Meeting of the Parliament 25 March 2025
If everybody buys one coffee, that is a start. The public understand. As I have said before, we go to various events and have the option of using fair trade. If people take that up, that is a step in the right direction.
In the past couple of decades, fair trade practices have become ingrained in communities across the country. Last year, in my Mid Scotland and Fife region, Fair Trade Stirling held its 20th anniversary event. The 20-year work of that group, combined with the efforts of Stirling Council, led to the city receiving fair trade status back in 2004. As other fair trade groups across Scotland have done, Fair Trade Stirling has taken part in many important projects to promote and facilitate fair practices around the world, and that should be commended and congratulated.
Fair Trade Stirling’s work included setting up the Stirling skills centre in Malawi almost 15 years ago. The centre helps young people to develop the skills that they need to find work, and Malawi is a shining example of the potential benefits of fair trade. The Deputy Presiding Officer and I are co-conveners of the cross-party group on Malawi and regularly see the outstanding work on fair trade that is done there.
The Scottish Fair Trade Forum, which was launched in 2007, has done much work on that. Back in 2018, I was pleased to be able to sign the international fair trade charter when the forum hosted the launch of that important agreement. The charter promises to use the vision and experience of over 250 organisations around the globe to help to reshape business and trade around the world. That remains a principle that I am happy to support.
Although we can be proud of the work that has been done, much more needs to be done to ensure that Scotland and the United Kingdom are seen as world leaders on the issue, as we have heard. Scottish Fair Trade’s report highlights the “enormous effort” that will be needed to keep the fair trade movement going and enhance public awareness. We need to ensure that more people are aware of fair trade, including by embedding its importance in our education system. Many education authorities are already taking steps on the issue, and many schools take part in Fairtrade fortnight and attempt to purchase fair trade products.
However, it is important that the Scottish Government looks for opportunities to ensure that fair trade principles become commonplace in Scottish classrooms. We have heard this afternoon about what more we need to do to achieve that. One of the long-standing criteria for a fair trade nation is that there must be widespread awareness of fair trade. We now have more awareness of its importance, but we need to ensure that younger generations are actively aware of what is happening.
It is important we speak up for fair trade practices around the world, but it is also important that we highlight local and home-grown processes, as we heard from Murdo Fraser. Across Scotland, we have great examples of councils ensuring that local food producers are fully utilised, which reduces transport costs and helps to protect local jobs. However, that is still not standard practice throughout Scotland, and there are clear opportunities for the Scottish Government to show national leadership on the issue.
Our amendment recognises that
“free and fair trade is the most powerful engine for poverty reduction and global prosperity”,
and that is what we want to see. Given the current global climate and the situation that we are in, we want to highlight the opportunities that are out there, but we are in a changing world, and we need to be alive to that.
Fair trade is less about what we buy as consumers and more about who we are as a nation. I hope that this debate is an opportunity for Parliament to highlight that. Our amendment makes it clear that we, on the Conservative benches, are committed to the fair trade principles because fair trade is good for communities, individuals, the supply chain and our nation.
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