Hansard

I, too, congratulate Stuart McMillan on securing this members' business debate. On my way back from Aileen Campbell's wedding in the summer, I visited Stirling Castle, where I got chatting to some Canadian tourists—a father and son. The father told me that the son had just won the world pipe band championships. It turns out that he was a piper with the Simon Fraser University pipe band of Vancouver. I congratulated him and remember telling him that I knew how good the band must be to have beaten Strathclyde Police pipe band, which had come fourth. I knew that because only a couple of months before I had been lucky enough, along with Stuart McMillan and the minister, to hear the Strathclyde Police pipe band play live at a reception in the wonderful College of Piping in Glasgow. I did not realise, as I chatted to the Canadian tourists, that a couple of months later I would be discussing both bands in a debate in Parliament.

As all the previous speakers have said, the bagpipes are a wonderful advert for Scotland. They are so distinctively Scottish and yet, as we have heard, they are played all over the world. To curtail the activities of the world-renowned Strathclyde Police pipe band will do nothing to continue to promote that positive image; worse than that, preventing one of the most popular pipe bands from entering the country, never mind the championships, as the UK Border Agency did this summer, is positively detrimental to it.

The Pakistani pipe band, also known as the Patiala pipe band, has been performing in the championships for the past four years. The championships are a truly global event with pipe bands from Canada, Australia, America and many other countries competing. The Pakistani pipe band brought its own unique flavour to the competition as the only Indian subcontinent pipe band that was involved. In previous years, the band has won many trophies and awards during the championships—often as much for the vibrant and distinctive dress of its members as for its performances. Anyone who attends the championships can see that these guys are often the centre of attention; children and adults from all backgrounds queue up to have their photograph taken with the pipe band from Pakistan.

The inclusion of the Patiala pipe band is a great advert for multicultural Scotland and goes a long way in showing that we truly are one nation, many cultures. The band's presence also provides a great morale boost to the local Pakistani community, who put on dinners and events to honour its participation in the championships. In fact, the last time the band came to Scotland, our very dear friend the late Bashir Ahmad MSP hosted them in Parliament.

Glasgow has a proud link with Pakistan, as many people will know—the city is twinned with Lahore. That arrangement has been beneficial for both cities. Exchanges have taken place in the medical field, in academia and in trade and business. All that has been jeopardised by an inexplicable move by the UK Border Agency, which has still to provide an adequate explanation for why the Pakistani pipe band was refused entry this year, given that it had competed in the previous four championships.

The issue is not one that provides an opportunity to score party-political points. Many members will know that it was a Labour councillor in Glasgow, Hanzala Malik, who like me was one of the first to express disgust at the UKBA's decision. It is worth noting that not just the pipe band but more than 30 members of Lahore Chamber of Commerce were refused entry. As the First Minister highlighted yesterday, serious discussions must be held with the UKBA about its approach to entry to Scotland—our country. There have been far too many cases in which the potential has existed for Scotland's interests to be damaged as a result of inexplicable decisions by the UKBA.

I have three hopes for next year's championships. First, I hope that we will be able to welcome the return of the Patiala pipe band from Pakistan. Secondly, I hope that the Simon Fraser University pipe band does very well next year, although perhaps not quite as well as it did this year. My final hope is that the wonderful Strathclyde Police pipe band—I encourage anyone who has not heard it play to do so, because it is incredible—is given the support that it needs to ensure that it continues to be a first-class ambassador for Glasgow, for Strathclyde, for Strathclyde Police and for Scotland, and that that support enables it to take its place where it belongs, not just as the top-rated Scottish band, but as world champion.