 The final item of business today is the business debate on motion number 1-47-14, in the name of Michael Russell on St Andrew's day. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put. I would invite those members who wish to speak in the debate to please press the request to speak buttons now or as soon as possible, and I will call on Mike Russell to open the debate. Mr Russell, do you have seven minutes, or thereby please? Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'm very pleased to have this opportunity to speak about the continuing aspiration of many, though clearly not many, Tories and Liberals, to secure us in Andrews Day as a full public holiday for Scotland. I'm grateful to MSPs across the chamber for signing the motion. It's a topic that attracts support across the constitutional divide and, indeed, it attracts support across the world. It was good to see Google celebrating in Andrews Day yesterday with a Google doodle complete with a saltire and a winking nessie. We've got some way to go though to be able to hear in this building the happy St Andrews Day greetings as much as we heard the happy Thanksgiving greetings, which were heard on every floor of the member's block here on Thursday, our American interns taking one of their national days overseas with goodwill and celebration. Some people were a little alienated yesterday when they saw on Facebook that they were using a Romanian flag to celebrate St Andrews Day, but St Andrew is the patron saint of Romania, which in 2012 decided to declare a full public holiday on this day on 30 November. St Andrew is, of course, and I don't need to remind you, Presiding Officer, also the patron saint of fishmongers, gout, singers, sore throats, spinsters, maidens, old maids and women wishing to become mothers. St Andrew has only been the patron saint of Romania since 1997. Scotland can claim him as far back as 1320 with the declaration of our both. The association with the saltire, the cross on which St Andrew was crucified, goes back even further, probably to 832 in the battle of Arthur Stainford, when the saltire appeared to the Pictish king. The relics of St Andrew were brought by St Regulus to St Andrews, which he described as at the very ends of the earth, but the association has stuck. St Andrew is, of course, also the patron saint of Russia, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, San Andreas Island, Colombia and Barbados. Barbados also celebrates St Andrews Day as a full public holiday. Some of the others market in different ways, usually because there are other public holidays around the same time. For example, in Russia, 27 November is a public holiday called Naval Infantry Day. It marks the raising of the first naval regiment by Peter the Great. Scotland needs to promote itself with vigor and with unity, and public holidays do that if properly sold abroad. Amazingly, the first official St Patrick's Day festival was only held as recently in Dublin as 1996. Now it is worldwide. It acts as a strong promoter of Irishness, and a holiday north and south of the border is observed. Scotland has very few national public holidays compared to other countries, although it has a strong tradition of local holidays. Lanimers in Lanark, the Brawlhads in Gallashields, Savvain in Inverness, Victoria Day in five different locations in Scotland, including Edinburgh. As that marks Queen Victoria's birthday, it is hardly of contemporary relevance. Dennis Canavan brought the issue of a national holiday on St Andrew's Day to this chamber, first of all. His St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday Scotland Act was approved unanimously in 2007, and he deserves great credit for that. His aim was to, and it is in the bill, to have a national holiday on or around St Andrew's Day so that the people of Scotland would have the opportunity to celebrate their patron saint, their national identity, the cultural diversity and their membership of the international community. That was a good aim then, and it is a good aim now. Dennis went on to establish a St Andrew's Day campaign committee, still meeting with the distinguished membership, including the Salter Society, the St Andrew's Society, the STUC, local government churches, faith groups and a number of distinguished supporters, including Lord MacFarlane of Bearsden, Sir Tom Farmer, Lane C Smith and Craig Brown. That committee remains firmly of the view that this Parliament, although it does not have the power to oblige all employers to give their employees a day off, could and should do more to take forward the idea. The Scottish Government and the Parliament marked the day as a holiday, but only a handful of local authorities do so. The campaign committee wants to see the commitment to the holiday enshrined in all manifestos for the 2016 election. It wants action, it is fair to say, and I hope that the minister will reflect on his clothing remarks to fulfil the pledge in the Scottish Government manifesto in 2011 to assess the success of the 2014 St Andrew's Day, in the last year of homecoming, before making further proposals. I hope that those proposals will be on their way, because all the party leaders committed themselves to the day as one, and I quote again of national celebration for the people of Scotland in a declaration signed on 29 November 2011. Now we need to make it happen. The day would be good for us as friends, neighbours and fellow citizens. It would build a sense of solidarity among us. It can encourage cultural expression. It might also give us a more rational and less materialistic alternative to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It can also celebrate our internationalism, links to other countries marking the day and to other days being celebrated at this time of the year. This debate is not one that will end with a voter or decision, but I hope that the message from it, supporting Dennis Canavan and his St Andrew's Day committee, will be heard. The committee wants to see action in Soda Scotland. The committee has recommended not only a high-level commitment from the parties and politicians, but a range of practical things, including a national event to switch on Christmas lights, the projection of a floodlit, salt-iron and prominent Scottish landmarks, St Andrew's Day concerts, broadcasting across the world involving the diaspora, the national school competition, a St Andrew's Day lecture, more involvement of young people. Increasingly, community groups, schools and young people are coming together to celebrate this day. Of course, political parties are doing it too. On Saturday night, I was at the St Andrew's Night dinner in Oben, organised by the Oben and Lorne branch of the SNP. Over 200 people attended listening to speeches and song and raised money for an excellent cause, my re-election. I hope that the day and the celebrations can continue to spread, and they would do so best if we give a lead from here. I hope that the Government will think about including a school holiday in the national circular on the number of days in which pupils have to attend schools. A single day will not make much difference to a child's education, but that single day could make a lot of difference to the child's sense of community and positive solidarity and it could make a lot of difference to the future of the nation. We want, for our country and no matter our constitutional stance, unity, purpose, generosity and a place in the world. Those are things that a national day can give us, so let's go about creating the national day that we need and want. I thank Michael Russell for the opportunity to speak in this debate today and congratulate him on getting this far with it. As we all know, St Andrew's Day is not just another day and it's not just another holiday. It is a special celebration of Scotland's rich history and culture. It is a chance to celebrate our heritage. We trace back our lineage and revive our traditional foods, dances and performances in an effort to remember the cultural values upon which our nation was built. We reflect on how those traditions exist in society today and remind ourselves of our roots. Every year, on November 30, we take the time to appreciate all that is great about Scotland. We showcase our food, our music and our dance and show the world that Scotland is proud of its heritage and of its communities. In many cities across the country, St Andrew's Day is celebrated with large parties, great musical entertainment and traditional Cailey Danson and fundraisers for Michael Russell. In my region of Glasgow, the entire city holds an annual celebration in George Square with a traditional Scottish-themed programme, including live Cailey bands, dancing and children's activities. St Andrew's Day is an important moment for all our communities, both large and small. St Andrew's Day has been known as the patron of Saint of Scotland since at least the ninth century, and his crucifixion is the inspiration for our flag that still flies high in Scotland today. The legend of a saltire dates back to as far as 832 A.D. As St Andrew's Day was the national symbol that Scotland needed to motivate the country as we became a nation many years ago. In 2015, we celebrate the strength that St Andrew has inspired in us to this very day. The saltire that symbolises that inspiration is rightfully displayed in our towns and communities every year on 30 November, a showing of great support for this nation. I would also like to mention that even Google, as Mr Russell mentioned earlier, has shown its support for St Andrew's Day yesterday by displaying the flag on its homepage. While St Andrew's Day was obviously impacted greatly on Scotland, it was also essential to note that St Andrew's Day celebrations are held all across the world as Scots and Scots abroad observe this national holiday. St Andrew's Day allows Scots to share our heritage and our culture with people all over the world. When St Andrew's Day is celebrated on a global scale, it should be recognised. As St Andrew's Day becomes a representation of Scotland on the world scene, everyone should have the opportunity to participate in the celebrations across the country and allow us to continue to show the world what a truly great nation we are. I too congratulate Mike Russell on securing this debate, celebrating our national identity. The increase in the celebration of St Andrew's Day is undoubtedly due in part to this Parliament reconvening some 16 years ago and not the least to Dennis Canavan's act that we already heard of, which raised the profile of St Andrew's Day on not to anywhere near the status of St Patrick's Day, as has been noted, or of Burns Night. However, there have been improvements over the years. St Andrew's, as others have said, gave us a salt iron 832AD at Athel Stainford, the birth of that flag. Scotland came about. It was also used on the nation's coinage when it was introduced by David I in the 13th century. It has an ancient and honourable lineage, as has the Scottish nation. Flags are the most powerful statements of nationhood, they are the beating heart of a nation. As the unseen and unexpected scurril of the bagpipes in a foreign land draws our curiosity, so the flag wherever flown says, here is a part of Scotland, there are Scottish people here. The member has suggested that the salt iron be projected across public buildings. He can start with Edinburgh Castle because, on St Andrew's Day in our capital city, there is no St Andrew's flag, no salt iron in prominent position on the castle. As always, it defers to the union flag. Why not? Why not the salt iron? There is a false argument that it does so because the castle is an army garrison. It is not. It ceased to be a garrison in 1920, and the army is now largely in a ceremonial capacity. If one were looking for a conspiracy, one might say that the garrison argument provides a fig leaf or a flag leaf for the supremacy of the union flag. Yet, when the army wants to recruit our young men and women to fight in wars, it uses a salt iron. When the body bags come home, it does to the piper's lament, and the weighted coffin is draped in the salt iron. Yes, the union has its uses for the salt iron. Neither the Ministry of Defence nor Historic Scotland owns the castle. Under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998, the Government of Scotland owns it. Our ministers own it. Historic Scotland is simply a custodian, and the army is a tenant. I suggest that it is time that we enforce the terms of that tenancy for the life of me. I do not understand why the majority SNP Government with its ministers owning the castle does not insist that the salt iron flies in its pole position not just on 30 November but every day and flies alone. I therefore congratulate Scottish Borders Council, which flies the salt iron and nothing else but the salt iron, 365 days of the year. Is it not extraordinary that Scotland is one of the most ancient nations in Europe? We have been a nation since the 11th century and it does not really celebrate its nationhood in St Andrew's day. It is also extraordinary that, although there are salt iron societies in Boston and elsewhere in the world, our salt iron society had to fight to fly Scotland's flag. It is symbols of nationhood, such as our patron saint and the flag that is symbolic of his crucifixion, that have carried the hearts and hopes of Scots in good and bad, from the confrontations and football pitches to those in battlefields. How dare Alex Salmond wave the salt iron for Andy Murray's victory? We should know our place. Andy Winsey's British loses in a Scottish. There is some truth in that. Of course, there is money to be made in tourism opportunities. To lead from St Andrew's day to a winter festival will be no bad thing, and I would welcome it. However, far more important for me is the symbolic reminder that we are the Scottish people whether or not we were born here, as many of us, including myself and Mike Russell, were not. That is what we should be proud of. Thank you very much. I now call Cameron Buchanan, after which I move to the minister for the closing speech. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It is that time of year again to celebrate St Andrew's day, and I am pleased to have this opportunity to join in the many celebrations, even if I am the lone Tory here. Although the story of St Andrew's is well known to some, my historical thunder has been stolen by Mike Russell. I am delighted that Stuart Stevenson is not here to add to it. I think it is worth the raising awareness of the origins of our celebration and the international influence of the saint himself. Having said this so much of St Andrew's day is about getting into the spirit, so I am very happy to have the chance here to plug some of the events and special occasions held in my local area to mark this day. It is said that St Andrew's became identified with Scotland when King Angus of the Picts, with the support of the Scots, one at the battle of AD 832 of a King Athelstain of the Northumblins, fought in the present day East Lothian. Before the battle, King Angus dreamt of St Andrew bearing his saltile cross, then, while fighting Angus, saw a cross of white clouds against a blue sky, hence the colours. The Picts and the Scots went on to defeat the Northumbrians and the saltile became their flag and, of course, St Andrew their saint. Although we have our own story, as we have heard from everybody else, the great man is also the patron saint in Greece, Russia and Romania, and even as far as feel as Barbados, which you did not say. I wonder perhaps if there is some scope for sharing celebration stories and ideas to get more vibrancy to our own festivities. He is, of course, a patron of fishermen, which is particularly appropriate given our long-established reputation as a seafaring nation. The eminence of our seafood and the status is one of the largest fishing nations in Europe. At the moment, it is difficult to mention fishing without some comments about the European Union's policies coming up, but I think I'll just leave that to one side for today and focus instead on the celebrations here at home that some locals have got stuck into. Historic Environment Scotland gave away tickets to some of our best heritage attractions as part of this year's St Andrew's Day celebrations, to be used over the weekend of the 28th and 29th of November, and this included Edinburgh Castle, Craigmillar Castle and Lethgow Palace in the Lothian region, which I hope families, enthusiasts and all interested members of the public took advantage of. People could also enjoy free offering of music, comedy dance and literature in St Andrew's Square, including Dean Owens and the Whiskey Hearts. Most importantly, I'm sure there will be a huge array of private parties and celebrations that each may bring family and friends together in their own way. Calling, Presiding Officer, I do hope that we'll continue to share the festivities around St Andrew's Day and I share Mr Russell's enthusiasm for making it a school holiday as well. As with many celebrations, it's important to remember the day's origins, as well as appreciating its wider connections. Having said that, the best thing that everyone can do is to enjoy the day in their own way and the more choices they have, the better. Thank you. Thank you so much. I mean I'll move to the Minister for the Closing Speech. Minister, seven minutes are thereby at please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm delighted to respond to what has been an interesting and informative debate. I would like to thank Michael Russell for bringing it to the chamber. I would also like to thank him for his history and geography lesson around St Andrew's. We'll have to look at the record to see whether Barbados was initially there or not. I thought that it was. I also thank Anne McTager for talking about the inspiration of the saltire, the legend of a saltire, which, as Christine Grahame mentioned, is so important to the Scottish nation, the symbol of that flag flying. Thanks to Cameron for adding in a plug for Scotland's seafood. Obviously, there are important talks on going, and we're trying to make sure that we get the best deal for that particular industry, which is a growing industry here in Scotland and is worth more year on year. The potential is something that we all agree on and we hope that we can support it going forward. It was eight years ago when the first Scottish National Party Government initiated the concept of Scotland's winter festivals to boost the national and international celebration of St Andrew's Day, Hogmanay and Burnsnight and to showcase the very many reasons why Scotland should be seen as a year-round visitor destination. Those key cultural dates were always celebrated, but what the winter festival programme helps to do is to harness its significant collective potential by showcasing across the winter season the exciting range of events and activities on offer that promote and celebrate our distinct traditions to the people of Scotland and our visitors and those with an affinity for Scotland from across the worlds. Scotland's winter festival celebrates and showcases our unique cultural and creativity at home and across the globe, boosting tourism and the visitor economy and engaging communities and enhancing our national pride. Since its introduction, the winter festivals have gone from strength to strength. This year, the cabinet secretary for culture and external affairs announced a record £390,000 to support 21 key cultural events as part of the 2015-16 programme, some of which you can mention. £75,000 of that fund has been used to expand the reach of events across Scotland. I am delighted that now 15 local authorities areas are now involved in the new programme activity that is taking place this year in Aberdeen, Dundee, East Ayrshire and Falkirk. The celebration on and around St Andrew's Day is a key element of the winter festival and those celebrations are growing year on year. This year, 10 events, Aberdeen, Argyll and Bute, Edinburgh, East Lothian, Dundee, Fife, Glasgow and Perthincan Ross have all shared a total of £141,000 of funding support for their winter festivals. Partners across the country offered free and discounted entry to attractions throughout the St Andrew's Day out programme, which I think was included in Edinburgh Castle, as we can have mentioned. While data for 2015 is still being collated, to give you a sense of the growing impact of the celebrations of our national day, I would like to share some of the information from 2014. Edinburgh's St Andrew's Day celebrations attracted over 43,000 people and over 12,000 people attended a new event to mark St Andrew's Day in St Andrew's itself. 127 organisations signed up to be St Andrew's Day out partners, offering free and discounted entry to their attractions. Storic Scotland received over 37,000 applications for their annual ticket giveaway to mark St Andrew's Day, increasing from 26,000 in 2013. In Scotland-themed St Andrew's Day materials were provided to 20 British embassies and also for events that were held in Portugal, Estonia, Bangladesh, the USA and Canada. As you can see, the reach of our national day is going much wider, but it is also about Scotland. St Andrew's Day in the winter festivals has also provided a fantastic vehicle to enhance community engagement and empowerment. To that end, we were delighted to provide Bemis Scotland with a funding contribution of £46,000 this year to help to further engage Scotland's multicultural communities in the year 2015 of Food and Drink and the 2015-16 winter festivals. The programme has been a great success, delivering more than 65 events across the country and engaging thousands of people from multicultural communities, friends and their neighbours. Going forward, we will work with Bemis Scotland and other partners to explore how we can build further on our achievements in 2015. Michael Russell raised the St Andrew's Day campaign committee chaired by Dennis Canavan, which has been formed to explore opportunities to further boost the celebration of St Andrew's Day. Over the past few months, the committee has worked with the Scottish Government to help to enhance the celebration of St Andrew's Day. They have also been, as Mr Russell said, keen to see St Andrew's Day designated as a national holiday. The Scottish Government officials have confirmed that the concept of a national holiday has no legal basis in the UK. St Andrew's Day Bank holiday, Scotland 2007, modified the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 to make St Andrew's Day a bank holiday in Scotland, and any holidays that might be regarded as national or public are bank holidays. That being the case, the focus of our on-going activities has been to work collectively to further embed the tradition of St Andrew's Day celebrations across the country and across the world through events and promotional activities that build on our significant success to date and engaging people in the meaning of St Andrew's Day. The St Andrew's Day campaign committee has come up with a number of ideas to help to achieve that. For example, you may have been aware of the attractions across Scotland that were lit blue last night to Mark St Andrew's Day. That was an idea that was initiated by the committee and developed by the Scottish Government with support from organisations such as the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions and others. Going forward, we had hoped that the initiative would bring St Andrew's Day in Scotland's unique buildings and landscapes to a worldwide audience. Another suggestion from the committee was an interfaith service to Mark St Andrew's Day. Again, we were delighted to support that service with £1,500 of funding and to support an interfaith service that took place at Old Cathcart Church in Glasgow on Sunday, which was led by the Reverend Neil Gilbrath. An interfaith service for St Andrew's Day helpfully complements the activities that I described earlier being led by Bemis Scotland. We hope to explore opportunities with partners to further grow that model in the future. From today's debate, it is clear that there is support to boost the celebration of St Andrew's Day. We support that wholeheartedly. The Scottish Government is working to help to boost the celebration on a number of fronts and we as well as our particular role in terms of international government and international engagements. However, the responsibility for engagement in St Andrew's Day does not rest with anybody and the key to success is going to be partnership. I encourage members to look to their constituencies and local partners and see how they can further add to the celebrations. With your help and in partnership with organisations and communities across Scotland, it is clear that we can grow the celebration of St Andrew's Day. Enhancing the wider celebration of the Winter Festival boosts our economy and our international profile with the engagement, cohesion and empowerment for our communities. Thank you very much. Thank you all and I close this meeting of parliament.