Welcome Message
Welcome to this special St Andrew’s Day edition of Scotland Now.
St Andrew’s Day provides Scots and friends of Scotland with an opportunity to celebrate our country, our traditions and our shared cultural heritage. This year, St Andrew’s Day will be celebrated in Scotland under the banner of One Scotland. Many Cultures. We’re staging events for everyone to take part in, from major ceilidh celebrations in our cities to events in schools across the country. In the Scottish Parliament, MSPs have voted to encourage Scots to take a national holiday on November 30th.
St Andrew’s Day will also be celebrated in countries in every corner of the globe – from the United States to Uganda; from Slovenia to Papua New Guinea; and from China to Argentina. In all, more than 100 events have been organised in 80 countries to mark this very special day for our country and our people.
Amid these celebrations, St Andrews day provides an opportunity for us to consider Scotland’s place in the world and our achievements and strengths. And in this edition of Scotland Now, our lead article focuses on our modern economy and the results that we are now delivering. Economic growth has now been above its long term trend for the last two years. There are 170,000 more jobs since devolution in Scotland. The employment rate is higher than that of the UK as a whole and has been for some time. And last month, for the first time in well over a decade, the Scottish unemployment rate became a fraction of the UK rate rather than a multiple.
Scotland is developing an international reputation as the home of some of the leading edge industries of the 21st century knowledge economy, attracting more Research & Development than any other region in the UK. Last year, the number of overseas tourists coming to Scotland was higher than ever before. After decades of decline, recent figures show that our population rose for the third year in a row last year. People from all over the world are coming to Scotland to live, work and study.
A growing number of those people are coming from Poland and this edition features an article on the connections between our two countries. Scots have been trading with Poland since the 17th century and, today, the bonds between our two countries are stronger than ever. There are now over 20 direct flights between Poland and Scotland each week and, in the last 2 years alone, over 22,000 hard-working, entrepreneurial Poles have come to Scotland to contribute to our economy and our society.
Our growing international profile and recent successes are drawing others to Scotland as well. I am very pleased that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates will be bringing the Microsoft Global Leader Conference for European leaders to Edinburgh. Prime Ministers and politicians from across Europe will attend the conference in the Scottish Parliament in January.
Last month I led a trade and education visit to the US West Coast, and yet again, I was struck by the strength of support and goodwill that exists for Scotland overseas. As part of that visit, I was pleased to go to the Goodrich company in San Diego, whose expansion will mean 100 high value new jobs for Prestwick Airport. In Los Angeles, I was also pleased to meet Robert Shields, the young Scot from Castle Douglas, which is in the South West of Scotland, who has just signed a record deal with Virgin. Hopefully, Robert will be following in the footsteps of a number of Scots, like Paolo Nutini and K. T. Tunstall, who are currently enjoying international success and flying the flag for Scottish music.
I hope that you enjoy this special St Andrew’s Day edition of Scotland Now and that you’ll join with me in celebrating our successes at this very special time of the year for our nation.
With best wishes,
Rt. Hon Jack McConnell MSP, First Minister of Scotland.
