 I remind members of the Covid-related measures that are in place and that face coverings should be worn when moving around the chamber and across the campus. The next item of business is a debate on motion 1527 in the name of Angus Robertson on Scotland in the world championing progressive values. I would invite all those members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request to speak buttons now. I call on Angus Robertson Cabinet Secretary to speak and to move the motion around 11 minutes, please. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and it's a privilege to leave a discussion about the role Scotland can play in the world to champion progressive democratic values. The Covid crisis has reminded us, as never before, of our interdependent world. Last year, the German President, Frank Wouter Steinmeier, said that the pandemic was a test of our common humanity. As we emerge from the public health crisis, there are further tests ahead that will shape the world around us and for future generations. The Scottish Government is determined to play our part and to make our contribution. That starts with an internationalist outlook based on co-operation and not confrontation. We have the opportunity to build on strong foundations as a nation. We are active and connected with a long history of constructive engagement with our neighbours. We have a track record of leadership on climate change and climate justice. The minister will say more about the opportunities presented by COP26 at the conclusion of this debate and effective delivery of development assistance. In the last five years, we have set out a clear direction of travel. For example, in January this year, we published Scotland's vision for trade, inspired by and rooted in our national performance framework. It describes the five core principles underpinning the trading relationships that we want Scotland to have now and in the future. Those are inclusive growth, wellbeing, sustainability, net zero and good governance. Those principles allow us to weigh up future policy decisions related to trade to achieve our economic, social and environmental objectives. The vision also aims for trade to contribute to addressing global challenges such as tackling the climate and nature crisis, reducing global inequalities and building international co-operation. Scotland will co-operate as a good global citizen and trading partner, respecting international law, supporting human rights and seeking to build global relationships on trade. Values such as those underpin not only our trade but all that we do at home and abroad. Of course, the context for our international engagement is changing rapidly. The decision of the UK Government to pursue a hard Brexit, when the very idea of leaving the European Union was opposed by a significant majority of people living in Scotland who voted in the referendum, has, on the view of influential observers, reduced the influence of the UK in the world. Former senior UK diplomats have been queuing up to point out what Lord Ricketts, a former head of the Foreign Office, called uncomfortable truths. Commenting on the aftermath of what he described as the Afghanistan debacle, Lord Ricketts noted that, and I quote, Britain has become less useful as America's ally. Sennagel Shinewald, the former UK ambassador to the United States, when talking about global Britain said, and I quote again, is no point in writing new Atlantic charters which depend on mutual trust, mutual confidence and the rule of law when you are operating as chanceurs. All of this follows the threats that the current Westminster Government has made to break international law during the passage of the internal market act. The United Nations refugee agency has suggested that the UK's nationality and borders bill violates the 1951 refugee convention. The President of the Law Society for England and Wales has said, and I quote, that there are significant concerns and a lack of clarity over whether the bill would comply with international law or, indeed, uphold access to justice for extremely vulnerable people. It is in this context that we will go the extra mile to ensure that the Scottish Government can continue to engage internationally for the benefit of Scotland's people, businesses and institutions. That is why the programme for government sets out an ambitious agenda for Scotland's place in the world. Guiding our work will be an updated global affairs framework. The updated framework will articulate how our internationally focused programmes of work fit together and link back to the national performance framework. It will help us to keep our focus on being open, connected and making a positive contribution internationally, a key national outcome. International development is a key part of that positive contribution. It encompasses our core values, historical and contemporary, of fairness and equality. We have a distinctive development contribution to make through focusing Scotland's expertise, being innovative and employing our unique partnership approach for global good. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, we carried out a review of our approach to international development in 2020 to ensure that our work is led by the voices of the global south and to focus our work on areas where we can make the biggest differences. We have made clear that we believe the cutting of the 0.7 per cent commitment by the UK Government to be a deplorable decision that is hitting the world's poorest and most marginal communities just at a time of great need. We have made and will continue to make strong representations to reinstate international development funding. By way of contrast, we have committed here to not only maintaining but, in fact, increasing our international development budget by 50 per cent to £15 million. That will help to support Covid-19 responses and recovery in our partner countries and to double our just transition fund to £20 million. Independent Scotland could be a global leader in development because that is not necessarily just about the size and absolute monetary terms but the impact that you can make. Indeed, the countries with the highest quality aid, according to the Centre for Global Development, are Sweden, Finland and Denmark. If our policies and actions abroad are consistent with our focus on fairness and inclusion at home, we can be a leader in other areas, too, and we should aspire to that. For example, the Scottish Government is determined to play its part to make the world a better place for women and girls, but we can and should do more. Over the coming months, we will engage with and seek to learn from those who have an interest in helping to shape a feminist approach to foreign policy. Alongside those responsibilities as a good global citizen, our international work is vital in promoting Scotland's cultural and economic interests. Our cultural heritage is recognised and celebrated all over the world. By harnessing the global profile and expertise of Scotland's world-renowned festivals, companies and creative entrepreneurs, cultural diplomacy has the potential to develop and maintain relationships with key partners in Europe and beyond. It can support our cultural and creative sectors to work and collaborate internationally, fostering the cross-border cultural partnerships and networks that are vital to the sector's operation. In our programme for government, we have committed to developing a cultural diplomacy strategy to ensure that cultural links with our partners in Europe and beyond are developed further. The pandemic has clearly taken a significant toll on our cultural and creative sectors, but this masks the damage done by no longer being part of the European Union. The strategy will help to support them to recover and flourish, ensure that they can continue to enrich our lives, put Scotland on the world stage and contribute to our own sense of nation and place. We are already taking forward work to support touring artists and other creative professionals working internationally to overcome the challenges of the pandemic and the end of freedom of movement. We are currently considering what measures could be put in place that might mitigate the loss of access to key programmes such as Creative Europe to ensure that cultural exchange continues to be supported and repressing the UK Government to minimise barriers. One of the ways in which we will support Scottish culture is by ensuring that Scotland's international presence is enhanced. We will open a Scottish affairs office in Copenhagen next year and in Warsaw during the lifetime of this Parliament. Our network in Scotland, which began under a Conservative Government and was expanded under a Labour and Liberal Democrat Administration, offers excellent value for money. Work to attract investment by our offices, both at home and overseas, has helped to increase foreign direct investment into Scotland by 6 per cent in 2020. That is compared to a 12 per cent fall across the UK as a whole. Nordic countries are key trading partners for Scotland. In 2018, Scottish exports to the Nordic countries were worth more than £2.6 billion. There is much that we can learn from each other in areas such as transition to net zero and in reducing inequalities. The new presence in Warsaw is likely to focus on people-to-people links, policy exchange, support for trade and investment and cultural cooperation across the central European and Baltic regions. Members will know that we are very fortunate to have around 92,000 polls choosing to call Scotland home, sustaining a vibrant and active Polish community all across the nation, and we highly value their contribution to our society. I have touched upon the negative impact of the UK's departure from the EU. In recent debates, the chamber has looked into the example of Brexit in more detail. We know that the Prime Minister's bluff and bluster about the ability to strike trade deals across the world cannot disguise the fact that there will not be a deal with the USA any time soon, or that a deal with Australia will contribute just 0.02 per cent to GDP in the long term, while the Office of Budget Responsibility, based on analysis of external studies, expect UK GDP to be around 4 per cent lower with a deal compared to continued EU membership. Of course, membership of the EU is about much more than trade deals, and Scotland shares with the EU a vision for Europe that embodies democratic values, promoting the wellbeing of all in society, rises fully to the challenge of the global climate emergency, and supports a sustainable economic recovery from the global pandemic. We believe that the pandemic and the response to it has demonstrated the need for more co-operation between independent nations, not less. The election in May once again underlined the strong support from the people of Scotland, for our view, that rejoining the European Union at the earliest opportunity as an independent country represents the best future for Scotland. Forgive me, I have just 20 seconds to conclude. Until that point in time, we will maintain alignment where possible with EU legislation, policy and standards. That helps to ensure that Scotland is able to protect and advance the high standards that we enjoyed as part of the EU, promote ease of market access for our people and businesses, and smooth the process of Scotland's re-accession. In conclusion, to choose a Scotland with the power to make decisions in areas like social security, taxation and immigration, is to build a better country. Are Scotland ready to be able to play our part in the global community of nations, championing progressive values and helping to build that better world that we know is possible? I move the motion in my name. I begin by moving the amendment in my name. I am going to start with what I hope are uncontroversial points to make. International relations is, of course, a reserved matter. Under the devolution settlement, it is clear that foreign policy is the preserve of the UK Government. However, that is not to say that we cannot debate international affairs here, of course we can, and rightly so. It is only right that successive Scottish Governments have fostered links with our European neighbours and, indeed, with countries and nations beyond Europe. Anyone with a sense of Scottish history and an appreciation of Scotland's international traditions will recognise that there is a long and proud story to be told of Scotland's role in the world, whether as an independent country before the union of 1707 or equally within the union as one of the founding nations of the United Kingdom. More recently, there has been a strong tradition of promoting Scotland abroad, even before devolution, that was true. As the cabinet secretary said, it was in fact a Conservative Government in the 1990s that promoted the footprint for international offices that the Scottish Government now seeks to expand, a subject that I will return to in a moment. No one disputes the fact that we should rightly promote and celebrate Scotland abroad. There are good reasons to do that for trade, for culture and for maintaining links with the Scottish diaspora. However, what we should not do is somehow pretend that the Scottish Government can unilaterally make and pursue its own foreign and diplomatic policy. It cannot. The reality is that the devolution settlement prevents this for very good reason. The efforts of the Scottish Government in international affairs should operate in tandem with the UK Government foreign policy rather than against it. That is precisely why so many Scottish Government international offices are located in UK embassies. What we seek on these benches is constructive engagement between the Scottish Government and the UK Government when it comes to international affairs, not endless differentiation for the sake of it or worse grievance seeking simply to manufacture a row. We believe that the current Government should be working constructively with the UK Government for the benefit of everyone in Scotland. I suspect that behind the rhetoric there is a lot more commonality than might at first appear. I am not naive, but there will be policy differences when three very different political parties make up Scotland's two Governments. Brexit is one example of that, and Brexit has proven to be deeply divisive, both here and in the wider UK, as divisive as the independence referendum, to be honest. On the subject of international offices—I have touched on this already—we have no objection to the current set-up and network of eight foreign offices in countries around the world, nor to the 30-plus trade hubs that are based in British embassies and consulates around the world, which are run by Scottish Development International. However, there are justifiable concerns around expenditure, especially when it appears that there are plans to extend the network. At a time when all our efforts require to be directed to recovering from the pandemic, when our NHS is under acute pressure, when our economy is faltering, it is right to question both the current cost and the proposed expansion, purely as a matter of political priorities, especially when that does not formally fall within devolved competence. I appreciate the point that he makes about the importance of counting costs. We do not, however, concede that the money that is expended by the Scottish Government on those offices is an almost imperceptibly tiny fraction of the amount that is spent by the UK foreign offices on some of its more palatial residences and other offices around the world. I do not accept that. It is entirely reasonable for any Opposition party within the chamber to question Scottish Government expenditure. We have a crisis in the NHS under funded schools, struggling local authorities, and the Scottish National Party Government has spent over £8 million on international offices in one year alone, employing staff across the world in the 2021-22 financial year. The most expensive hub is the Brussels HQ, with 17 people employed at a cost of £2.3 million a year. The Washington office has a budget of £805,000, and the London base will cost £2.2 million with 14 staff. Moving on from that, looking at wider UK Government policy, where we say that the Scottish Government should both act in tandem and support the UK Government, much is being done, which is perhaps different from what might be viewed as traditional diplomacy. The UK Government's new alchus pact with the United States and Australia will extend the UK's influence in the Indo-Pacific region by enhancing the development of joint capabilities and technology sharing, and the deeper integration of security and defence-related science. Technology, industrial bases, at the same time creating hundreds of highly skilled jobs across the United Kingdom, including in Scotland. I am glad that climate change has been mentioned. In terms of climate change, the UK Government is lobbying nations around the world to take urgent action to address climate change ahead of COP26. That is not new because, over the past 10 years, funding from the UK Government has provided 41 million people with improved access to clean energy. It has installed 2,400 megawatts of clean energy capacity and has avoided or reduced 180 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, and has committed, over the next five years, £11.6 billion to help developing countries to limit and manage the impacts of climate change. International relations is not just about high-level policy or funding emanating from the foreign office. I could point to the work of the British Council driving forward campaigns for girls' education and religious and media freedom. I am sure that other colleagues will want to touch on the UK Government's plan for global Britain, which was published in March 2021, which outlined various interests. It has restated the fundamental values of democracy and a commitment to universal human rights, the rule of law, freedom of speech and faith and equality. Principles that I hope we can all support in this chamber and to borrow from the title of this debate an example of championing progressive values. To conclude, both the UK and Scottish Government should act together to promote progressive values across the world. We must be wary of exceptionalism at both the Scottish and UK levels. It is very easy to lapse into a sense of moral superiority about our own values and the need to promote them. However, acting together, the four nations of the UK can continue to be a force for good in the world, and Scotland in particular can and surely will do its part in this endeavour. Thank you, Mr Cameron. I now call on Alex Rowley to speak and to move amendment 1527.1, around six minutes, please, Mr Rowley. Presiding Officer, I am pleased to be speaking in this debate today on Scotland's place in the world and championing of progressive values. Scots have long-standing history of internationalism, a lot worth celebrating, but also a lot that requires a more solemn recognition, such as our role in the expansion of the British Empire and our other historic exploits in imperialism. When we have debated today about how Scotland is committed to being a good global citizen, I think that it is also worth remembering that we have not always been as progressive as we might think, and parts of our history cannot be swept under the rug. That said, I think that all members in this chamber will recognise the significant positive role Scotland has played and continues to play on the world stage. Our country has played an integral part in the formation of the modern world, providing global influences in economics, medicine, technology, technological advancements and so much more. We are continuing to see that progressive tradition even today. My colleague Monica Lennon's period poverty bill, for example, which saw Scotland become the first country in the world to make period products free for all. Recently, we have also become the first country in the world to embed LGBT education in the school curriculum. Those successes are well worth noting and celebrating. However, the systemic problems that we face as a country still remain and must be recognised. Although it is vital to look outward, again, we must also recognise that there are severe failings at home that need to be addressed. Poverty and inequality are deep rooted in our society and especially deep rooted here in Scotland. Just this week, the Scottish Government has been warned that it is set to significantly miss its own targets for reducing child poverty here in Scotland. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said that the political failure off the Scottish Government to fail to meet child poverty targets will have a profound human cost. The report highlights a failure to make inroads into significant levels of poverty among the priority groups for action that are identified by the Scottish Government, including families from ethnic minority backgrounds, families where someone is disabled, those with a child under the age of one and single parent households. The JRF researchers found that more than 80 per cent of children in poverty in Scotland are from one of those groups. This is systemic poverty that we have failed to take seriously and to tackle. If people look inward to Scotland, they will see an education system that fails far too many young people and does little to support economic growth at home. They will also see unacceptable levels of homelessness, poor housing and public services buckling at the seams with no coherent plan to build a dynamic economy that works in the interests of the majority of Scots. Let us not kid ourselves that everything and everyone looking at Scotland does so through rose-tinted glasses because they do not. I also could not make this speech today and not mention our role and contribution to conflicts around the world, and in particular the plight of Yemen. It is right that this Parliament has condemned the UK Government's decision to cut international aid. Over 80 million people across the world are displaced from their homes and their countries as a result of persecution, conflict and human rights violations. Rather than cutting international aid—and we have opposed that rightly so—we must use our limited influence here to build a case for more support and an international consensus that will support migrants to live in safety, peace and freedom from persecution. I hear what the SNP says about Europe, but let us not look at Europe with blinkers on. Oxfam has made the point that Europe's borders, migrants and refugees are denied their basic human rights and there have been reports of EU states that have been co-operating informally to deny refugees asylum rights. We are also seeing in many European countries the roll-back of civil liberties that we in Scotland take for granted. Indeed, it is a worrying rate at what is happening. In conclusion, the main plea that I would make today is that we must use the little influence that we have at this time to bring countries together to work to deliver a more global vaccine strategy, for there is none of us safe until we are all safe. I move the amendment in my name. I now call on Willie Rennie, about four minutes, please. The Government is rarely modest with its parliamentary motions, but I have to say that this one is verging on being smug. It is certainly unjustified about the SNP Government's role in the world, but it is apparently championing progressive values. The evidence contradicts the assertion. Take, for example, the £10 billion deal with Sinofortone and the Chinese railway company number three in 2016, only five years ago. The First Minister signed the agreement without even bothering to check its background. The Norwegian oil fund had blacklisted the China railway group over allegations of widespread corruption. Amnesty International published a report in 2013, years before the agreement was signed, which tied the China railway group to illegal forced evictions in Africa. It perhaps explained why Alex Salmond refused to meet the Dalai Lama when he visited a few years earlier for fear of offending the Chinese Government. Chinese officials had visited the then First Minister days before the Dalai Lama visited. The Scottish Government kept quiet about human rights abuses while seeking up to £1.3 billion pounds from oil-rich state of guitar. On an official visit to the guitar leaders in May 2013, the then international development minister, Humza Yousaf, failed to mention the lethal conditions faced by hundreds of thousands of migrant workers. He was also advised to only discuss the plight of imprisoned guitarry poets with UK officials. That does not sound like championing progressive values to me very briefly. Stephen Cair. I am sure that any is doing an excellent job at outlining the horrendous human rights record of the Chinese Government. Does he agree with me that the Scottish Government could do more to welcome Hong Kong residents to come to Scotland and make Scotland their home under the visa scheme announced by the UK Government? Willie Rennie. Yes, I certainly do think that that should be happening and it should be happening on a more widespread basis. The SNP condemned the hasty withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan recently, and rightly so. The current Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said that the UK ministers must accept their share of responsibility and do more to support the many Afghan citizens who are clearly in danger and have been left behind in fear for their lives, safety and human rights. Mr Blackford was clearly oblivious to the views of his predecessor, the one who was 10 years earlier urging a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan. On Hogmeray in 2010, Mr Robertson said that the UK Government in Afghanistan has now lasted longer than either of the world wars. If David Cameron is to make a new year's resolution, it should be to bring the troops home by Christmas 2011. My final example of failure on the international stage is on anti-Semitism. The SNP is now in a coalition Government with a party that has not endorsed and still refuses to endorse the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism. The Greens have voted in favour of a motion that describes Israel as a racist state based on Jewish supremacy, but the First Minister still authorised the coalition agreement without even challenging the Greens on this incredibly sensitive and important matter. How is it possible for this coalition Government to champion progressive values across the world when it will not fully endorse the international definition of anti-Semitism? Whether it is human rights abuses in guitar or Africa or coutowing to Chinese over the Dalai Lama, hypocrisy on Afghanistan or anti-Semitism, there is little justification for this smug motion today. The SNP is in no position to lecture anyone about progressive values here or anywhere else in the world. I remind all members who wish to speak in the debate to please press the request to speak buttons now. I call on Michelle Thompson to be followed by Tess White up to four minutes, please, Ms Thompson. The current president of the United Nations Security Council is Ireland. Four of the 10 non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have smaller populations in Scotland as have 77 member countries of the United Nations. Small and medium sized countries matter on the global stage, particularly when it comes to leading progressive and humanitarian values rather than parading military might. I therefore very much welcome the motion before us. In this modern but troubled world, Scotland needs to find her own voice. We also need to give voice to those most in need but too often not heard. So I am particularly pleased to see the programme for government put an emphasis on women and girls. Whether we are addressing the state-sponsored violence against women and girls in the likes of Afghanistan or the responsibility placed on mothers to rebuild families and communities in many parts of our conflict-driven world, it is right that they should be supported and placed centre stage. As Simon Convy, Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, said recently, when women participate fully and equally in peace processes, those peace processes last. I therefore also welcome the £500,000 fund for local organisations in international development partner countries to take forward work to ensure that women and girls are safe, equal and respected. However, the motion also condemns the UK Government's cut in the aid budget from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent of gross national income. I agree but I would go further because in reality it is much worse than a cut of 0.5 per cent. We now know the treasuries planning to use accounting tricks in this month's spending review to squeeze aid budget by yet more billions of pounds. The BBC reports that such moves have already been condemned by charities operating in the front line. Romerly Greenhill, the UK director of one, the global campaign against poverty, has quoted us saying that it is incredibly worrying that UK aid looks set to be cut again through accounting trickery by the Treasury. The chancellor looks set to count the sharing of surplus vaccine doses, a new injection of cost-free foreign exchange reserves and the cancellation of debts that have not been repaid for decades as part of the aid budget. In effect, the UK Government is planning to commit considerably less than 0.5 per cent of GNI to foreign aid. Although we are shackled to this declining UK state, Scotland's options are regrettably limited. However, there is much to be welcomed in the Scottish Government's approach. For example, the expansion of our residential fellowship programme to train women to take on leadership roles in mitigating the effect of climate change. Until Scotland becomes independent and takes her own seat in the United Nations, our actions and influence are constrained by a frankly mean-spirited UK. However, one thing that we can all do is to use our voice to speak up on behalf of those who are most in need in the troubled world, and that is what I intend to continue doing. I, like others in the chamber today, recognise the importance of co-operation between nations to address global challenges. Nothing has underscored this point more than the Covid-19 pandemic. The SNP would have us believed that post-Brexit Britain is a silo that we have turned away from the world. Yet, the UK Government has helped to lead international efforts in response to Covid-19 with its pledge to donate 100 million Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines overseas by June 2022. 80 million of those vaccines will go to COVAX, which guarantees fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for people in all countries. The UK Government ensured that funding for the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine was based on it being affordable around the world. The vaccine has the greatest global reach of all of them, with 175 countries and territories using it. That is the United Kingdom as a force for good in the world. In less than a month, Glasgow will host the COP26 summit as a direct result of the UK COP presidency. Together, if we can work as one, we can recover and build back better and save our planet. That is global Britain in action. At the height of the pandemic, around 1.6 billion children were not able to attend school or access education. Together with other G7 countries, the UK has committed to help 40 million more girls into school and 20 million more girls reading by the age of 10 in the next five years. It has pledged £430 million to the global partnership for education to fulfil its ambition. That is championing progressive values. Yet, against the background of international engagement, the SNP keeps returning to Brexit. It seems to believe that the EU membership is the only form of internationalism. The new trilateral defence partnership between Australia, the UK and the US will help to create hundreds of highly skilled jobs across the United Kingdom, including Scotland. The SNP-led Scottish Government is choosing to ignore the scores of trade deals secured by the UK as an independent trading nation, even though those will help to drive forward an exports-led and jobs-led recovery for Scotland. Instead, the First Minister announced in this year's programme for government that it is planning to open new offices in Copenhagen and Warsaw, in addition to the eight international hubs that it already has. Those have cost the public purse more than £8 million in just one year. The NHS is in crisis. Our schools are underfunded and local authorities are struggling. The public will understandably question the cost of these offices when international relations is a reserved matter. Presiding Officer, the climate change crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic are stark reminders of just how independent the world has become. By combining the resources of our union, we can respond to these global challenges. Let's work together, not apart. I now call Paul MacLennan to be followed by Mercedes Villalba up to four minutes, Mr MacLennan. Presiding Officer, I want to open with a quote. Stop the world, Scotland wants to get on. The great win of UNI after winning Hamilton by election in 1967. For centuries now, Scots have travelled the world, sharing their skills, wisdom, ingenuity and friendship everywhere from the USA to Canada to Australia, India and China. Along the way, they have influenced everything from technology to world-class academic institutions to banking, government and so much more. At the same time, they have helped to construct and maintain Scotland's international reputation, establishing the iconic recognition that Scotland enjoys today. A few people have mentioned this already. Those on-going relations are supported by a group of international offices situating key locations. Belgium, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Ireland and the USA. The Scottish Government will continue to build needs with new offices in Copenhagen and Warsaw. I really cannot understand the criticism of the Scottish Government looking to support its business by opening up more offices. I cannot get that at all. Those offices play a critical role in supporting Scotland's international reputation and deliver economic success. Each of those offices is dedicated to improving Scotland's international profile and attracting investment to Scotland. I will touch on that later on. Helping Scottish-based businesses to trade internationally is so much more important after Brexit and protecting and enhancing Scotland's interests in the EU and beyond. Touching on investment during 2020, foreign direct investment projects in Scotland increased by 6 per cent. That was compared to a decline in the UK of 12 per cent and 13 per cent across Europe. Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are in the UK's top 10 FDI cities outside of London, with Edinburgh overtaking Manchester into first place. The cabinet secretary mentioned about the expert growth plan. The Scottish Government plans to set an ambitious target to increase— Is that the way on the point of FDI? No, I want to make progress on the four minutes to this. To increase international exports from 20 per cent to 25 per cent of GDP over the next 10 years. On the country sitting at the round place in the world, we have recent examples. Estonia regained its independence in 1991. Its GDP has increased fivefold since then, recognised as Europe's Baltic Tiger. Slovakia, after a velvet divorce from the Czech Republic, saw that its economy grew 60 per cent in the 10 years thereafter. In Denmark and Norway we have higher GDP than that of Scotland between 30 per cent and 40 per cent. However, the country's success are built on cultural confidence, an impressive national identity and bold leadership, and on people who never give up. Are there lessons for Scotland or are circumstances simply too different as our opposition would tell us? When Scotland was taken out of the EU against its will, there was a massive impact on 200,000 EU citizens who called Scotland their home. The Scottish Government established a stay in Scotland campaign. Scotland is a proud European country. I'm proud to be Scottish and European, many EU citizens see themselves as European and Scottish. Today, Boris Johnson in his common speeches reported to have said, and I quote, I want to end the broken model of a low-wage, low-growth economy. This broken UK economy has failed Scotland over many years, but there is another way. All this in the day will plunge millions into poverty with a cut to universal credit. An independent Scotland would meet its international obligation of foreign aid. It wouldn't support selling arms to prolong suffering from the Yemen that Alex Rowley touched on. Prygnau ofasr, to conclude, in his last speech to the EU, the then SNP MEP Alan Smith insisted that Scotland was a European nation, and added that independence would offer the country a route back. He's played to other European politicians. He said, colleagues, I'm not asking you to solve our domestic discussions. I'm asking you to leave a light on so we can find our way home. Scotland is on that journey, and we'll find its way home soon. Scotland will regain its rightful place in the world. In this motion, the Scottish Government emphasises its commitment to Scotland being a good global citizen. However, that commitment lacks substance. It's easy to say that Scotland and the world should be a champion of progressive values. Everyone in this Parliament would probably identify as an internationalist. We would all say that we support Scotland being a champion for fairness, democracy and human rights, but achieving those goals requires fundamental change to our failed economic system. The global challenges that we face from the climate emergency to vaccine apartheid are a direct result of wealth and power being concentrated in the hands of a few. That won't change while the Government pats itself on the back with motions, rather than bringing forward a real plan to tackle those international issues. The scale of the challenge could not be greater. The world's richest 10 per cent now owns over 80 per cent of global wealth. There is a growing divide between the north and global south in terms of access to healthcare, education, housing and wealth. The pandemic has exposed this divide with the global south set to suffer from greater debt and lack of access to vaccines. They are also set to bear the brunt of the climate emergency. The Scottish Government's commitment to increase its international development fund by 50 per cent is a welcome step forward, but it doesn't go nearly far enough, especially in meeting its own self-image as an international progressive force. The Labour amendment calls for specific commitments from the Scottish Government on access to vaccines and it highlights the importance of matching rhetoric with reality when it comes to promoting human rights. The Scottish Government's current action on human rights is totally inadequate. We see that in its refusal to address the activities of Police Scotland's international development and innovation unit. The unit is proactively offering training and technical advice to some of the world's worst offenders when it comes to human rights abuses. Several organisations from Pax Christy Scotland to Freedom from Torture have highlighted that the Sri Lankan regime is engaging in the use of torture and state surveillance of human rights defenders. Police Scotland has claimed that their training activities with the Sri Lankan police are helping to promote gender equality and tackle gender-based violence, but, as recently as August, Sri Lankan police confirmed that cases of intimate partner violence will not be taken to court. How can anyone say that that training is working? Yet the activities of the unit extend far beyond Sri Lanka. Police Scotland is also offering technical advice to the police force in Colombia, a country that has faced long-standing allegations of human rights abuses and launched a major crackdown on recent protests. What is the Scottish Government's response to this alarming activity? There is no point in having a justice secretary who is not prepared to stand up for human rights and hold the police to account when things go wrong, yet we have exactly that in Keith Brown. He avoids answering questions about human rights abuses, and he has nothing to say about Police Scotland providing political cover and legitimacy to these human rights abusers. My question for the member today is, will he urge the justice secretary to seek an immediate suspension of Police Scotland's activities with any country that engages in human rights abuses? Will the Scottish Government launch a full-scale review of the international development and innovation unit's activities? The debate has asked us all as MSPs to consider Scotland's role in the world. While the Scottish Government's motion seeks to paint a picture of Scotland as a progressive beacon, the reality at home and abroad could not be more different. It is yet another example of Scottish Government ministers talking progressive while failing to deliver real change. Thank you. I now call on James Dornan to be followed by Maurice Golden. James Dornan will be joining us remotely. Mr Dornan, up to four minutes please. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I am very pleased to be able to speak in this debate today about Scotland's place in the world and to highlight our progressive, inclusive and international worldview as a nation, a view that stands in stark contrast to the xenophobic, insular and cruel one that is espoused by the UK Government, led by Boris Johnson and gleefully supported by such right-wing ideologs as Priti Patel. This attitude from the Westminster Government has been laid bare in recent weeks in a disgraceful way that it handled the refugees from Afghanistan situation, along with her on-going crusade to quite happily see asylum seekers floating about the water with nowhere to go, or rounding them up and sending them to Albania, and I honestly wish I was making that up. This anti-immigration refugee rhetoric has no place in a modern civilised society and certainly not here and outward looking Scotland. We have a long history of giving and being part of the international community and it is not a new thing. I want confirmation just to listen to the hero of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Winston Churchill, who famously said, of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpassed Scots in their contribution to mankind, and still amazingly, according to many opposition, including the above-mentioned Johnson, we are apparently the only country in the world unable to handle being independent and playing our full role in the international scene. The contribution of Scottish people to the shaping of the modern world has been beyond compare. It has a proud history of innovation in all manners of different fields from philosophy, economy and economics to engineering. Of course, we aspire to greatness, but not the greatness that is defined by our neighbours, big bombs and keen to go fight, and not necessarily in huge individual wealth, but in being a great country for all the communities that live here and to be used as an example for other countries abroad. I had just heard the last contribution there. It started off and I thought, welfare enough, I get that. I do not like the economic system as it is, but then to attack a Government that does not have the powers to do any of the things that the previous speaker wanted. At the same time, there has always been a situation in which they will vote against them. I thought that that was a wee bit of an interesting take on politics. We believe that everyone matters whatever their start in life, and that is why we reintroduce free university education, the babybox, free school meals and Scottish child payment and oppose policies such as the bedroom tax rate clause and the £20 per week cut to universal credit. We see ourselves as natural members of Europe and the EU. The people of Scotland said this loud and clear at the referendum, and yet, as so often as union of equals, the voice of Scotland is drowned out by the being from another place. Presiding Officer, there is no doubt that Brexit effect is just starting to hit. The delivery shortages are just beginning. I see just today there is another dispute between Westminster and France. Be assured that these things will continue to get worse as long as this crony Government is more interested in lining the pocket of their friends and family than in ensuring that our health workers and carers are protected and the poor have enough to eat day and power. If we haven't needed proof independent as required, just look at the past 24 hours. The UK Government tried to bypass Hollywood in yesterday's LCM and today's Supreme Court decision is saying that this place, this Parliament, we are all meant to be so proud to represent doesn't have the powers to protect our own children. Donald Cameron and his contribution highlighting just why, because of the constitutional settlement, we really shouldn't be having such a debate in the first place. Presiding Officer, we should never have been dragged out of Europe against our will, particularly as the whole thing was simply a Tory leadership stunt in the first place. We belong in Europe and we would be welcome back in Europe. How could the refusers, after all, as the famous French poet, philosopher and playwright Paul Ter said, for all of our ideas of civilisation, look to the Scots and, let's be fair, he was a very wise man. Thank you Mr Dornan before calling the next speaker. I just remind members that we expect cursing respect to be shown to all members and therefore a lot of sedentary chattering during that contribution from the Conservative benches was not really in keeping with respect and the obligations that we are all under as members of this Parliament. I would now call Maurice Golden to be followed by Maggie Chapman up to four minutes, please Mr Golden. Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer and I think the last speaker showed a lack of respect to colleagues in this chamber as well as you, Presiding Officer. Mr Golden, could you please resume your music just for a second. The content of speeches is not a matter for the chair, every member will have their own view but I think it is important nonetheless to listen respectfully to all contributions in this Parliament. Thank you, please resume. Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer. The most pressing global issue is of course climate change and it is undeniably a good thing for Scotland to play a role in helping those around the world who are most vulnerable such as in Malawi where Scots are often at the forefront of efforts. Skiath for example are working hard to improve access to water, food and energy or in Nepal where tear fund work in the heart of local communities with much support from a generous Scottish public as I saw first hand when I visited in 2018 and the Scottish Government's efforts to support climate action in at-risk communities should be welcome too such as their commitment to train women in leadership roles to help mitigate climate impacts. I would certainly concur with what he says about the efforts of all of these organisations. Does he feel that the efforts around the world are helped or hindered by a UK Government who stated that ambition is to cut the money that is spent by the UK on international development and potentially to redirect some of what is spent through other Government departments? The UK Government is one of the leading nations in both tackling climate change and alleviating poverty. In the past 10 years alone, Britain has protected 88 million people around the world from the impact of climate change, including helping 41 million people to access clean energy and avoiding or reducing 180 million tonnes of emissions. I hope that the member recognises that wonderful contribution. In addition, Britain has also committed almost £12 billion over the next five years to support developing countries. This incredible global mission opens a huge opportunity for Scotland, an opportunity to lead the world on climate change, an opportunity to strengthen vulnerable communities, an opportunity to protect millions of people, and an opportunity to make the world a better place. Deputy Presiding Officer, the rest of the world looks to Britain as a global leader. With Glasgow hosting COP26, Britain is leading the discussion on how the world tackles climate change. The world pays attention when Britain speaks because we do not just ask others to do the work, we roll up our sleeves and lead by example. The UK has reduced emissions by a quarter in the last decade alone. Just this week, the British Government has committed to completely phasing out electricity from fossil fuels by as soon as 2035. Refusing to fully engage with or even recognise Britain's global success simply leaves this SNP green coalition looking weak and insular. Look at their motion, they talk of being a good global citizens but then forget to mention COP26. How is anyone supposed to take them seriously when they forget to mention the world's biggest environmental summit being hosted in Scotland? That is the dilemma that they face. The nationalist coalition wants a bigger global role but they lack the credibility to make it happen. Their credibility on climate action was already, and I quote, wearing thin. Deputy Presiding Officer, but SKEAF, in its evidence to the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Cultural Committee, said that last week. The same session saw Oxfam issue an equally stark warning saying Scotland's credibility on climate justice is now in significant jeopardy due to it missing three successive annual emissions targets. In fact, over two thirds of SNP climate policies are now off track. Deputy Presiding Officer, if this SNP green coalition wants to be taken seriously on climate change, on the world stage or on anything else, they need to stop putting their own interests before Scotland. Many of us have, for some considerable time, given much thought to the role that Scotland has played in championing progressive values, on climate action, on welcoming immigrants, on peace and, importantly, on how we can be better. While we have a long and proud tradition of leading change around the world and indeed creating progressive values, we must also understand the role that Scotland has played in the worst episodes of imperialism, old and new, from slavery to hosting nuclear weapons. That is not to say that, as Scots, we are somehow unable to change or make recompense for these episodes, but we must recognise that they are not just issues of the past. The long shadow of slavery darkens the present day. The impact of our role in imperialism continues to drive division from Ireland to South Asia. We can, though, redeem these actions and become a global force for good. Before I speak more about how we can be a global force for good, I implore everyone here—indeed, all Scots—to recognise the darker elements of our history, as well as those more ffated moments. We see at Westminster the outcome of having a Government that cannot see the historical impact of its actions. The UK Government's abandonment of its commitment to international development funding is disgraceful, shortsighted and contemptible. We continue to make the case for restoring this. Whilst cutting aid may play well to British Empire chauvinists in the home counties, it is nothing short of a default on the UK's obligation to return some other plunder of imperialism to those we stole from. I want Scotland to do better. I want Scotland to live up to all of our aspirations as a global builder of peace and justice, to be a champion for enhancing the rights of those at home, while at the same time recognising those same rights applied to all individuals and communities across the globe. I want Scotland to find our role in the world as a force for good. Even without being a fully independent state, as a nation with devolved powers, we can take a more active role in the international community to build our influence, contribute to global efforts to address the pandemic, enhance human rights and forward their transition to a net zero economy. A significant part of climate justice is the way in which our emissions have a disproportionate effect on people of the global south. I know that we can do better. We saw in the last session Scottish Greens forcing the Scottish Qualifications Authority to undertake a review of its international activities, resulting in the withdrawal from six countries whose human rights records would cause all of us concern, including Saudi Arabia. Over 25 years ago, Robin Cook spoke of an ethical foreign policy, making a move, marking a move from self-interest. Whilst he was unable to deliver on that, he set an important principle. I believe that we need to adopt another approach, policy coherence. We simply should not be arming Yemen whilst sending aid to Yemen to ameliorate the damage our arms do. Similarly, we should not be using public funds or support over £31 million in enterprise funding in the last 15 years to line the pockets of international arms dealers whose weapons have been linked to alleged war crimes killing civilians. That is both morally wrong and economically unjustified. So we must have that ethical approach, that policy coherence, run right through Government and all its actions. As others have suggested, that will not always be easy. It will mean a shift in thinking. It will mean doing things very differently to business as usual. It will mean us moving beyond the policy silos of the past. We cannot have one bit of Government doing one thing and another bit directly undermining it. We need that policy coherence. We need to have progressive values at the heart of our global missions, to think about everything that we do, from climate justice to the manufacturing that we support, and to make sure that it is advancing all of our positive values across the world. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Today's debate is a perfect demonstration of the determination amongst the people of Scotland to do what is right, regardless of who is telling us that it is not our job. There is a difference between Government responsibility and a moral responsibility, and that difference is laid bare when you consider Scotland's work internationally, despite the limits of devolution, and the UK Government's stubborn, immoral focus on devolved competence above all else, including ethics. Only this morning, the UK Government was successful in overturning a unanimous decision by this Parliament to enshrine the UN convention of the rights of the child in Scotland's law. It is so petty that it would rather take human rights away from children than have the Scottish Parliament make the decision to implement them. It is so intent on ensuring that Scotland knows its place and that it does not care that it is trampling over the lives of kids to do so. I think that most of us here will take an intervention. The member seems to be attacking both the Supreme Court and our legal system. Is the member suggesting that we have a non-impartial legal system in the United Kingdom? I do not think that it is attacking the Supreme Court to say that the law is wrong. There is a difference between upholding the law and saying that that is not correct. You can say that the devolution settlement is not adequate, which it is not without saying that it is the fault of the Supreme Court for enforcing it. I think that most of us here and most listening today do know Scotland's place and that that place is on the world stage. Scotland is a champion of human rights across the world. World-leading human rights legislation is being taken forward here against racial discrimination, discrimination against women and improving the rights of disabled people. There is the catch that we are still beholding to what the Tories at Whitehall think is best on reserved matters and Scotland does not have the power yet to make full rounded decisions on human rights or international affairs. Never before has the contrast between what we have and what we could have been so stark. Instead of strengthening children's rights and tackling fuel poverty, we are stuck mitigating cuts and lamenting decisions taken by the Government of tax increases for the poor and breaks for the rich, the biggest overnight cut to social security in seven decades and Brexit. The Tories in England cannot even—I will take an intervention. Alex Rowley. I will be grateful for you taking the intervention. Is it still the SNP policy that any future independence referendum that people who support and vote for independence would also be voting to go back into Europe? I think that the important thing to note here is that Scotland being in Europe or out of Europe should be a decision for Scotland, whereas we have been torn out of Europe against our will. The Tories in England cannot even govern without breaching existing human rights, so they certainly cannot be trusted to strengthen them. The Scottish Labour's amendment today accuses the Scottish Government of failing to address violence against women. I would never claim that there is no more work to be done in tackling violence against women. I am a young woman in politics, so I am no stranger to misogyny, discrimination or sexual assault. However, the amendment explicitly says that the Scottish Government, led by Nicola Sturgeon, UN global women advocate, has failed to address it at all and that it undermines our ability to promote progressive values is as ridiculous as it is offensive. I am tired of seeing accusations that the first female First Minister and the first First Minister are tall to introduce procedures for dealing with complaints against those in her position, leading by example, is somehow bad for women in Scotland. Scotland's foreign policy, limited in scope, as it may be, is feminist at its core. Following the harrowing details of Sarah Everard's murder coming to light, a Conservative police commissioner said that she should have been street-wise and not submitted to a fake arrest. Boris Johnson then assured us that we can trust the police. Compare that to the First Minister's response that the problem is male violence, not women's failure to find ever more inventive ways to protect ourselves against it. Our ability to promote progressive values internationally is certainly being undermined, but let's lay the blame at the correct door. I now call Carol Mocken to be followed by Siobhan Brown up to four minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Progressive is a word thrown around by Governments of all stripes to justify a wide variety of reforms, many of which are anything but. True progress means a world in which homelessness is a chapter in a history book, not a daily reality. True progress means paying people a wage that is more than just barely enough to keep your head above water. True progress is people having their right to food enshrined in law. The rest is just window dressing. Yet progressive is a badge Governments like to wear on the world stage in full parliamentary time with, because it says something about what they wish to be seen as, regardless of how far from reality that might be. I welcome any opportunity to consider the values that we encourage in Scotland, but let's start by recognising that this Government might be progressive relative to one of the harshest Tory Governments in living memory, but that does not hide the fact that when it comes to standing up and being counted on pay, public service investment and infrastructure development, they are sorely lacking. I would like to take that opportunity to reflect on our shared commitment to internationalism, and I congratulate the Government for that sentiment, yet do so with a word of caution. I believe that we have to encourage future generations that people working together in common purpose is only hope for a world free from climate catastrophe and desperate greed. I would add, however, that seeking to do so through the lens of exceptionalism by which I mean suggesting that Scotland is uniquely enlightened is not the way to go about it. Despite that, the Government have correctly derided Downing Street's decision to slash overseas aid. That decision was made to send a signal to a reactionary part of Britain that, going forward, we will return to a cold hearted view of the world in which anything that we put in must be paid back double. That is not progress, it is stone-age thinking. However, it is nothing that we should not expect from the Tories beneath the buffoonery of Boris Johnson. Boris Johnson is leading a Government committed to redistributing wealth from the poor to the rich and rewriting the history of our own role in creating global inequality. I would ask the Scottish Government to learn from this example and ensure that they do not also do that. For all the positives that there are no doubt plentiful in our history, Scotland's role, as we have heard, as part of the UK in spreading war, injustice and intolerance around the world, is just as potent and regrettable as any other part of this island. Let's recognise that, then we can move forward. Before I finish, I believe to be an example to the world, you have to govern with consistency and that starts with very basic principles of holding to your commitments and respecting the will of the people. What does it mean that you are stated in this motion to promote democracy when you continually push for a referendum at home because you did not like the answer the first time round? That is, in this suggestion, both in disregard for democracy and indeed in the motion that Scotland is different, that we stand apart from a callous UK, from a tough global north, when really there is simply no truth in that. Those are the stories that nationalists tell themselves in every part of the world. We do not need that to be progressive. We do not have to create a them and us narrative. We do not require to do that. We simply need to reset our priorities and start going after the profiteers and the privilege that damages all. Perhaps next time we discuss this, that can be the focus, rather than the fairly vague advert for an imaginary Scotland that a few who actually live on the thin edge of the wedge would recognise. Scotland is a country with huge ambition, and quite rightly so. Since devolution in 1999, the Scottish economy has grown. It has allowed Scotland to drive forward policies that are important and beneficial to the people of Scotland. In the past 20 years, Scotland has stood on the world stage and has set many precedents in human and ecological wellbeing. Scotland has joined an international movement seeking to transform the economic system into one that delivers social justice with a green agenda. Internationally, Scotland, along with New Zealand and the likes of Iceland, is putting an economy prioritising the wellbeing of its citizens. It was recently reported that Scotland is a first industrialised country to generate 97.4 per cent of electricity from wind and solar. Furthermore, in 2019, our First Minister became the first world leader to declare a climate emergency, the first to treat climate change with the seriousness that it deserves. As a world leader in climate action, Scotland will be hosting the COP26 in a matter of weeks. We will have the opportunity to facilitate the acceleration of action to tackle climate change on an international scale. Only today I was approached by regarding visiting government delegates for COP26 wanting to discuss the green energy success in Scotland. Those are developing countries and looking to Scotland for lessons on renewable energy strategy and the clean green energy. Scotland is a modern country made up of many ages, abilities, cultures, languages, beliefs, geography and interests. Scotland is committed to ensuring that participation in democracy is represented of all voices and communities and is set up in the citizens assembly. The First Assembly met earlier this year to consider what kind of Scotland the people want to build and how the Scottish Government can overcome international challenges such as Brexit and what the future of Scotland could look like. Scotland is just to name a few of our progressive achievements, the first station to set minimum pricing on alcohol. Scotland is one of the world leaders in family support for early learning and childcare with three and four year olds eligible for 1,140 hours a year, saving families almost £5,000 per child annually. Scotland is leading the way to transform women's health and the inequality found in the process for diagnosing and treating endometiosis and menopause. Police-recorded crime has fallen by 41 per cent between 2006 and 2019, and internationally Scotland has led the way in tackling knife crime. We are leading on other issues that are devolved and we can gain further autonomy over social care and social security. Scotland looks to the future, orientated towards more kindness, dignity and compassion. Scotland will continue to welcome refugees and asylum seekers despite our limited powers in the area. Scotland has a long history of providing homes for those fleeing war and terror. The recent image on the news of a desperate parent in Afghanistan handing their baby to a stranger in hope of a better future for the child is one that should haunt us all. The Scottish programme for government includes a promise of an additional £500,000 to support local authorities to accommodate the more unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Scotland. In economic terms, far from being a disaster, Scotland has performed well since it has been handed greater powers. Devolution, we would argue, is only a disaster from the perspective of those such as a Prime Minister who sees the success of a SNP Government in Hollywood as a threat to Scotland remaining in the UK. In 1999, the first bricks of this building were laid. This building represents Scotland's democratic choice to realise our potential. Inscribed on those bricks are the words written by Aire's own Robbie Burns, and I wish I could do this in a Scottish accent, but, oh, would some power gear as a gift to see ourselves as others see us. We now move to the closing speeches and I call on Foisal Choudhury, up to six minutes, Mr Choudhury. I support the amendment under Alex Rowley's name. There can be no doubt that Scotland has a proud record to look back on. Since 2005, successive Scottish Governments have, through a specific international development fund, built development programmes to support and empower partner countries, including Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia and Pakistan. We have seen these programmes contribute to progress made on tackling raising inflation, investing in local health services, improving food security and increasing access to financial services and schemes to support young people back into school, just like the Pakistan scholarship scheme for children. But there can be no doubt that more can be done and more in terms of the fight against COVID-19. It is clear that, while cases of COVID-19 are on the decline in Scotland and much of the West, we still have tens of millions of people without a first dose of the vaccine, which poses a threat to us all from possible new mutations and strains of the various virus. As we recover, as a country of abundant wealth, technology and manufacturing, we should be at the forefront in our assistance to many, many citizens across the world still waiting for that first shot of the vaccine. This is a time where we can show our country's values to show to the world who we really are. Well, we did or at least the government did. A huge cut to international development at a time of crisis, of international crisis, I think the Conservative Party should hang their hands in shame. The research group Airfinity stated there was now a struggling number of stockpiles used now jobs which will be no use to anyone by December. They also said in their research that by the end of, predicted that by the end of September, that just passed. Seven billion vaccines, doses would have been available around the world raising to 12 billion by December. While it is good news that more supply is available, if our government won't take the actions that are needed to prevent a new global outbreak, we are heading for a vaccine waste disaster. The crucial issue is now how and where the vaccine would be distributed. If there is no plan, no agreement drawn up urgently, then many lives in some of the poorest nations on the planet will be lost needlessly. It's truly unthinkable that over 100 million vaccine will have to be thrown away from the stockpiles of the rich countries while the population of the world's poorest countries will pay our vaccine waste in lives lost. We in Scotland and indeed the UK need to up our game. Scottish Labour would of course in government maintain the international development programme, including an increase in the climate justice fund and improving its effectiveness. This includes strengthening safeguarding standard and improving transparency. Defeating COVID-19 requires international cooperation and Scottish Labour is committed to the global effort to guarantee that everyone has equitable access to COVID-19 vaccine and treatments. We will not be safe until we are all protected. Scotland can play a role in range of international issues, including human rights, migration and refugees, global public health and climate change and to help inform public and policy debates. Scottish Labour would support establishing a Scottish Council for Global Affairs, drawing on Scotland's academic centres of excellence as well as civic society and businesses. This body would serve as an independent repository of expertise on international affairs, helping to enhance knowledge of international affairs within Scotland. Much more effective I think than the current system, but it is just on human rights where I want to end my contribution and reflect on the values that we hold. I do say that government, I deeply concerned with the Scottish government's poor stance on Police Scotland, providing training to the police force of countries such as Sri Lankan, which have engaged human rights abuses in repression. The Sri Lankan police in recent months have allegedly been responsible for torture and extraduracy killing. They have been implicated in a large pattern of such an abuse over many years, despite receiving Police Scotland's training on an almost continuous basis since 2013. Police Scotland should halt its Sri Lankan training programme until the Sri Lankan government and police demonstrate willingness reform. That is a direct quote from Yasmin Ahmad, the UK director. Thank you, Mr Choudry. We can all come to the chamber. Mr Choudry, that is your time, sir. Thank you very much. Can I call on Sharon Dowie up to seven minutes, Ms Dowie? Thank you, Presiding Officer. We have heard a variety of views today from across the chamber about Scotland's police in the world, from Angus Robertson, Alex Rowley, a powerful speech from Willie Rennie and my own Conservative colleagues. While those views may vary, I think that we can all find common ground in our desire to see Scots contributing to societies across the globe in a positive and thoughtful manner. The history of Scotland and the United Kingdom is littered with examples of Scotland as a leading light in the world, whether it is the charitable works of Andrew Carnegie, the influence of David Hume and Adam Smith or the power of Walter Scott's pain. Scotland's influence has been felt far and wide bringing enlightenment and prosperity to the lives of others. Of course, not all our overseas adventures have gone so well. Just look at the infamous Darian scheme or the role of the Glasgow tobacco lords in developing the slave trade. On the whole, Scotland and the UK have excelled in setting a positive agenda around the globe and forging partnerships that endure to this day. As my colleague Donald Cameron highlighted, it is only right that Scottish Governments look to develop relationships with other nations. Jack McConnell's trips to New York or the Scotland-Malabi partnership come to mind, but those schemes were never designed to interfere with UK foreign policy. They were designed to complement it, not compete, and that is where the difference lies. Constructive engagement in foreign policy, as with so many aspects of devolution, creates an environment for co-operation and success rather than division and failure. The development of international offices, while unobjectural in itself, comes with an eye-watering price tag. As Donald Cameron highlighted, £8 million is a huge amount of money that could be better spent closer to home, recruiting ambulance drivers or more teachers for that matter. Quite why we need to spend £2.2 million—no, I have a lot of points that I want to put through. Quite why we need a £2.2 million international base in London is a question that I am yet to hear a sufficient answer for. Of course, do you think that any Scottish Government that promotes international trade, no, I want to get through my points, thank you. Basing their trade hubs in British embassies would support the UK Government's search for new markets for Scottish products or their plans for free ports to boost Scottish manufacturing, yet we hear nothing in support of those efforts. No recognition of the 70 trade deals with countries in every corner of the world and no recognition of what that means for Scotland, only silence from the SNP. In fact, if we look at any trade deal that the UK Government has signed, whether it be with Japan, Australia, Ukraine or Singapore, the SNP has voted against all of them. In fact, they failed to back any trade deal in more than 15 years, even the EU-Canada agreement. For a party that is supposedly keen on international trade, it is a strange way to go about it. Can I ask you just for a second, Ms Dowie? There are conversations going on across the chamber, there are conversations going on across walkways. Could we please give Ms Dowie the courtesy of listening to what she is saying? Thank you, Ms Dowie. Yet all those deals are good news for Scottish businesses. Often it is Scots who strike those agreements, working in the foreign office or the department for international trade to foster those links that lead to a trade deal. Their work is being undervalued by the SNP and it is a shame to see. Tess White explored this a little further. Looking at the range of fantastic initiatives being promoted by the UK across the globe, all of which involve Scots in a leading capacity. Whether it is the admirable efforts that are put into distributing the Oxford vaccine overseas, the £40 million committee to get more girls into school or the impact of the August deal on enhancing global security, all those projects are joint works between the people of Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales—an achievement of the four nations, you could say. Yet we do not hear from the SNP about those laudable schemes or the role of Scots in securing their objectives. It is not just in foreign policy that the United Kingdom and Scotland as a partner is succeeding. On the climate front, the UK's efforts to combat climate change across the globe have been continuing for many years. As Maurice Golden pointed out, providing clean energy to millions and reducing hundreds of millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. On top of that, the UK Government has committed nearly £12 billion to help developing countries to manage the impact of climate change. Let us not forget that the UK was the first advanced economy in the world to set a net zero target for 2050. Of course, there is still a great deal of work to do. The UK has always been a standard bearer for international liberty, the rule of law and liberal democracy and must continue to do so. We have a duty to promote free markets and to uphold the international order, an order that is increasingly under threat from the authoritarian regimes. It will only prosper from division among the four nations of the UK, meaning that it is more important than ever for us to stand together. The same goes for the world of science and the Prime Minister setting out his ambition today for the UK to secure status as a science and tech superpower by 2030. The Oxford vaccine programme, now being rolled out across the world, is just one part of that grander strategy. That is the drive to create Scottish spaceports or the push to attract the best and the brightest through the global talent user. When standing together, Scotland and the UK are one of the greatest progressive forces for change in the world. When our people work hand in glove, great things happen. I call on Jenny Gilruth to wind up to nine minutes, minister. Before I respond to the points raised, I thank all members who participated in this afternoon's debate. As the cabinet secretary noted in his opening speech, it is a privilege to be involved in a discussion about Scotland's role in making a positive and progressive contribution to the world. The contributions today have been wide-ranging in terms of context. At times, the exchanges have perhaps not always reflected that positivity, but it is a timely conversation for the chamber and one that all members and every party should be a part of. Angela Merkel warned just this past weekend at the 31st anniversary of the reunification of East and West Germany that democracy must be protected. I hope that, irrespective of our differing views in this place, we can all agree with that important sentiment. I want to start on a note of consensus on an issue in government that I have ministerial responsibility for, but which, rarely to my mind anyway, gets the attention that it deserves. Many people in the debate today, including Fausal Chowdry, mentioned it. In 2005, it was the then Liberal Labour executive who committed to the first iteration of Scotland's international development fund, with a budget of £3 million at focus on Scotland's historic relationship with Malawi. The Labour motion rightly points to the fact that, politically, irrespective of government, our international development fund has always been really well supported in the chamber. There has always been an understanding, too, that this spend is, in addition to that, which the Scottish taxpayer already contributes to, because, of course, international development is, for the moment anyway, largely reserved. Last year, we reviewed, as the cabinet secretary mentioned, our approach to international development in light of the pandemic, but also in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, at which pose questions to all areas of government, because who we listen to as a Government tells us a story about whose voices we value. The programme for Government commits to establish a new global south programme panel, and the panel will lend expertise to our international development work and ensure that voices from the global south directly shape our international development offer. We are also developing a new £500,000 women and girls fund, which Michelle Thomson noted, and that will support local organisations in our partner countries to ensure that women and girls are safe, equal and respected. We will also reconstitute our ministerial working group on policy coherence for sustainable development, working across portfolio areas of government, as Maggie Chapman mentioned, moving beyond policy silos of the past. On that note, the Labour amendment, which I know Mercedes Villalba and Faisal Chowdry mentioned regarding Police Scotland's work in Sri Lanka, directly relates to policy coherence. It is vitally important that, if we espouse an international development offer with human rights at its heart, we ensure that our contributions internationally are coherently linked to that agenda. I understand that work has been funded by the UK Government via the FCDO, and of course operational matters are a matter for the chief constable, but I want to give Labour an assurance that I am keen to meet with Police Scotland in the spirit of dialogue that I initiated with him during the international development review. On vaccines for poorer nations, as Alex Rowley mentioned, Covid-19 knows no borders, and I was pleased that last year, in the last session of Parliament, we could contribute £2 million to our efforts in supporting our partner countries in the fight against Covid-19 via UNICEF. In this session, of course, we have been able to support Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia with oxygen concentrators, with ventilators and with surplus PPE. Tess White mentioned the UK Government's commitment to donate 100 million surplus coronavirus vaccines, and we would welcome that, but I think that the UK Government, as a member of the G7, must do more, and I will come back to the role that Scotland could play here later in the debate. In his opening remarks, the cabinet secretary noted the deplorable decision of the UK Government to cut spending on development aid. Following the publication of the FCDO annual report in September, it has been confirmed that UK ODA spending in Zambia next year will be cut by 59 per cent, in Malawi by 51 per cent, in Rwanda by 42 per cent and in Pakistan by 39 per cent. That is not just needlessly heartless, but short-sighted in the extreme. As NGOs told the UK Government in May, aid cuts will mean that 700,000 fewer girls will receive an education globally. I know that our Tories who disagreed with the ODA cut and some of them spoke very recently in the debate that we held on Afghanistan. Of course, Ruth Davidson spoke publicly too regarding the cuts, but Donald Cameron and the Conservative motion today states that they call on the Scottish Government to work constructively with the UK Government in supporting international development programmes. I wrote last year to the Minister for Africa, Mr James Dudridge, and I really wanted to speak to him about the FCEO DFID merger, which has, of course, directly impacted on Scottish charities. I wanted to understand better what that policy decision meant for the UK Government's international development offer, of which Scotland is meant to be part of. I wanted to seek Mr Dudridge's views on my review of Scotland's international development programme, but he refused to meet me. It is not just on international development, Presiding Officer. 19 separate requests to meet on matters relating to immigration refused. Three requests on the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs to meet with Liz Truth, everyone ignored. Gagged from speaking at the partnership council meeting with the EU, prevented from joining EU exit operations meetings the week before the EU settlement scheme ended, and an unelected parliamentary undersecretary of state for Scotland, who has bought his way into government. I know that she is upset about being ignored by UK Government ministers, but she will address the points that I raised about investment from Qatar, about Sinofortone, about the relationship with the Green Party and anti-Semitism. Will she address any of those issues at all? I thank Willie Rennie for his intervention, although I do not think that the tone was particularly helpful. I did address what he said in his contributions with regard to the remarks that I made regarding policy coherence for sustainable development, which is going to look specifically at that issue across government. I hope that he takes some assurance from that. Donald Cameron can rest assured that the cabinet secretary was consensual of course when he finally met the UK Government's immigration minister earlier today, but he should understand the very difficult political reality that proceeds, which I think is fair to say is one of disrespect and contempt for devolution. It should not be like this. Our programme for government sets out further positive steps on migration. We will develop a migration service for Scotland, and we are committed to developing a rural visa pilot proposal. We will also press on with our population programme work, the ministerial task force, having met just this morning. COP26 must galvanise all parties to take action that ensures that the world is on a pathway to net zero. That is fair and just, and it is vital that countries like ours take our share of responsibility to finding solutions to the climate emergency. We will also use our position as European co-chair of the Under 2 Coalition to encourage greater action and more ambitious climate commitments from member governments and demonstrate that global climate action cannot be met without action by governments at all levels. From a tailored approach to migration that meets Scotland's needs to increasing funding on international development by 50 per cent to establishing a centre for peace, this Government is leading the way in progressive action on the global stage, and we will not shy away from our responsibilities as a good global citizen. However, as we step up, we do so in spite of a UK Government determined to punish the world's poorest whilst they attempt to recover from the global pandemic. We do so while the UK Government trumpets meaningless slogans like global Britain, and we are doing so in the teeth of a UK Government that has no respect for devolution or for this institution. The Makers poem set a test for us all on Saturday. We seek good governance Parliament, act bold, be kind, stay strong. The Scottish National Party and the Green Co-operation agreement asserts the only way to do so is to take on the full powers of an independent nation, to make the choices to protect our people, to govern ourselves with respect and to be accountable to our people across every policy area that a normal Government should be. In bringing this debate to a close, I point again to the value of an internationalist perspective and the vital connections between our actions at home and abroad. By being open, connected and making a positive contribution internationally, we give ourselves the greatest possible chance of building a successful, confident and independent Scotland. That concludes the debate on Scotland in the world, championing progressive values. It is now time to move on to the next item of business, which is consideration of business motion 1585, in the name of George Adam, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a change to tomorrow's business. Any member who wishes to speak against the motion should press their request-to-speak button now. I call on George Adam to move the motion. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and moved. Thank you Minister. No member has asked to speak against the motion. Therefore, the question is that motion 1585 be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 1558, 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. Once again, moved. Thank you. No member has asked to speak on the motion. The question is that motion 1558 be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is consideration of Parliamentary Bureau motion 1561, on approval of an SSI. I ask George Adam, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, to move the motion. I call on Beatrice Wishart. I wish to speak in connection with the boundary changes affecting Shetland, in particular the change to Shetland West. The final proposal, submitted by the Boundaries Commission to the Scottish Minister, states that it takes into account Shetland Islands Council's localities and the local ties and communities that they represent, and that, using the flexibility introduced by the island Scotland Act 2018, which allowed us to design a two-member Shetland west ward to reflect local ties and recognise boundaries in the area. However, the community councils in Shetland West were opposed and objected to the proposal. It is currently served by three councillors, and they do not consider that their views have been taken into account in the final report, which has overlooked geographical considerations and put the onus instead on parity of population. Community council members are strongly of the opinion that wards with three or four members are better able to put forward the views of those that they represent, and that a two-member ward will not be able to represent them fully on all the statutory committees and other non-statutory committees. I raised this matter with the Government and had a reply from the Deputy First Minister in July, who indicated that he would ensure that the convener of the committee would be made aware of those concerns once it was known which committee would have responsibility for considering statutory instruments. I cannot vote for this SSI, which has not taken into account the genuine concerns of the community regarding the changes to the Shetland West ward. It is vital for local democracy and for local service delivery that councils are as representative as possible of the communities that they serve. Regular reviews of council wards and councillor numbers are necessary to reflect the changes in population. The committee acknowledged that Boundaries Scotland have discharged their duties professionally and competently. Shetland Island councils stated that they were happy with the outcome of the commission and its recommendations. We feel that the process of communication and engagement has led to a satisfactory result that we have achieved. On that basis, the council and the committee recommended approval of the recommendations for this, and three other councils covered by this review. The question on this motion will be put at decision time. The next item of business is consideration of nine parliamentary bureau motions. I asked George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau to move motions 1559, 1560 and 1562 to 1566 on approval of SSIs, 1567 on substitution on committees and 1568 on designation of the lead committee. The question on the motions will be put at decision time. There are five questions to be put as a result of today's business. May I remind members that if the amendment in the name of Donald Cameron is agreed to, the amendment in the name of Alex Rowley will fall. The first question is that amendment 1527.2 in the name of Donald Cameron, which seeks to amend motion 1527 in the name of Angus Robertson on Scotland in the World, championing progressive values, be agreed. Are we all agreed? The Parliament is not agreed, therefore we will move to vote and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.