I congratulate Joan McAlpine on securing the debate through her motion, which I was delighted to support.

My family on my mum’s side were very much into Burns, so I grew up listening to Burns’s poems, songs and stories, although I confess that a talent for Burns passed me by. Nevertheless, I take a strong interest in celebrating Burns by enjoying haggis, totties and neeps, which I love.

In the Burns season, there will be thousands of Burns suppers. Some are very grand, some are held in community halls and some are in people’s living rooms. They take place all over Scotland, in the rest of the UK and across the world, and, as Joan McAlpine says in her motion, they generate business that supports jobs in the Scottish economy.

The Burns legacy plays a major part in promoting Scotland across the world. I was quite surprised to learn that Burns has more statues dedicated to him around the world than any non-religious figure other than Queen Victoria and Christopher Columbus.

Scotland’s promotion of an outward-looking cultural identity is flourishing to the point where the readers of Rough Guide, an online worldwide tourism blog, voted Scotland as the most beautiful country in the world. Burns is surely a significant contributor to that along with our world-renowned food and drink and our glorious glens, lochs, towns, villages, cities and coastline.

The most important aspect of the Burns season for me is that children in schools up and down Scotland will learn about the amazing works of Robert Burns, which have stood the test of time. They will learn about Scottish culture and what it was like to live in that period of Scottish history.

Burns wrote about real people, real emotions and the levels of inequality that existed for so many at that time. I wonder what he would have to say about the level of inequality that is still, if not more, prevalent over 200 years after his time. He was not impressed with the politicians of his time, whom he described as a “parcel of rogues”, so I do wonder what he would say today

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Joan McAlpine is absolutely right to highlight the importance of Robert Burns to Scotland’s culture and our economy. Long may that continue.