Seòmar agus comataidhean

As a former secondary teacher—albeit that it was a wee whilie ago—and with teachers past and current in the family, I am aware of the dedication to the job and the stresses that go with it. With the priority to keep schools open and, as I understand it, to reintroduce exams in 2022, can more support be given to the profession, which is key to Scotland’s future?

I note from the motion that the Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries supports the bid. Do you disagree with her?

How depressing the Conservative contributions have been.

I congratulate my colleague Emma Harper on securing the debate, and I support her call for Dumfries to succeed in its application for city status—a campaign that Emma Harper has long been involved in. I congratulate Colin Smyth, too—a colleague on the other side of the chamber who is also in that camp. It seems that it is only the Conservatives who oppose the bid. Goodness knows why.

Those members are both Conservatives, so it is political. I have campaigned on many issues—

Let me make a little progress, Mr Mundell, because you are digging a large hole for yourself.

Well, why not? You can depress me again.

City status is an enigma. For example, London does not have city status but comprises two cities: the City of London and the City of Westminster. City status is a quirky thing, which, as other members have said, is conferred by the monarch after advice from the Government. It is, however, the monarch’s decision.

As other members have said, city status is usually conferred on a royal ceremonial occasion, such as the Queen’s platinum jubilee next year. The criteria are very loose—I will not rehearse them, as they have been mentioned by other members, but they do not include population or cathedrals.

As members can imagine, royal connections are handy, and Dumfries has those going back as far as 1186, when William the Lion of Scotland granted Dumfries royal burgh status. In 1395, Robert III, by charter, granted Dumfries the rights of a town. Next year, we might have another monarch granting rights.

I have referred to a Robert, so let us remember, as others have done, that Robert Burns spent his last years in Dumfries, from 1796 until his death five years later. His body is now interred in the Burns mausoleum.

I turn to Burns’s creative connections, particularly when he was at Ellisland farm, which he worked and which now has a complex and the Burns museum. I have been to and spoken at Burns nights there. Famously, Robert Burns wrote “Auld Lang Syne” in Dumfries. Although I do not know of a more internationally known song than “Auld Lang Syne”, I do not think that many people realise that it was written in Dumfries, and not in Alloway. “Ae Fond Kiss” was also part of the creativity that came from Burns’s years in Dumfries.

Burns wrote so much—130 songs and poems—during his short time in Dumfries before he died, and although he may not fit the traditional definition of a royal, he definitely was, and remains, Scottish royalty in my book. City status would enhance and remind international travellers of the powerful connection of Burns with Dumfries. It is not just Alloway and Burns’s cottage that are in the frame.

Finally, on a personal note, what have I got to do with Dumfries and Galloway? Well, I lived in Minnigaff, and I taught at the Douglas Ewart high school in Newton Stewart for more than a decade. Both of my sons were born in the Cresswell maternity hospital—since demolished, although that has nothing to do with my sons having been born there. Both my sons are Gallovidians by birth. I will always remember the breakneck 60-mile journey from Minnigaff to the Cresswell in a pretty rickety ambulance. My next-door neighbour, who was the local midwife, had to have a stop every so often to relieve herself of car sickness. Thank goodness her delivery skills were not required en route.

Later that night, small Angus—all 8 pounds 3 ounces of him—fell asleep and I left the ward. A first-time mum, I stood before a floor-to-ceiling window and looked out over Dumfries, the darkness lit up by the street lights, and wondered what I had let myself in for; 48 years later, with that son now a father himself, I am still wondering what I let myself in for. That is one of my fond memories of Dumfries. I remember that night very clearly and I remember thinking what a beautiful place it was. It might not be a royal connection, but it is my connection.

I thank Doonhamers Emma Harper and Colin Smyth for, at the very least and whether or the bid is successful, shining a bright light on Dumfries.

What with vaccinations, boosters and lateral flow tests, the role of test and protect has to an extent disappeared from sight. I welcome test and protect prioritising higher-risk settings such as hospitals and care homes, but will the First Minister remind us all of the importance of test and protect in general, and of keeping the app active?

You have pre-empted my preamble, Presiding Officer, which was to say that that was a very comprehensive answer.

I want to move on from funding, which is welcome, and give two examples from my constituency of Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale: Galashiels and Penicuik town centres. There are far too many large empty retail stores there—they have been empty for years—and it is difficult to trace the owners. Is current compulsory purchase legislation sufficient to permit a local authority to take ownership and redevelop, possibly for a mix of town-centre housing and smaller commercial outlets? That does not seem to be happening.

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it has taken to support town centres. (S6O-00551)