Dennis Canavan wants to see a St Andrew's Day holiday by 2005

Holyrood's enterprise and culture committee agreed on Tuesday that his proposed bill could move to the next stage of the parliamentary process.

Mr Canavan claims his idea to have an annual national holiday on 30 November has the backing of 75% of the Scottish people and 50 cross-party MSPs.

He is due to meet the first minister on Wednesday to discuss his plans.

The politician is said to be hopeful of finding support from Jack McConnell and the Scottish Executive, and hopes to have his plans in place by 2005.

He said: "I hope I will be able to persuade the first minister that it is a good idea and it has the support of the people of Scotland and the support at this stage of a significant number of MSPs."

Public holiday

Members of the enterprise and culture committee unanimously agreed that the consultation carried out on the bill was comprehensive enough to progress to the next stage of the process - the formal lodging of the bill in parliament and analysis of public responses.

Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond also urged that St Andrew's Day be made a public holiday.

He called for Holyrood and other public buildings to have open days and celebratory events to mark the date and to use it as launch pad for a Scottish Winter Festival running until Burns Night.