Hansard

For those of us who have been in the Parliament for a number of years, this may seem like a debate more on groundhog day than on St Andrew's day. Debates on the importance of St Andrew's day have been a regular feature of our parliamentary calendar, culminating this very day last year with the passing of Dennis Canavan's St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill. I am pleased to see Dennis in the chamber this afternoon, and I hope that he enjoys yet another debate on the subject.

Before Ted Brocklebank and Tricia Marwick get all excited, I assure them that I will return to the issue of the St Andrew's day holiday later in my speech. I start by welcoming much of what is in the Government's motion. However, on balance—the minister accepts this, too—I prefer the wording of the Conservative amendment, not just because of the grammar but, more important, because it mentions St Andrews the town.

I recall suggesting in one of our previous debates that St Andrew's day should be promoted as the launch of Scotland's winter festival season, which takes us from St Andrew's day through Christmas, our unique hogmanay celebrations and new year festivities and on to Burns night. I would like to see St Andrew's day become the switch-on day—we should not allow any Christmas lights anywhere in Scotland until 30 November, when there would be a big switch on and we could start to celebrate properly.

I am delighted that the idea of St Andrew's day as the start of our winter festival season has been picked up and that we have started to brand the various events that will happen throughout Scotland over the next few weeks as Scotland's winter festival. However, we should be clear that that is about promoting Scotland as one of the best places in which to spend time during the festive season. If the winter festival concept is to be successful, it has to be about promoting across the world the unique opportunities that Scotland offers to celebrate all aspects of the season. Those opportunities include the increasingly popular Christmas markets—this will be the eighth year in a row in which I will probably say that I must go ice skating in Princes Street gardens but never quite get round to it; cultural events, particularly those that feature traditional Scottish music and dance; our infamous pantomimes; the street parties that take place not just in our big cities but in communities throughout Scotland to see in the new year; or taking advantage of the special air and light that we get in rural Scotland and our Highlands and Islands in the winter months.

We have much to offer at this time of year and the winter festival can and should be developed to ensure that we make the most of all of Scotland. The winter festival must be about promoting the best of Scotland and not narrow nationalism. St Andrew's day can be our national day, but it can never become a nationalist day. It must not be focused only on the six cities, which is why I support the Conservative amendment. When I looked at the official winter festival website through www.scotland.org, I was concerned to see that it provided information on what was happening in the six big cities tomorrow, but nothing about what was happening in St Andrews—there was not even a link to the St Andrews festival website, which contains information about the events to which Ted Brocklebank rightly referred. As the local member, I am not happy about that; it is not good enough. I hope that in future St Andrew's day will be seen by those who are responsible for the winter festival website as something for all Scotland, not just the cities. We have the opportunity to link the festival website to all the other events that are happening throughout Scotland.

I turn to the St Andrew's day holiday and our amendment. I have taken a consistent position on the case for a St Andrew's day holiday, which I have expressed on every occasion that this subject has been debated in the Scottish Parliament. I believe that St Andrew's day should be a public holiday and that public bodies such as the Scottish Government and local councils should take the lead in promoting it as a public holiday by substituting it for one of the existing public holidays—I have never agreed that the holiday should be additional, but rather that it should be a substitute for an existing holiday. Back at the start, the Scottish Parliament substituted the September holiday for the St Andrew's day holiday.

Sadly, the SNP has not been quite so consistent. In opposition, the SNP was all for an additional public holiday. In November 2004, Nicola Sturgeon said in a press release:

"St Andrew's day should be a day of national celebration and debate, and only a national holiday can allow us to exploit this enormous potential."

In a press release last September, Stewart Maxwell said that Jack McConnell

"has been rather miserly with his refusal to create an additional public holiday, and so we will continue to press for further changes by this weak First Minister."

He went on to proclaim that an SNP Government would

"ensure that all of our people can celebrate our national day just like normal nations. The SNP are the only party who can deliver on this promise."

In a debate in the chamber, Stewart Maxwell said:

"if we are serious about growing our tourism market by 50 per cent over the next 10 years, initiatives such as an extra bank holiday are exactly what we need, rather than robbing Peter to pay Paul by taking a holiday away from elsewhere in the year."—[Official Report, 28 September 2006; c28064.]

In its manifesto for May, the SNP said:

"we will make St Andrew's Day a full national holiday".

In its document, "It's time to look forward—the first 100 days of an SNP government", the SNP went further and stated that in its first 100 days it would

"introduce early legislation to confirm St Andrew's day as a full national holiday."

What has happened? Has legislation been introduced? No. In a written answer to Nicol Stephen, Linda Fabiani stated:

"There is no requirement to introduce further legislation to confirm St Andrew's Day as a national holiday".—[Official Report, Written Answers, 20 August 2007; S3W-2499.]

In "Reporting on 100 days: Moving Scotland forward", the First Minster confirmed:

"It has been decided that, for this year, staff in the core Scottish Executive Directorates, can choose to exchange their existing September weekend half-day holiday for a half-day holiday on St Andrew's Day."

It is not a full day, but a half day. There is not even a holiday for the Government's own staff. There is not even a half day; it is just a choice.

Perhaps Mr Maxwell, who is not here for the debate, can tell us later whether that is the sign of a miserly and weak First Minister and whether Peter is being robbed to pay Paul.

When the SNP was in opposition, it was more concerned about ensuring that the Liberal Democrats in government implemented every dot and comma of their manifesto than it has been about implementing anything in its own manifesto now that it is in government. It would appear that the St Andrew's day holiday is another promise that was made to get the SNP elected then ditched in government. Will the only people who will be guaranteed a holiday on St Andrew's day be the 1,000 people who had hoped to be recruited as additional police officers?

I move amendment S3M-946.1, to insert at end:

"but notes the failure of the SNP government to keep the SNP manifesto promise to ‘make St Andrew's Day a full national holiday'."