or an entrenched but so outdated ideology. I was elected in the north-east. Yes, the oil and gas region of Scotland chose of green to be one of their representatives, because people in the north-east, perhaps unlike some of my colleagues in this chamber, recognise that the climate emergency is real and recognise the urgent need for a just transition from the oil and gas economy. Covid recovery offers us the ideal opportunity to prefigure what this just transition could look like. I want to speak briefly about how we make that transition and the principles on which that transition should be based. A transition that means Aberdeen, those 100,000 workers that Liam Kerr is concerned about, avoids the fate of the coal communities who were trashed by Thatcher's energy transition of the 1980s. A transition that means dandy benefits in the way it did not from north-sea oil and gas. A transition that means grangemouth at the other end of the pipeline, as it were, never again is held hostage by the ego of one man. We have seen in Covid and in past energy transitions what happens when we fail to plan. We plan to fail, so we need a plan. No, I won't, sorry. We need a plan, one that has broad social support and that has been produced with the leadership of the workers, communities and partners who need this just transition so badly. We might think that we know what the solutions are, but we must do everything we can to make this transition one that is citizen-led, one that brings all of us into the debate, not one that is designed to protect elite interests. We need a just transition that is democratic, that includes workers, citizens, trade unions, local authorities, universities and a broad section of civil society to identify needs, develop plans for investment and training. We need a system that coordinates skills and innovation systems to provide the jobs and technology that we know we need. We need the testbeds for the sorts of technology that will allow us to decarbonise heat and agriculture. We know that the economy of the future must look like. It must be based on care, on creativity and on co-operation. My colleague Lorna Slater has talked about the opportunities for care in the planet, a renewables-led transformation, massive job creation in energy efficiency and innovation to deliver a net zero energy system, transforming our transport so that it relies on clean electricity. However, in the time of Covid, it has become even clearer that we must invest in care in humanity, creating a culture and economy that puts care for individuals and communities at its heart. The national care service is a crucial part of this, but we must go well beyond those services. We need the care ethic to replace the profit motive. We know that the economy of the future will also be built on creativity. We need to harness the technical skills of workers and academics to make Scotland the home of the green industrial revolution. We need to think carefully about how we can harness creativity to ensure that our just transition harnesses the ideas that we need to reconfigure and transform our society. For instance, we must not just replace a dirty, socially exclusive transport system based on the car with one that has the same problems but runs on clean energy. We need to build public and demand responsive transport, and we need creativity to make that work in rural areas especially. We need to do this all with the power of co-operation. That is why it is important that we are democratic. We cannot lead us to the market, which we have seen failed coal mining communities in the energy transition of the 1980s and has failed in the era of Covid in our own time. We need a national mission to create a zero carbon economy based on care, creativity and co-operation. We need to align our public spending against this mission. We need to use the national investment bank, Skills Development Scotland and our universities and colleges to support the transition. We need our citizens, workers, trade unions and democratic institutions to be at the forefront leading this just transition. Only then will we have any hope of delivering the kind of economic recovery that we not only need but that all of our citizens deserve. I commend the Scottish Greens amendment in lawness later's name to you all. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I congratulate all new members for the excellent first parliamentary speeches that we have had at the privilege of hearing today? Douglas Lumsden and Tess White championed at their North East region economy in Jenny Minto, thoughtfully shared the impact of the pandemic on the businesses of Argyll and Butte, but also the positive opportunities that exist for sectors such as food and drink. I might slightly disagree with the most beautiful constituency in Scotland, but it might be the second most beautiful part to represent. I am a colleague Paul Sweeney who spoke very passionately about the economic devastation that has hit his home city of Glasgow from the shipyards to more recently the Calais railworks. He also reminded us all that it does not have to be that way if we, the Parliament and the Government make the right choices when it comes to our economic future. I recall five years ago making my own first speech. It was also during the economy debate. I think that the quality of first speeches may have improved since mine, but it is clear from the contributions that we have heard that the economic challenges very much remain. However, I would give one piece of advice to new members. Do not be drawn into a false sense of security. Everyone listens intently and politely to your first speech. When it comes to the second speech, that is when the heckling begins, or maybe that was just my second speech. I congratulate the cabinet secretary, Kate Forbes, on a new role in encompassing business and economy as well as finance, but I also pay tribute to the work of Fergus Ewing and Fiona Hyslop, her predecessor. I genuinely wish Kate Forbes and her new finance team well. It really is in all our constituent's interests that they succeed in the years ahead. I suppose that I'm biased good to see a fellow rural MSP at the helm on those issues, because although there's not a single part of the country, urban or rural, that has not felt the economic impact of the pandemic, we know that the structure of Scotland's rural economy amplifies the economic effects of Covid with jobs in rural communities, often disproportionately reliant on tourism and hospitality, self-employment and also small and micro businesses, which are rightly described by Liz Smith as the backbone of so many of our communities. Those sectors, so important to communities and livelihoods across rural Scotland, have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. They were some of the first businesses to be shut down, and tourism in particular is likely to be the last to be able to operate as normal with, as Willie Rennie rightly highlighted, incoming international travel still significantly curtailed. Parliament will also rightly highlight the impact on hospitality and why the restrictions that remain in place are not being fully reflected in the level of support given to those sectors. That's why in our amendment today Labour has highlighted the need for greater financial support for sectors such as hospitality and tourism along with retail. Early on in the pandemic, the Fraser of Allander Institute identified the threat that the closure of those businesses poses to rural Scotland. Rural communities are particularly exposed to the economic impacts of the measures that are put in place to reduce the spread of coronavirus. They are concluded as this crisis unwinds, appreciating and responding to differences across the country will be crucial. Although the Covid crisis has exasperated many of the economic challenges that we face in both urban and rural Scotland, it did not create them. The cabinet secretary said that we look forward to the day all of the restrictions will be a thing of the past, but the challenges won't disappear simply by lifting those restrictions. A return to more normality in our lives won't be enough for our rural economies, which for too long have been beset by low wages, weak productivity, fragile job markets, an ageing population and depopulation, especially among our young people. In fact, going back to the old normal won't be enough for any part of Scotland's economy. That is perhaps best exemplified by the retail sector. Walk through any town centre at the moment, and the biggest growing market that you are going to see is the provider of two let signs. Although those shop closures have sadly accelerated in the past year, our high streets have been in long-term decline. In the short term, we did an immediate fiscal stimulus package to encourage people back safely into our shops and to prevent lockdown behaviours in bedding permanently. In the election, that is why Labour proposed a plan for a high street voucher scheme, and I would strongly urge the Government to deliver that plan. Equally, we need to tackle the longer-term underlying problems that deliver in more of a level playing field between online retailers and bricks and mortar shops by properly reforming business rates and providing digital training for small and medium-sized businesses. Using planning to regenerate and revitalise our town centres and investing in new ways to bring people back into our high streets will be key. I want to highlight just one brief example on how to breathe new life into our town centres. It can be seen in the work of the Midstiple Quarter in the town of Dumfries, a community benefit company that anyone can join who is quite literally taking back our high street shop by shop, beginning to invest in the mix of use of our town centres' needs from retail, community space, housing and crucially responding to the needs of their community. That corporate principle is that local people have the innovative solutions for the town but should have a local stake in its future through community ownership. Support in such initiatives is one way that the Scottish Government can ensure that building back better is more than just a slogan. So, too, is being clear what our economic aims will be as we begin to rebuild. Labour's amendment sets out some of those aims. The ambitions that we should be focused on—job creation, wage growth, reduced income inequality investment and improved productivity. I doubt that the Government will disagree with any of those principles but more urgent action is needed. That has not always been evident in every step of the Government's response to the pandemic. As Daniel Johnson rightly highlighted, time and time again, Barnett consequentials have gone unallocated, business support funds have sat unspent as applications were rejected and powers of this Parliament went unused. As Willie Rennie said, millions have been spent on interventions that, in many cases, have not delivered the jobs that were promised. We cannot afford to keep making the same mistakes. We need an economic recovery that does not just create growth in jobs but one that creates inclusive growth and secure well-paid jobs as part of a journey to a net zero economy. That has to be the focus of this Government, this Parliament and this country for the next five years and beyond. We are not going back to the old arguments. As we face up to the uncertainty of what a third Covid wave may mean, lives and livelihoods are still on the line. Businesses are still on the brink. We all hope that the vaccination programme is winning the race against the virus, and the worst of the health crisis is behind us. We know that we are still in the middle of an economic crisis. We have the power to tackle that crisis, to genuinely build back better if we make the right choices by supporting businesses to get through this and by investing in creating a stronger, more resilient and more inclusive greener economy. Scotland deserves a Parliament that is relentlessly focused on the issues that matter over the next five years, and that means a Parliament that will always put the recovery first. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I start by reminding members of my register of interests in relation to my interests in property and income that I derive from that? I, as others have done, commend all those who made their first speeches in the chamber, Douglas Lomstone, Paul Sweeney, Tess White and Jenny Minto. All of them are interesting and passionate about the communities that they serve and what brought them here to this Parliament, and we look forward to hearing much more from them in the future. As Colin Smith said, I hope that they have not been lulled into a false sense of security in relation to the warm reception that they all received at first time round. I join with others in congratulating the cabinet secretary on her newly expanded role, and, as others have done, pay tribute to Fiona Hyslop and Fergus Ewing. As they have stepped down from government, I certainly enjoyed a very good relationship with both of them in their respective roles over the years. Having heard Fergus Ewing's first speech from the back benches in 14 years, I very much look forward to hearing a lot more from him in the months and years to come. I am sure that he and I will find much to agree on in the future. I turn to the substance of the debate. In effect, the issues that were discussed broke down into two different areas. There were areas of the short term that needed to be addressed, and then in the long term. Let me look at the short term issues first. A number of members raised the issue that is affecting business in particular about the lack of certainty and the inability to forward plan. Pauline McNeill and her contribution spoke about the impact on hospitality businesses in Glasgow. What we have seen there are business representatives such as Stuart Patrick, who she referred to, expressing their very serious concern about businesses being told on a Friday that they could not reopen on a Monday morning, as they were expecting to, and the implications that that had for hospitality businesses, who had rostered staff to come in on a Monday morning, who had purchased stock sometimes to the cost of £1,000 and then getting a maximum grant of £750 a week in compensation, which came nowhere near what was required to compensate them for those losses. Even though we are moving towards greater relaxation of restrictions, which is welcome, those problems still exist. We see that problem in the event sector, where events require substantial advance planning. Six months, a year, perhaps longer, events for this summer have been cancelled. Events venues are not knowing whether they can plan ahead with any certainty for the autumn and the winter period. On Thursday last week, or Friday last week, I visited Perth concert hall, who were providing concerts in association with Radio 3. This is a 1,200-seat capacity venue, only able to seat 100 people with social distancing under the current rules. It is simply not viable for those venues to open up at the moment. Their concern that they expressed to me is that they cannot plan an autumn season or a winter season with any degree of certainty, because they do not know what the rules will be at that particular time. Willi Rennie? I think that the member makes a very good point. Does he support the initiative by some that there should be a Government-backed insurance policy for the event sector to make sure that they have the confidence to plan for those events so that they can proceed? If they have to call them off now, they will never happen. Willi Rennie make a very important point. This was raised with me by the management at the horse cross when I visited last week. I can understand that it is impossible to get commercial insurance to cover the risks that are present. If there is some way that Government, both here or at UK level, could cooperate to provide some sort of insurance backup, I think that that would be very welcome and help to provide the assurance that those sectors and venues require. Of course, there is a similar issue in the wedding sector, which I am sure is very close to the heart of the cabinet secretary, where, although restrictions have been reduced for those areas that are going to level 1, many wedding venues in areas such as Perthshire and Fife, which is an important part of the local economy, are still finding uncertainty for those who wanted to book weddings or those who perhaps had booked last year and have re-booked for this summer. There are still restrictions on the size of weddings and the ability, for example, to have live music, and that is still a problem for them. There needs to be an on-going business support. Willie Rennie made this point about golf tourism, for example, and businesses that can trade, but whose business has effectively disappeared. I have had that from organisers of holiday tours in Perthshire, where their business is almost entirely driven from overseas because that market has disappeared. They are permitted to operate, but they do not have any customers, and they are struggling to get the support that they need. The on-going business support needs to be there to ensure that those businesses are maintained. We also need to make sure that not just businesses but workers are supported, too, because people who have lost jobs or seen their hours reduced will need on-going support until their work picks up. There is a specific issue in the private rented sector. A tenants hardship fund was established, which was welcomed. However, according to figures from the Scottish Government, that is undersubscribed. I have already had tenants say that it has been undersubscribed because the criteria are too strictly drawn. They have applied to get money from the hardship fund, but because their credit scoring is low, they are not eligible to get the support. Their credit scoring is low because they have lost jobs or lost hours because of Covid. That is something that the Government should look at. I want to say a little bit about the longer-term challenges, Presiding Officer, because there was quite a degree of consensus about what needs to be done to ensure that we have sustainable, secure and well-paid jobs in the future. Work patterns are going to change. More people are going to work from home. That will mean good news for climate change, fewer emissions as people travel, but we need to have good quality broadband. We are going to have to have changes in the way town centres operate, as Colin Smyth said. That means that some people who work in retail are not going to have jobs in retail. At the same time, hospitality is struggling to recruit people to work, for example, in the catering and chef sector. Work force retraining is going to be essential. That is why we put forward the idea of the retrain to rebuild accounts. Perhaps the biggest point of disagreement—and probably the only serious point of disagreement in the debate—was around the oil and gas sector. Liam Kerr, Douglas Lumden and Tess White reminded us of the importance of the sector, particularly to the north-east of Scotland's worth, over £11 billion to the economy and supporting more than 100,000 jobs. Everybody accepts that there has to be a transition away from oil and gas. The key question is whether that transition is, as Tess White said, a safe and sensible transition, or whether it is the guillotine that the Green Party seems to want within the next two to five years? That is the key choice for the Government. Does the Government support our amendment supporting that safe and sensible transition, or does it support the Greens who seem to want to cut those jobs off at very short notice? Yes, there will be jobs in renewables, but, as Douglas Lumden fairly said, promises that we made in the past about the number of jobs from renewables simply have not materialised. 28,000 jobs promised, just 1,400 delivered. That is an area where the Scottish Government needs to do much more to ensure that there is a future for those currently working in that sector. If I have time, I will give way. Just talking about another sector that we need a future for in the rural economy is agriculture. I have just seen a quote from farmers who remain very fearful that they are about to be chucked under the bus as a result of the Australian trade deal. What would the member's response be to them in light of his interest in long-term sustainable rural economies? Of course, we need to have trade deals that look after our domestic interests. Most have to make sure that we do not have local authorities in Scotland, such as the SNP-run Fife Council or SNP-run South Ayrshire Council, pressing for a 75 per cent reduction in the consumption of meat products. That is going to hit Scottish farmers, and that is something that the SNP Government needs to pay attention to, because farmers will be damaged if their councils here are cutting for reduction in meat consumption. Just to draw my remarks to a close, there is much more that needs to be done to support business in the short term. There needs to be a consensus about the way forward in the longer term. The energy sector is an important part of that. The energy sector is in a transition with jobs supported and not jobs axed. That is the point that Liz Smith has made in our amendment today, and I commend it to the chamber. Thank you. I now call on Ivan McKee to wind up the debate. Minister, you have 10 minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I welcome you to your post. I am delighted to stand here with my expanded portfolio and, as a business minister, to respond to the Government in this debate. At the outset, I would like to take the opportunity to thank Fergus Ewing and Fiona Hyslop, as many have done, but they have been a great support to me over the past years, as I found my feet as a minister. It is great to have worked with them over the past years, and, like Murdo Fraser, I look forward to their speeches from the back benches now that are unshackled from the responsibilities of Government. I would like to thank those who have made their first speeches today. We have heard from Tess White, Douglas Lumsden and Jenny Minto, who gave us a guided tour of Mike Russell's footwear. I am not sure that part was so welcome, but it urged us to be bold and made some very welcome literary references and a tour of her beautiful Argyll constituency. From Paul Sweeney, I am a fellow representative of Glasgow, and it is a very passionate speech. It is always great to welcome members to the Parliament who have an industrial experience in their background, and Paul brings that to the Parliament. He is clearly as passionate as I am about reindustrialisation and the great city of Glasgow. I am sure that, as the cabinet secretary has already said, we are embarked on a national endeavour here. I do not invite for members to take part in that conversation and bring forward their ideas, and I am sure that Paul will have a lot to contribute on that. Fergus Ewing made his speech from the back benches. He is very passionate about connectivity in the Highlands and Islands, and he has a point about the dualling of transport links here. I will ensure that my colleague, the minister responsible for transport, will take those on board. I am sure that he is watching and I have no doubt that he will be along in due course to the chamber to comment on those aspects. Jamie Halcro Johnston accepted the damage done by Brexit, which was very nice of him, but clearly not very nice for the businesses that have been damaged that way. It is a real indictment on the Government, the party that he is part of that brought such damage to Scottish businesses and Scottish economy. Paul MacLennan is advocating for East Lothian in talking about the importance of tourism, which is something that I do not have responsibility for too. I want to say a wee bit more about it in my remarks as I go forward and also the importance of the skills agenda. Pauli McNeill, another Glaswegian member, is talking with great force about the importance of the city that we represent to the recovery as we move forward. I have no doubt that I engage regularly with the Government and with Mr Patrick and the Chamber of Commerce and other businesses across the city. We are watching the impact of furlough unwinding very closely with a real understanding of the damage that could be inflicted upon the economy in Glasgow. What we need to do is part of our recovery plans to deal with that. Michelle Thomson is talking about two issues. First of all, about innovation funding, which is something that is set on our radar. We are working through the best approach, given that much of what comes from the UK Government and the importance of engaging with sectoral groups. Rest assured, much of that already happens through our very strong network of industrial leadership groups, two of which I am closely involved in perhaps more now. That vehicle is there because the Government recognises, as the cabinet secretary said, the huge importance of engaging with businesses, business people, entrepreneurs and representatives of sectors, and with the academics that are involved in those sectors to ensure that we work together in building that recovery that we all want to see. Daniel Johnson I am very grateful to the minister for giving way. He has named checked a lot of the sectors that were mentioned by members, but I was wondering whether he could deal with the substantive point. For as long as we have restrictions and for as long as we have no long-term clarity about what they will be and whether they will remain, it is very difficult for many businesses to operate. What many businesses in tourism and retail need is that long-term uncertainty. Can he explain how the Government plans to put that in place for those businesses as they try to get back on their feet? To be honest, Daniel Johnson's point, at the same point that was made by Murdo Fraser, I suppose that it is a luxury of opposition. It displays a naivety about the situation that we are in, because the reality is as unpredictable as the virus. Of course, the situation that businesses are in depends on what the situation with the virus is. Of course it does. Murdo knows that. The rest of the chamber understands that. We work very hard to make sure that we can communicate as much information as accurately and as close as we can to the situation. However, the reality is that, when the virus takes a turn for the worst—an answer that I was talking about—he knows very well that the virus taking a turn for the worst in our city of Glasgow is something that had to be addressed. It is very important that that is part of the way that we are doing it. I want to make some progress. It is very important that that is addressed as part of the four harms agenda. That is what we need to do. Of course, we support business as best we can. Of course, we give as much information as we can, but of course we also need to take it. As everybody will agree, we need to take recognisance of the direction that the virus takes. When it takes a turn for the worst, we need to react accordingly. Nobody, I believe, would suggest otherwise. I want to make some progress and I will come back to that. We heard from Maggie Chapman talking about the just transition something that the Government of course is hugely focused on and is looking to work together with all around the chamber in terms of taking that forward. That is a point that Murdo Fraser raised as well. I want to talk about that because I engage, as the Government does, with businesses in the oil and gas sector and the supply chain. It is very clear that, right across that sector, there is an absolute focus and a deep understanding of the need for that transition and for that to be a just transition. I have had the pleasure of working with oil and gas businesses on international trade missions but they have been there to move over to building products that they can supply into international markets in the renewable energy sector. That is hugely important and this Government is committed to working with that just transition and working with the sector to make sure that we transition over. Addressing the climate change issues, but also predicting and increasing, as the cabinet secretary said, the number of jobs in the energy sector in Scotland. Colin Smyth makes a very important point about the... I want to make some progress if that is okay. Colin Smyth makes a very important point about the rural aspects and why our recovery has to be addressing all parts of Scotland. That is, again, something that is central to the work that we have done in the investment strategy so far and will be central to the work of our economic transformation strategy as we take that forward. I want to talk a wee bit about Liz Smyth's intervention, because I think that there was a few points there. First of all, she is trying very hard, like an old Tory, to be the voice of business, but she is working in an environment where the Tory party has trashed the relationship with business and Boris Johnson, her Tory prime minister, told business to go forth and multiply extremely unhelpful for the approach that she is trying to take. She talks about us working closely with the UK Government and already addressed that point. In item after item after item, policy area after policy area, be it ship prosperity fund, be it level and up fund, be it substance control regime, be it trade deals or be it in green ports, the UK Government is refusing to engage with us constructively. Maybe Liz Smyth, when she gets up, she will give an undertaking to go and talk to Steve Bartlett and ask him why he has refused time after time to respond to my letters to have a conversation about where we are going with green ports and why the UK Government is preventing her roll-out in Scotland. I am grateful to the minister for taking an intervention. He said several times in his speech that the SNP Government is listening to what businesses are saying. One key issue that they are saying is that they do not have the certainty or the stability that they are looking for. Does he agree that that is a serious problem as far as the business community is concerned? I have already made the point very clearly. We give business community as much certainty and stability as we possibly can, but, of course, when the virus takes a turn for the worse, we have to respond to that. I think that anybody who is looking at this constructively would agree with that. Liz Smyth raises the constitution. We believe that Scotland should be independent. We believe that the future of Scotland is a normal independent country. We believe that that is the best route to generate the investment, the opportunities and the jobs that Scotland needs to make progress in the world. We believe that the gap between the other countries in the world of Scotland's size is much more successful and wealthier than us, with far less natural human resources that are necessary because they are not independent. I thank Liz Smyth for raising it and talking about its substantive issues, because it is a recognition on her part around the Tory Government's part that the time is coming when we will have that debate for real when we have the next independence referendum, despite what her and her Prime Minister say. Tourism has also felt the impact of the pandemic, but we are working very closely with the sector. I have had several meetings with the sector over the past two weeks to take forward a list of priority actions that will boost recovery as we go forward, including the £25 million that we are spending across a whole range of actions to support the recovery plan as agreed with the sector. As I am concluding, Presiding Officer, as the Cabinet Secretary has outlined, we are standing at a junction where we are identifying as a national endeavour. We are calling for those to come forward who want to contribute ideas, energy and enthusiasm to take this forward. As we pull together the council for economic transformation, as we build and write our strategy over the coming weeks for our 10-year plan for economic transformation of Scotland's economy, building on the great sectors that we have, building on Scotland's wealth, rich in resources, rich in skills and natural assets, many, many world-leading sectors, and building on those opportunities to translate that into a fairer wealth. We are well-being economy men in Scotland with fair work in net zero at its heart. I invite, as the cabinet secretary, those who want to be part of that to come and join us in those conversations. I look forward to coming back to the chamber to talk in more detail about that at a future date. That concludes the debate on economic recovery. It is now time to move on to the next item of business, which is consideration of business motion 199 in the name of George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau setting out a business programme. I call on George Adam to move the motion. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Moved. Thank you. No member has asked to speak on the motion and the question is that motion 199 be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is consideration of motions 208, 209 and 207 on approval of SSIs. I ask George Adam on behalf of the Scottish Government to speak to and move those motions. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. The health protection coronavirus international travel Scotland amendment regulation 2021. Those regulations make further amendments to the health protection coronavirus international travel Scotland regulations 2020 and are amended so that a person who tests positive for coronavirus earlier than the day on which they take a day 2 or day 8 test under the regulations must only continue to isolate until the end of the 10th day following the day in which the earlier test was taken. To exempt aviation maritime crew from the requirement to stay and manage accommodation if they have travelled in an acute risk country or territory in the course of their work. To add a category of specific specified competitions to schedule 3A in which the participating persons are exempted from the requirement to stay and manage accommodation where they travel to, through or from acute risk countries or territories to take part in that competition. To add Ethiopia, Oman, Qatar and Somalia to the acute risk countries and territories in schedule A2 and RU removes Mauritius and Portugal from that list. In addition, those regulations amend the expiry provisions of principle regulations, the health protection coronavirus public health information for passengers travelling to Scotland regulations 2020 and part 2 of the health protection coronavirus pre-departure testing and operating liability Scotland regulations 2021. They expire on 20 September 2021. The regulations came into force on 20 March 2020. If I can go on to the other points as well, the health and protection coronavirus restrictions and requirements local levels Scotland amendment number 18, regulations 2021. Those regulations amend the health protection coronavirus restrictions and requirements local levels Scotland regulations 2020. To allow places of worship to reopen in level 4 as a result of that change, the restrictions on leaving your home in level 4 and entering and leaving a level 4 area are adjusted to ensure that it is possible to leave your home and travel to your usual place of worship. Those regulations also make clear that it is possible to leave your home in level 4, travel into and out of level 3 and 4 areas, gather for the purpose of picketing. The regulations set out changes to the level that applies to Nan Ilan Siar, moving from level 4 to level 3 and all other areas remain in the same level. Finally, those regulations make a minor adjustment to correct some inaccurate cross-references, including the most recent amended instrument. Those regulations came into force on 24 March 2021. The final one is the health protection coronavirus restrictions and requirements local levels Scotland amendment number 18, regulations 2021. Those regulations amend the health protection coronavirus regulations, requirements local levels Scotland amendment number 19, regulations 2021, to bring forward the coming and forth state of the relevant provisions that allow places of worship to reopen level 4. Those regulations came into force on 25 March 2021. That is me, Presiding Officer. Thank you minister. The question on those motions will be put at decision time. There are seven questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first question is the amendment 165.4 in the name of Liz Smith, which seeks to amend motion 165 in the name of Kate Forbes on economic recovery be agreed. Are we all agreed? The Parliament is not agreed, therefore we will move to a vote and there shall be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.