Hansard

I join my colleagues in welcoming Scotland’s renewed status as a fair trade nation. It is not merely a badge of honour; it is a reaffirmation of who we are and the values that we choose to stand for—fairness, dignity, solidarity and justice.

I pay tribute to the fair trade campaigners, businesses and community groups across our country whose dedication has made that status possible. Among them are the inspiring members of the Peterhead and Buchan fair trade group in my Banffshire and Buchan Coast constituency. That collective, which is made up of volunteers from Peterhead and from Mintlaw and New Deer in my colleague Gillian Martin’s constituency, has worked tirelessly since achieving Fairtrade status in 2012—a status that it has proudly renewed again this year.

The group’s work reaches across our communities and into the hearts of our schools. It has held fundraising stalls at school fairs, presented to assemblies and even introduced Fairtrade cotton uniforms as an option in local schools, planting the seeds of global citizenship in the minds of our young people. It shows us that fair trade is not a distant ideal but something that is woven into our everyday lives—our choices, our shops and our classrooms.

The Peterhead and Buchan fair trade group has also worked with local businesses, organising permanent fair trade displays in hardware stores and running seasonal sales and raffles to raise awareness. It has partnered with the Co-op, collaborated with Aberdeen fair trade group, presented to local organisations such as the Mintlaw women’s institute and the central Buchan rotary, and participated in national and international forums such as “Meet the Producer” and “Campaigning Together.” Its current campaign deserves special mention: collecting and sending donated tools such as drills, grinders and sewing machines to a rice co-operative in Malawi. That initiative speaks to not only the creativity of local campaigners but the deep solidarity at the heart of the fair trade movement.

Scotland has been a fair trade nation since 2013. The retention of that status in 2025 reaffirms our on-going commitment to fairness, social justice and global solidarity. It is a reminder that our small nation can make a big difference on the world stage, especially when we stand shoulder to shoulder with producers and workers in the global south.

We live in a world that is wracked by enormous challenges, such as climate change, conflict, inequality, and global health crises. Those crises disproportionately affect the very communities that fair trade seeks to support. Scotland’s response has been clear: we choose to stand in solidarity, we choose partnership over exploitation, and we choose justice over indifference.

The fair trade model is about more than just trade. It recognises the rights, dignity, and livelihoods of people throughout the supply chain, empowering farmers, workers and producers to build better lives for themselves and their communities.

That is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s international strategy. Through initiatives such as the climate justice fund, which was launched in 2012—making Scotland the first country to commit funds explicitly to climate justice—and through our partnerships with countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda and Pakistan, we continue to promote inclusive development and ethical global relationships. Scotland’s international development fund will increase to £12.8 million in 2025–26. That includes support for humanitarian emergencies and vital investment in areas such as global health and education—especially for marginalised women and girls.

At a time when global need is rising, the Scottish Government’s commitment is both morally right and strategically wise. In stark contrast, unfortunately, the UK Labour Government has chosen to slash international aid to just 0.3 per cent of gross national income—breaking a manifesto promise and turning its back on some of the world’s poorest communities. Scotland chooses another path. We choose to lead.

I believe—deeply—that, given the full powers of independence, we could go even further, by committing to the UN’s target of 0.7 per cent GNI for official development assistance and enshrining that promise in law. However, until that day comes, we must make every devolved lever count. Through our vision for trade, we apply the principles of inclusive growth, wellbeing, sustainability, net zero and good governance to every decision that we make, placing fairness and the planet at the heart of our economy.

Through grass-roots efforts such as those of the Peterhead and Buchan fair trade group, fair trade lives and breathes in our communities. Such groups remind us that global solidarity starts at home—that a stall in a school hall, a cotton uniform and a donated sewing machine are all acts of hope.

Scotland’s status as a fair trade nation is not a static accolade but a living and evolving commitment. It asks something of each of us: to advocate, to educate, to choose differently and to build a system that serves not just the fortunate but the forgotten.

We must continue to uphold that commitment. We must honour the campaigners, the producers and the promise that Scotland can be a beacon of fairness in a world that desperately needs that.