1. To ask the First Minister what engagements she has planned for the rest of the day. (S5F-00317)

First, I welcome Ruth Davidson back from Birmingham. I hope that she is thoroughly ashamed of the xenophobic rhetoric by which she has been surrounded over the past few days.

Later today, I have engagements to take forward the Government’s programme for Scotland.

I assume that even the First Minister would acknowledge that I made my positions perfectly clear at the party conference.

Today’s report from the Fraser of Allander institute spells out plainly the challenge that Scotland, along with the rest of the United Kingdom, will face over the coming years as we leave the European Union. Like most members, I did not vote to leave the EU, but the question now is how we maximise the opportunities ahead and, of course, mitigate risks. The report says that the focus must now be on areas such as food and drink as well as manufacturing. What work is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that those two sectors get protection from risks and take advantage of opportunities?

The First Minister:

It is a bit rich to be asked what the Government is doing to protect Scotland from the risks when they were created by the Conservative Party of which Ruth Davidson is a member and the leader in Scotland.

As I have said repeatedly in the chamber and outside it, the Government will do everything in its power to protect Scotland’s interests and mitigate the serious risks that Scotland faces—risks that are set out clearly in today’s Fraser of Allander report. We are working intensively with all sectors across our economy. That work is being led by our Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work and by Mike Russell, whom I appointed to deal specifically with the Brexit negotiations. However, it is not just about manufacturing and food and drink: earlier this week, I sat down with the financial services sector to discuss its concerns about Brexit and about the growing indications that, under the Conservatives, we are heading for the hardest of hard Brexits.

Unlike Ruth Davidson’s position, my position has not changed. I continue to think that Brexit is a bad idea and I therefore continue to think that it is my responsibility to do everything that I can to protect Scotland from it.

Let us talk more specifically about things that the Government could do to drive Scotland forward as we go through this period. The First Minister’s Government is expected to make an announcement today on underground coal gasification. Graeme Blackett, who is the head of Biggar Economics and a member of the First Minister’s growth commission, said:

“Subject to the robust planning and regulatory processes that we rightly have, there are major advantages in being the first movers in this technology, and becoming a world leader.”

I know that the First Minister is restricted in what she can say, but her adviser thinks that we could use that type of new technology to boost thousands of jobs and add billions of pounds to the Scottish economy. Does she agree?

The First Minister:

I am sure that Ruth Davidson is aware that the United Kingdom Government is also looking carefully at the issues around UCG and that she is aware—perhaps more aware than I am—of the direction of travel in which it might be going.

As she did last week, Ruth Davidson seems to suggest that we should ride roughshod over evidence and the reports that we have commissioned. When Paul Wheelhouse makes a statement to the chamber this afternoon, he will report on the work that we asked Professor Campbell Gemmell to undertake on our behalf. All members of the Parliament—indeed, everybody in the country—will be able to look in detail at that work. Paul Wheelhouse will confirm the conclusions that the Government has reached as a result of the work that it asked to be undertaken.

That is the responsible way to proceed, because it puts the concerns that people have and the interests of our environment and our economy front and centre, and balanced judgments will be reached as a result of the work. That is the way in which we will continue to proceed on this important matter.

In the same way, people can still look on the Scottish Government’s website at the last report that the First Minister commissioned on fracking, whose advice she did not take.

Let us move on to another sector that was emphasised by today’s Fraser of Allander institute report: food and drink. Whisky producers tell us that Latin America—a market of 600 million people—has the potential for massive growth in the coming year yet, south of Texas, Scottish Development International has only one tiny office.

Like me and the First Minister, the Scotch Whisky Association did not want us to leave the European Union, but it now wants us to focus on developing opportunities. What action is the First Minister taking to expand our trade footprint around the world?

The First Minister:

Let us walk ourselves through that question step by step. First, those who know what they are talking about on UCG and fracking will note that Ruth Davidson managed to switch between the different technologies; I do not know whether she did that in full knowledge or whether she needs to do a bit more homework. What we are talking about today is underground coal gasification, which is a very different technology from fracking. Before she came to the chamber to ask questions about the issue, I would have thought that she might know and understand that.

Secondly, on whisky, I met the Scotch Whisky Association last week or the week before. It wanted to raise with me the success of the Scottish whisky industry and its concerns about Brexit and the likely impact of that decision on the industry.

As far as our international presence is concerned, I am sure that, if anyone here were to do a quick Google search, they would find plenty of examples of the Scottish Conservatives criticising the Scottish Government’s international presence and saying things such as, “It’s nothing to do with us—we should leave these matters to the UK Government.” Thankfully, we do not listen. In addition to the excellent work that SDI is doing—of course we are considering carefully how we make sure that SDI is properly equipped in the climate that we have been put in as a result of the Tory Government’s recklessness—we have recently announced the opening of new investment hubs in London, Dublin and Brussels. We are making sure that we are not reliant on the likes of Boris Johnson to represent us overseas and that we have the ability to represent ourselves.

The First Minister seems to be more interested in discussing my position than in discussing her own Government’s. I do not believe that I have ever hidden my position. My position is that people from the EU and elsewhere are welcome here and that this is their home, and that we should retain the closest possible trading relationship with our European friends and neighbours while expanding trade abroad, but that we should also face up to the realities ahead of us, mitigate risks and take advantage of opportunities.

This Parliament faces a choice about whether to put the lion’s share of its efforts into examining practical solutions or simply to complain about the result. Which is it to be, First Minister?

The First Minister:

Ruth Davidson is perhaps protesting a bit too much. She says that I am more interested in her position. If anybody can work out what her position is on these matters any more, they are doing better than I am, because she has flipped and flopped over and over again since the referendum result.

Yesterday, Ruth Davidson said—I commend her for doing so—what I said the morning after the EU referendum: that people who have chosen to make their homes here are welcome here, that they make a contribution and that we want them to stay and continue to make that contribution. Unfortunately, the difference between her and me is that she wants control over immigration to stay in the hands of the xenophobes, whereas I want it to come into the hands of this Parliament, so that we can put those sentiments into practice.

Scotland finds itself in a situation that we did not ask to be in. We are facing all the risks that we face because of the recklessness of the Conservative Government at Westminster. My job, and the job of the Scottish Government, is to protect Scotland’s interests, and that is exactly what we will continue to do.