 Yr angen o'r cyhoeddfawr i fynd i fyfydd yw Myth yn bwysig, ond myfydd yrai debyg sydd yn ddebyg i fynd i'r Cymru yw Michelle Thompson o yr oesol Pengrars ac Fyrydd South St welwyr, mae'r myfydd yn bwysig i fy pryd yn y ddiwedd ac yn i'r cyhoeddfawr yw'rmetics sydd i'r teimlo i chi i'r cyhoedd byddai ymddangos i'r bwysig, i fynd i fyddangos i fod yn bwysig sydd yn bwysig ar y cyhoeddfawr, Ms Thompson. I give those opening remarks with some trepidation. As I know, many esteemed academics will be speaking about the tersentenary of Adam Smith through the course of this week. I congratulate the vigour with which Professor Graham Roy and Roger Mullen have pursued celebrations in Glasgow University and in Kirkcaldy respectively. Indeed, the inaugural event by Glasgow University was held in this Scottish Parliament and that is fitting. This place, as Smith expressed in his theory of moral sentiments, should ideally be where to feel much for others and little for ourselves, to restrain our selfishness and exercise our benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of human nature. There are many people in Scotland who recognise the name Adam Smith, yet too few of those and the tourists who walk past his statue on the high street of Edinburgh, pan your house or his grave at the cannon gate know of his lasting impact. Now, whilst we do not know his exact date of birth, we do know that Smith was baptised on 5 June 1723 in Kirkcaldy, Old Kirk. Smith studied logic, metaphysics, maths, Newtonian physics and moral philosophy at Glasgow University. After a short spell at Oxford University, he returned to Glasgow University becoming a lecturer and then a rector. He then moved to pan your house in Edinburgh, where he died in 1790. He was a leading figure in the Scottish Enlightenment that produced a quite remarkable outpouring of ideas, spanning a wide range of areas, including engineering, chemistry, political economy, philosophy, literature, medicine and many other areas of intellectual life. The Scottish universities, not least Glasgow University, were central to this in providing a home for the exchange of ideas across disciplines. Influenced greatly by Francis Hutchison, the Glasgow University professor and philosopher and alongside his friends David Hume, Joseph Black, James Hutton, Dougal Stewart and Robert Burns, they took Scotland to the world. It is no coincidence that, in the 1760s, Voltaire, whom Smith visited many times in France, noted, we looked to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation. The Scottish Enlightenment asserted the importance of human reason, expresses ideas and a rejection of any stance that could not be justified by reason. Arguably, our current political world has much still to learn. Of course, he is best known as one of the founding fathers of economics, with his ideas permitting economic theories today. Some would say that, to understand his political economy, he must first have read and understood his theory of moral sentiments. That articulates that we are, above all else, social beings and that our morality or, in today's language, our empathy is guided by that fact. Where reason is important, it is trumped by the themes set out in this book, namely prudence, justice, beneficence and self-command, all of which are underpinned and developed by conscience or morality. Again, there is much in this book to guide us in this Parliament. I quote again, we are but one of the multitude in no respect better than any other in it, or perhaps more colloquially put by Robert Burns were all Jack Tamsons' bears. Smith goes on, the prudent man is always sincere and feels horror at the very thought of exposing himself to the disgrace which attends upon the detection of falsehood. His three natural laws of economics, the law of self-interest, the law of competition and the law of supply and demand were laid out in his lectures in Glasgow University. Many of those concepts are fundamentally misunderstood and have been misappropriated, not least of all by the Adam Smith Institute in London. By the time he wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776, Smith had seen corruption and unfettered imperialism mixed with power held in the hands of just a few. The requirement for balance between competition, capitalism and a free market, known as the invisible hand, points to what we would now regard as an acute need for sustainability in economic growth. He, too, had commentary to make about sensible trade, citing an example of winemaking in Scotland. Just because we could doesn't mean to say we should if the bottom line costs of said trade is not commercially viable. He was clear about the damage caused by tariffs. I suggest that some Brexit-supporting Conservatives are going to have to reread this particular section in The Wealth of Nations. Perhaps in my closing remarks, I can return to Professor Graham Roy and draw from an article that he wrote in December 2022. Crucially, Smith is a political economist and not just interested in understanding economic trends. He seeks to make the case for the institutions and structures in our society, such as the shape of markets, to be cohesive, fair and resilient. As we face complex intergenerational and global challenges, be it the climate emergency, rising inequality or the cost of living crisis, there is much that we can apply from Smith's writings to today. Roy finishes with, in today's often toxic political culture and binary policy debates, a recognition that the big global policy challenges that we face require careful thought and, above all, respectful discourse between different sides of an argument—the use of reason, you could argue, and it is perhaps the greatest lesson that we can learn from one of Scotland's most famous sons. I look forward to the next 300 years of global influence. Thank you very much. Ms Thompson, we now move to the open debate. I call first Liz Smith to be followed by Ivan McKee around four minutes, Ms Smith. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I very much welcome this motion put forward by Michelle Thomson, celebrating the tersentenary of the birth of Adam Smith, a man who was such a profound influence on the Scottish Enlightenment and, of course, on political economy across the world, points I highlighted in my own parliamentary motion. I entirely associate myself with the remarks that Michelle Thompson has stated, particularly her last point about the discourse in respectful terms. I think that that is a very important lesson. I vividly recall when I was taking up my first teaching post in economics, I was handed a copy of the wealth of nations and told to inspire my young charges, who at that age were just 14 and 15, or that is actually the age that Smith started university. I was told that if they did not immediately come to terms with the principles of taxation, I should tell them about Smith's subduction by travellers aged four, or that an asteroid is named after him, or about the making of a pin. That, I was told, would capture their imagination. Advice to ponder perhaps as you embark on a teaching career that is inevitably involved in inspiring young minds to recognise one of the true greats in Scottish history, who had written an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations and the theory of moral sentiments. Probably not bedside reading for most 14-15-year-olds, but that was precisely the challenge that made economics come alive for me. Instant Churchill famously said, of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks can surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind. Considering the immense wealth of talent and innovation generated by this nation over the past few centuries, it would certainly be difficult to pinpoint a single person to top the list. However, I think that there is a robust and valid case to argue that that individual is Adam Smith. His influence really is profound, felt across so many aspects of life in economics, in politics, in philosophy, in education and the list could go on. I am sure that other members will refer to some of the details. Of course. Fiona Hyslop. As a graduate of Glasgow University, having studied economic history in the Adam Smith building, I was very struck that it was a political economy as set out by Michelle Thomson, rather than what might be seen as modern economics than his strength was in, and reference to the political side of that political economy is really important. I entirely agree with that, Fiona Hyslop. That is exactly my own background in my university degree as well. It is the political economy that I think is so important. He was very far ahead of his time when he wrote about political economy, so yes, he is quite right regarding that. One of the reasons why he was a pioneer of the Scottish Enlightenment was because he transformed intellectual and scientific thinking as well. He is widely cited as the father of modern economics, but I think that there is far more to what Adam Smith was writing about than just that. He has always been a very relevant scholar in my own life. His writings were frequently referenced in my economics degree, my teaching career and, as an MSP, I find some of his thoughts particularly important in the responsibility for the finance and economy brief. Not only am I his namesake, but he also came from Cacodi, where my family originated. Who knows, perhaps I should do a bit more digging on the family tree. The economic argument made by Smith that the tax system should be based on equity, certainty, fairness and efficiency are still the central debating points around taxation in the modern day. He argued for free market intervention with low government intervention. He was a champion of the principles of economic growth and wealth creation, an advocate for the division of labour and the concept of the invisible hand, which he took from Shakespeare, which determines that an economic system that encourages individualism, enterprise and freedom of production and consumption are to the benefit of all citizens in society now. I suspect that the chamber might argue about some of that these days, but in light of what the Scottish Fiscal Commission is telling us, certainly at the finance committee just now, some of the comments about the taxation agenda we should be listening very carefully to what Adam Smith has said. I very much welcome the debate from Michelle Thomson. Smith is a colossus of our political economy and thinking, and I very much support the motion in her name. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I would like to begin by paying tribute to Michelle Thomson for bringing this debate to the Parliament today on the tersentenary of Adam Smith. I also thank the University of Glasgow and others who have organised events to mark this tersentenary over this time. I spent a couple of minutes this morning on the wonderful Scottish People website, and it took me no time at all to dig up Adam Smith's what they call on the website. He is both certificate, but I think that there is some debate about whether that was his birth or his baptism. Certificate, and the name of his parents, of course, is Margaret Douglas and Adam Smith Sr in Cercodi on 5 June 1723. The reason I mention that is not just to promote the Scotland's ancestry as an opportunity to generate more tourism revenue, but also to demonstrate how easy it is to reach back and touch those events of that time, which are still documented in that way. I think that that speaks to the enduring importance of Adam Smith to this very day. As has been mentioned, his primary recognition for many is his generation of economic theory and position in economics, probably for the first time, as an academic discipline in Little Smith has rhymed off many of the theories for which he was responsible, which underpinned so much of economic thinking to this day. The wealth of nations articulated the theory of absolute advantage later developed into the theory of comparative advantage by Ricardo and others, which challenged the mercantilism of the day and opened up free trade. The benefits of that trade continue to benefit Scottish exports to this day. Frankly, they are very much in line with the work that we took forward as Scottish Government and our export growth plan, a trading nation. Of course, Smith was also a very significant philosopher in part of the Scottish Enlightenment working with Hume and others. It is the theory of moral sentiments, which is critical. Of course, that was his first work and underpins his later economic theories, particularly the theory of sympathy, which seeks to explain the source of mankind's ability to form moral judgments, no big ask. Conscience arises from, as he stated, dynamic and interactive social relationships through which people seek mutual sympathy of sentiments. Putting that theoretical basis to understand why people behave as they do, not just in the economic sphere but in their wider interactions with their fellow citizens. It is that combination of understanding of market drivers and recognising the importance of trading that is theoretical underpinning of trade as a good thing, for the most part. There are wider considerations of the impact of individuals' actions on others and the importance of their recognition of that. The point to the work of Smith has been, frankly, the forerunner of the conversations that we have today about the concept of the well-being economy, reaching out, as it does, to encompass sustainability, the fair work agenda and much else, recognising that economics and well-creation are much wider than just economic theory. I hope that the series of events that have happened over these days have given opportunity for many people, including myself, frankly, to learn more about Smith's work and that that debate continues, not just for its own sake but to raise the profile of Smith internationally. He has a true international figure, widely recognised and revered right across the world. That not only serves to further Smith's memory but also raises Scotland's profile and increases prospects for Scottish trade and exports as a consequence. I think that that is something that Smith himself would approve of. I thank Michelle Thomson for bringing the debate to the chamber. Her speech expertly highlighted the breadth of Adam Smith's work and the significant impact that it has had in Scotland and around the globe when that continues to this present day. The project at the University of Glasgow, to commemorate the tersentenary of his birth, aims not just to celebrate the work of Adam Smith and its enduring legacy but to support a better understanding of the breadth and plurality of his work and how the interlocking questions of economics and morality still apply hundreds of years on. Adam Smith is recognised globally as a pioneer in exploring the relationship between politics, economics and social responsibility. His legacy can be found in almost every economic work. While we recognise the influence of his time at Glasgow University, his roots are in fife and, particularly, Cercode. He was baptised in Cercode 300 years ago this week, and yesterday a batismal celebration was held at the Old Kirk. His education began at home, and it was to Cercode that he returned to spend a lot of time after Glasgow University and his time touring Europe as a tutor to the Third Duke of Buclw. Later in his life, his post as commissioner of customs in Scotland saw him move to Edinburgh. He had his residence at Panmure House, which is not far from Parliament, but for many years Cercode was Adam Smith's home, and many of his ideas developed from his formative experience there. Cercode was a booming economic centre, and trade and commerce was evident everywhere. From the Old Kirk to the newly refurbished Adam Smith theatre, his legacy is stamped on the town, and through the Adam Smith heritage trail visitors are encouraged to follow in his footsteps and explore Cercode as well as the history of Adam Smith himself, from taking in the heritage centre and Adam Smith close to viewing the first edition of the wealth of nations on display at Cercode galleries. The heritage centre and the close switch that opened in 2016 has been important in raising the profile of Adam Smith within Cercode itself. Although many people were familiar with the name, his beyond academia perhaps not so many were aware of his huge global significance or the part that Cercode has played in his work. Alongside the Glasgow University events and others around the world, a number of events are taking place in Cercode to celebrate the Tercentenary. The annual Adam Smith Festival of Idears is bigger than ever this year, including an academic programme, a birthday party, which is going to be in the townhouse square, and the established food festival, which is on this weekend. There's a series of lectures. The first of these was delivered by Sir Michael Marmot, with subsequent speakers including Larry Summars and Robert Pestin, who is delivering the annual Adam Smith lecture on Friday. It is not all politics, though. Adam McCall Smith is in conversation tomorrow night, and Arabella Weir, along with Helene C Smith, will be presenting two doors down. The Adam Smith Global Foundation is also delivering the academic programme on Thursday and Friday, with lectures across themes such as culture, philosophy, education and economics. I cannot talk about the legacy of Adam Smith without reference to Cercode's other great son when it comes to politics and economics. Gordon Brown has done so much to promote the continuing relevance of Adam Smith to Langton. The impressive list of—if you let me—Gordon has really been a driver behind the recognition of Cercode of Adam Smith, and I'll explain how he has done so much to promote the continuing relevance of Adam Smith. The impressive list of speakers who have delivered the Adam Smith lecture in Cercode is worth highlighting. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who is the internet founder, Sandy Tolfik, Professor Adam Sandel, UNICEF's executive director Henry Atherford and Kofi Anan, to name a few. That was quite a coup for Cercode to have Kofi Anan visit the town. The Adam Smith Global Foundation has built its reputation and status of its lectures, but it cannot be denied that Gordon Brown's commitment to the legacy for Adam Smith and its relevance to Cercode has made a huge contribution to the success of the event. I also recognise the act of support of the Fife free press and supporting and promoting the many events over the years, and particularly in this significant year, as there is much to enjoy and there will be something for everyone this week. I now call David Torrance to be followed by Donald Cameron around four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As a Langtonian, it is an absolute pleasure to be speaking in today's debate to celebrate the tertiary anniversary of Adam Smith's birth, and I long to give my sincere gratitude to Michelle Thomson for securing this important debate. Today, we acknowledge the lasting words of Adam Smith and his on-going relevance in the modern world. His legacy serves as a beacon, reminding us Scotland's historic contributions to global thought and the importance of continuing to celebrate influential Scottish figures. Adam Smith was a multifaceted figure of an intellect that flourished in the fields of engineering, economics, chemistry, political economy, philosophy, literature and medicine. His ideas not only held global importance during this time, but they continue to rever me through centuries of influential society today. I would like to take a moment to pay tribute to Adam Smith's deep connection to Cercode. Like me, Adam Smith was born and raised in the Langton. In fact, my constituency office, just off the high street in Cercode, overlooks Cercode's old court where Adam Smith was baptized 300 years ago. He is a constant reminder of the legacy of the son of Cercode and indeed of Scotland, whose life and works have profoundly shaped a worldly living. Adam Smith lived in Cercode for a great proportion of his life, and his legacy has felt throughout the area and beyond. His legacy was brought enrichment to both locals and tourists of Cercode and Fife alike. The Langton is full of historic moments involving Smith's life, including the old court, Adam Smith Close and the Adam Smith Heritage Centre, which is a rare example of one's common rigged buildings in Cercode on Espinade, which was said to have fostered inspiration for Smith's work, The Wealth of Nations, and most recently, the Adam Smith Theatre, which is set to reopen. This year, to celebrate his 300th anniversary, Cercode will be putting Adam Smith firmly in the spotlight and honouring his legacy at various events across the town. I am so pleased that the organised events have attracted so many from across the country to experience Adam Smith's hometown and the contributions that he has made to it. The Fife College scholarship programme also launched the new Adam Smith 300 Enterprise scholarship on the day of Adam Smith's 300th anniversary. It aimed at supporting students taking steps into setting up their own business. It will include financial support, as well as mentoring support and guidance from Business Gateway 5. That is great news for students in a fantastic way to celebrate his milestone. It is impressive to recognise the pivotal role that Scottish universities have played in fostering Scottish figures, including spreading Adam Smith's transformative ideas. It was at our Scottish universities where Adam Smith's spiritual of curiosity for middle-intellect were cultivated. Along with several other Scottish economists and philosophers, our world-leading Scottish universities have provided space for ideas to flourish ideas that would forever change the course of Scottish and global human society. As we commemorate his mentor's occasion, let us remember that it is crucial to continue to celebrate the life and works of influential Scottish figures, but legacy serves as a reminder of invaluable contributions that Scotland has made to the world. Adam Smith, an intellectual giant, a man of unconscionable curiosity, a product of the Scottish Enlightenment, is a shining testament to this. Adam Smith was leading light in the Scottish Enlightenment, an extraordinary intelligence thinking of the 18th century, which forever altered our understanding of the world. The Scottish Enlightenment, with Adam Smith and his Vanguard, was an outpouring of intellectual and scientific creativity by Scottish theorists. That work gained global recognition for its assertion of the importance of human reasoning and the use of empirical methods of inquiry. That was a seismic shift away from the dogma and authority to a world where application of reason, observation and experiment became our guiding principles. The great thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment, including Adam Smith, have influenced the culture of Scotland in several areas, including architecture, art, music and philosophy. The influence of its movement spread from beyond Scotland, moving ideas and dissemination of ideas. Of course, Scotland has changed in a way since Adam Smith's death. Although his ideas continue to be a global significance for 300 years after his birth, countries all over the world have faced unprecedented economic challenges that, time and time again, have tested the relevance of modern economic policy. However, despite the changes and challenges that we have faced, Adam Smith's light continues to shine brilliantly and disciplines as diverse as engineering, economics, chemistry, political, economy, philosophy, literature and medicine. We must continue to celebrate his inquisitive nature, his anarchological mind and his inclination to question the world. It is crucial to champion these values as policy makers and decision makers as we strive to build a society that is not only economically prosperous but also socially equitable and just. In conclusion, let us, in the spirit of Smith, continue to pursue knowledge and understanding to question, analyse and innovate. For, as Adam Smith himself says, science is a great antidote to a poison of enthusiasm and superstition. I thank Michelle Thompson for bringing this debate about Adam Smith into the chamber, which is very timely for the many reasons that she mentioned. It has been an incredible amount of impressive contributions so far. I feel like I have been back to school already in the last set of half an hour. I have many things that have been said are what I am going to say, so I will try and be brief. The year 1776 is one of those years in human history that can quite properly be described as remarkable. The reason for that is that three seminal texts in the English language were published. The first of these was the Declaration of Independence in America. The second was the renowned historical work by Edward Gibbon, the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The third was the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, the first work of political economy, as we know it now, the wealth of nations by Adam Smith. It is rightly known throughout the world as a seminal work, establishing as it did a doctrine of free trade and the concepts of modern liberal economics that we have, that we have practised today and that we have heard about already. I have also got my own personal connection to that text, because in Book 3, Chapter 4, an ancestor of mine gets a mention. Adam Smith is speaking here of the heritable jurisdictions that exist across the world, and he says this. It is not 30 years ago since Mr Cameron of Lockheill, a gentleman of Lochaber in Scotland, without any legal warrant or whatever, not being what was then called a Lord of Regality, nor even a tenant-in-chief, but a vassal of the Duke of Argyll without being so much as a justice of the peace, used notwithstanding to exercise the highest criminal jurisdiction over his own people. He is said to have done so with great equity, though without any of the formalities of justice, but it is not improbable that the state of that part of the country at that time made it necessary for him to assume his authority in order to maintain the public peace. That is a very direct and personal connection for me, but in this short speech it is not the world of nations that is my focus, because I would like to constrain—yes, of course. Ivan McKee. I cannot resist this, but the member mentioned three seminal texts of 1776, including the Declaration of Independence. I would like to invite the member to say some more about the positive benefits of independence. Donald Cameron. I am very tempted by that red rag to a bull, but I would instead like to concentrate on the theory of moral sentiments, which Ivan McKee himself mentioned. It was the work that Smith himself considered to be his masterpiece. It was his first major work, and he saw his role as a moral philosopher to be complementary to his views on economics. He wrote about sympathy with the feelings of others that, rather than being simply self-interested, we are in fact deeply concerned with the wellbeing of humankind. As one might expect from an Enlightenment figure, Smith was a humanist. He believed in the dignity of the human being. He believed in government intervention to help those in need. The theory of moral sentiments is the counterweight to the individualism of the proto-capitalist framework that was to come in the wealth of nations. As Vernon L. Smith famously said in a lecture about the theory of moral sentiments in the wealth of nations, he together explained why human nature appears to be simultaneously self-regarding and other regardings. I close by thanking again Michelle Thompson for a worthy debate in honour of a worthy, indeed, titanic figure in Scotland. I look forward to hearing more contributions from across the chamber. I'm afraid I don't have the connection that Mr Cameron has just outlined to Adam Smith. The fact that I stand here as the granddaughter of a steelworker in the same Parliament as Mr Cameron would be something that Hulme, Hurton and Burns and Adam Smith would possibly welcome. I recently attended for the first time an event in Panmure House, invited by the Chancellor of Herriot-Walt University to a reception to welcome Zambia's distinguished representative, President Haqqandi Heclema, to Scotland. The speeches there emphasise the connections of our countries, the political and global challenges of climate change, of equalities, of feminist equality, climate justice and economic challenges of the global south. It is very poignant to hear that in the Salon of Adam Smith, whose portrait adorned the walls, albeit painted many years after his death. We have to use our imagination to determine how accurate that portrait is. However, to be there in that Salon, you cannot help but pause, imagine the many discussions, argument and resolutions of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment. Indeed, it seems that the wisdom, intellect and the vision have seeped into the very walls where Adam lived from 1778 until his death in 1790. It has been argued already in the chamber that the inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, his opus, is as relevant today as it was in first publication. Like Michelle Thomson, I was also delighted to attend the event of this Parliament to hear about University of Glasgow's business schools' plan to commemorate the tri-centenary of one of Scotland's leading thinkers, economist and perhaps the key figure of the Enlightenment. By enabling us all to engage more closely with Smith's work and explore his writing, not as an historical artifact, but as ideas that speak to us still today. Although there will hardly be an economic student in the last 300 years who will not have heard of, or indeed in most cases read at least parts of the wealth of nations, myself included, in today's heralds Dr Craig Smith, Adam Smith's senior lecturer in the Scottish Enlightenment at the University of Glasgow, reminds us that of the other great philosophical writing, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which has recently been reexamined by scholars having gone out of fashion. Dr Smith says that it is a book that is, in many respects, as accurate today as it was in the telling and telling us how we feel when we see somebody being injured, how we feel when we see someone stealing from someone else. So there's a focus and emotion on the psychology of sympathy and empathy and impartiality and, as Michelle Townsend says, not putting yourself in favour above anybody else. All these things are still part of how we think and feel about morality today. It should certainly inform the members of this chamber, as we pass law, impacting on people's lives, and as we seek to live up to the standards expected in public life. I congratulate Michelle Thomson on securing the debate, but I also congratulate the University of Glasgow's Adam Smith Business School on embracing the opportunity that the Tri-Centenary presents to celebrate and discuss Adam Smith's legacy through the Smith Around the World lecture series. That spans Sydney, Beijing, Tokyo, the West Indies, Barcelona, Canberra, Mexico City, Toulouse, Hong Kong, Oxford, Nairobi and London. The fact that the walls of Panmure-Salivand have extended so far apos the goal is the most fitting tribute to this luminary of the Enlightenment. Before I call the next speaker, due to the number of speakers who still want to participate in the debate, I am minded to move a motion without notice under rule 8.14.3 to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes, and I would invite Michelle Thomson to move such a motion. The question is that the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes, are we all agreed? That is agreed. Thank you very much indeed, and I now call Pam Gosall, who will be followed by Ash Reagan around four minutes. I am extremely honoured to be contributing to today's debate, celebrating 300 years since the birth of the father of economics, University of Glasgow alumni and Professor Adam Smith. I thank the member Michelle Thomson for bringing forward this motion today. I will try and contribute a little bit different to Adam Smith, however I do not have no direct connection as my colleague Donald Cameron has, but I do have a connection of citing his work in my studies. The Scottish Enlightenment was a period of incredible intellectual and cultural growth in Scotland. It was the catalyst for establishing the importance of reason, scientific inquiry and individual rights. It laid the groundwork for the industrial revolution and the rise of modern capitalism, and it was then that Scotland became a centre of intellectual and cultural excellence, having a lasting impact on Scotland's identity and reputation. Much of Adam Smith's work, particularly the wealth of nations that has been mentioned many times today, is widely regarded as one of the most important works in the history of economics and helped to underpin modern capitalism. We often forget how much of our thinking as politicians is inspired by the ideas and the workings of Adam Smith. For me personally, I understand his work to have emphasised the benefits of the free market and of the limited government interventions. Here and around the world, I and many other students and researchers past and present cite his work. In my PhD, I have focused on his work around human capital. However, I respect the fact that we may all interpret his work differently, as has always been the case. Back then, debate and discussion were central to Scottish Enlightenment. As some of you may be aware, the Scottish Enlightenment was a movement that was centred around ideas and the debate of those ideas. I believe that it was my colleague Murdo Fraser, who highlighted, in the birthplace of the Enlightenment, that protesters were able to cancel the screening of adult human female for the second time. That has sparked discussions about whether censorship has captured Scotland's world-class institutions, which were once bastions of free speech. The United Kingdom Government clearly has similar concerns about universities in England, and has since introduced the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act. That will extend legal responsibilities to universities and student unions to secure freedom of speech and academic freedom, while promoting those important values. As the Prime Minister has rightly stressed, a tolerant society is one that allows us to understand those we disagree with. Nowhere is that more important than within our great universities. From today's discussion about the Scottish Enlightenment and influential figure, such as Adam Smith, it is my hope that we can all reflect on the values at the heart of that time and what they mean for today's Scotland. Today's debate, marking 300 years since the birth of Adam Smith, has provided a unique opportunity to reflect on the values that were the catalysts for modern economics, and indeed the underpinning of modern Scotland's identity and culture. The Scottish Enlightenment was a time characterised by the spirit of open inquiry and the free exchange of ideas, almost contrary to the direction that we seem to be headed as a society now. I hope that debates such as this should act as a turning point for the return to a Scotland that stands for logic, reason and debate. I commend my colleague Michelle Thomson for securing the debate in the chamber and for her excellent remarks commemorating the Tercentenary. Adam Smith's ideas have shaped the world, the world as we know it, and the Scottish Enlightenment that he was a leading part of is characterised by Scottish thinkers and intellectual leadership of Europe. It was a movement of ideas and, importantly, disputation of ideas. Smith is most famous, as we have heard this evening for his book The Wealth of Nations, but I, like Mr Cameron, will focus my remarks on his other book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which was published in 1759. This book very much put Mr Smith on the map. It brought him fame and students from other universities, even in other countries, left their university courses to come and study under him in Scotland. Also, it was considered by Smith himself to be his superior work. I have a passage from the book here, which I will not read out in its entirety because it is quite long. He is talking specifically about systems, about plans for how we govern, and he is using the analogy of chess pieces. I will quote a little bit of it here. He says, In the great chess board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might choose to impress upon it. I will just paraphrase the rest here. We are talking about if the principles coincide, then the game of human society will go easily, and if they do not, then it will go miserably. I think that, in other words, we can understand what he is saying there, that governments are most successful when they work with people rather than against them. I agree with that. I sense that there is a bit of agreement in the chamber for that sentiment too, and I think that it is something important for us all to ponder as we go about the work of this legislature as well. Like Ms Gozel, I understand and have taken on board Smith's belief in free speech and how that relates to modern society at the moment. His idea of free speech was also tempered by respect for others and empathy for others. He might not understand our modern idea of empathy, but it is certainly based on sentiments that he wrote about in the book. I think that Scottish Enlightenment teaches us that we need to be free to think, we need to be free to debate, and we even need to be free to offend. We need to base our thinking, indeed our critical thinking, on facts and also on science, which was a sentiment that he expressed very much. I think that there is immense value in robust debate, that clash of competing opinions, which I think benefits both society and also governments. So, Smith and the Enlightenment, they continue to inspire us. They inspire us to that pursuit of knowledge, and they also inspire us to create an environment that encourages free exchange of ideas, because that is how we progress, Presiding Officer. Thank you very much, Ms Reagan. I call final speaker in open debate, Stephen Kerr, around four minutes, Mr Kerr. It's a pleasure to follow Ash Reagan, who gave an excellent speech. It's impossible to overstate the impact of Adam Smith's thinking on the modern world. He's probably the most influential, universally influential scot of all time. I want to take one aspect of the many strands of his philosophy to focus on in my speech. Smith believed that, with the right measure of regulation, society is empowered. He believed that the market is an engine for prosperity when it is legally framed. That is the definition of a free market that I strongly believe in, because it is a model based on what works best and what works for people. But, truthfully, I don't think that we have many regulators that we could hold up as being all that good at what they do. Most of them are paper tigers—pretty much toothless. We are a regulatory body—Scotland's Parliament—and we can and should draw inspiration from Smith's thinking in this place, especially when it comes to how we as parliamentarians scrutinise the executive and introduce new laws and regulations and amend existing laws and regulations. I don't think that we are even half as effective at this as we could be. Some of that is related to process, but much of it is derived from the culture of this place. Everything feels truncated and lacking in thoroughness. Too often, things are treated to the level of just surface deep. People are rightly critical of the quality of the laws that we pass here, and they are even more critical about the lack of enforcement and accountability. They are concerned that our scrutiny of the executive is not as robust as it ought to be. We do not set the bar high enough in this Parliament on what constitutes good government. It is often said that we have not developed a backbench Holyrood culture, that there are not enough free thinkers in this place, and that is a far cry from the great figures of the Enlightenment. All of that is highly relevant to Adam Smith and his legacy. I do not believe that we spend nearly enough time debating contesting ideas in this chamber. The structure of our debates mitigates against it, and there is seldom enough time to properly engage the more serious and the often complex issues that we face. It was the much-much Miss David McLeachie who said of this Parliament that we appear to have two options, just two options, to ban something or to make it compulsory. We rarely get to the root causes of the issues that we face. We often end up talking to ourselves about symptoms, not root causes. Facing up to our failures as a Parliament or objectively judging the outcomes or effectiveness of the regulations that we put in place is not easy. Of course it is not. It is much easier to stick to self-congratulation or to say safely within the debate brief that we have been handed. However, up pops Adam Smith to bring us back to root causes and unintended outcomes and the whole issue of human nature. Not human nature as we'd like it to be, but human nature as it is. This is Smith in the theory of moral sentiments, talking directly to us in this Parliament. Of course he didn't know he was speaking to us, but he was. He wrote, to judge ourselves as we judge of others is the great exertion of candor and impartiality. In order to do this, we must look at ourselves with the same eyes with which we look at others. We must imagine ourselves not the actors but the spectators of our own character and conduct. We really should let our inner Adam Smith out. We are quick to pass the buck to blame, but do we really imagine ourselves not the actors but the spectators of our own character and conduct? Two years into my service in this Parliament, my answer must be that we can and must do better, but reform of this Parliament is fundamentally essential. Last week, in a member's debate, Michelle Thompson said something about me in a potato, but I'm going to be as generous as I normally am and say that I pay tribute to Michelle Thompson for being in this debate. I understand that artificial intelligence was beyond answering the question. I got that, but I pay tribute to her. I don't often agree with her on substantive issues, or maybe frankly increasingly I do find myself agreeing with her, from her perspective, not from mine, because she's undoubtedly one of the free thinkers of this Parliament. We need more free thinking. Adam Smith speaks to us as clearly today as he did to those of his day. Let us use this anniversary to reflect, to look at ourselves with the same eyes, which we look at others, and be the free thinkers that Scotland needs as never before. I call on the minister to respond to the debate minister for around seven minutes. Let me begin by extending my gratitude to Michelle Thompson, not only for tabling the motion, but for so eloquently setting the scene for the debate, and also to members across the chamber for their considered insights. Colleagues have already highlighted some of the many achievements of Adam Smith, a great moral philosopher and political economist, as we've heard one of the key figures in the Scottish alignment. It has been an informative debate. I personally did not know, for example, that Smith had an asteroid named after him, or that he went to university aged 14 to 15. I certainly didn't know that it was Smith, maybe a descendant. We should be proud of the impact that Smith was having and continues to have on Scotland and indeed the rest of the world. It's entirely appropriate that we take time today to celebrate Adam Smith 300 years after his birth in Kirkcaldy. These celebrations are happening right across the country, not the least of which would be in Glasgow University where he was a student, the recipient of an honorary doctorate, later staff member and eventually director. Speaking of engagement there this morning, I was told also that he wrote his theory of moral sentiments at Glasgow University. However, in doing all this, I also want to celebrate the role of the Scottish universities I've had and to continue to have in the exchange of ideas in driving innovation on a global skill and in contributing to social justice. During the 18th century, the Scottish enlightenment, as we know, put our country at the heart of global intellectual discourse. It's fitting that we're speaking here today in Edinburgh, a city that was at the heart of that revolutionary time, a time when there was a constant exchange of ideas between medics and philosophers, engineers and economists, writers and researchers. This interdisciplinary approach provided a fertile breeding ground for the theories and the discoveries that would shape Scotland and the rest of the world for years to come. Smith, as many contributors have noted, was one of the key figures in the enlightenment. He lived at a time when Scotland was leading the world in thinking, innovation and invention traits, which continued to this day. One of the greatest contributions that he and the Enlightenment made to the world was the new emphasis on bringing together talent from across disciplines and crossing the divide between the theoretical and the practical for the public good. Debates on the influence of Smith's work often point to the many ways in which he's been misunderstood in 2017. The then First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, acknowledged that Smith was one of the most misquoted and misinterpreted economists in human history. He's often held up as a believer in unrestrained free markets, but a detailed examination of his work arguably shows someone in favour of properly functioning markets that enable a just society to flourish. The wealthy nation-smith said that no society can be flourishing and happy of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. As an academic put it to me this morning, Smith was neither right-wing nor left-wing. He was Adam Smith. The idea of social justice is one that we continue to see reflected in Scotland today. What a fine legacy for a colossus to have left behind? Of course, Smith's contributions would not have been possible without the education system and the universities that enabled them to flourish. For centuries, our universities have played leading roles in nurturing the best minds in the country, providing opportunities for discussion, debate and reflection. As we have heard, Adam Smith was educated at the University of Glasgow, an institution whose business school now bears his name. We have our university system to thank for helping to shape him into the father of modern economics, as he has widely recognised. Our universities continue to bring together students and staff with different perspectives and life experience. The policy of free tuition and widening access have made this more open to more of our young people than ever before. In fact, I suspect that Smith would be proud of. Smith was also the time that saw the dawn of what he now recognises, scientific method, the gathering of evidence and the challenging of previously accepted theories, the idea that people should think for themselves rather than believe what they have been told. I am not sure what he would have made of the role of social media and modern society in the context of thinking for yourself, where it extends to espousing well-conspiracy theories as fact. Stephen Catt. I am grateful to the minister for giving way. He heard in passion pleas from Pam Gosel and Ash Ragan about the vital issue of freedom of speech, especially on the campuses of our esteemed universities. Would the minister take this opportunity to give categoric statement, unequivocable statement, in support of the right of freedom of speech on the campuses of Scotland's universities? Minister. Freedom of speech matters, as does respect for others. Very often, the tone in which we conduct debates is just as important as the debates themselves. The attributes that Smith advanced remains those of the Scottish research sector today. Scotland has three universities in the top 200 of the 2023 times higher education world university rankings, and each of our 19 higher education institutions conduct world-leading research across a breadth of disciplines, and almost half of it is undertaken with international collaborators. That interconnectedness of people, cultures, facilities, data, knowledge and ideas is the means by which we have the chance to solve some of the world's most difficult problems from the climate crisis to child poverty. Is this the motion for this debate rightly, though? We should be deeply proud of Adam Smith's legacy and of the continued role that Scotland's universities play in leading the exchange of ideas. I am confident that we will continue to nurture more great thinkers in Scotland's future, a future based upon the wisdom of Adam Smith and the Scottish enlightenment. Thank you very much, minister. That concludes the debate, and I close this meeting of Parliament.