Meeting of the Parliament 14 December 2017
This Parliament was designed to be a power for change, to take Scotland to a better place and to bring decision making closer to the people. While the Tories force austerity on the UK, we in Scotland should be using the powers of our Parliament to deliver an alternative. The truth is that Scotland needs real and radical change, not tinkering around the edges. That change should be based on the principle of “from each according to their means, to each according to their need”. A penny on the top rate just does not do it. This Tory-lite draft budget fails on all those tests.
As the cabinet secretary would know had he taken the time to speak with the councillors, the council workers and the trade unionists who lobbied this Parliament today, and with those in communities and workplaces across Scotland, there is a growing mood of frustration and discontent, which is increasingly directed towards an SNP Government that has simply presided over Tory austerity and has added to it.
We know that tens of thousands of local government jobs have been lost, that there are 3,500 fewer teachers, and that £1.5 billion has already been stripped from our councils since 2011. How many local jobs will be cut this year by this budget? When the cabinet secretary says that he knows that councils were worried about a potential £300 million cut, that is true, but what he is doing today is cutting day-to-day spending in real terms by £134 million. When councils have already told him that they need £545 million just to stand still, that is an effective cut of almost £700 million to our lifeline local services.
Why will the cabinet secretary not stand up for properly funded local services? Why will he not stand up for properly funded lifeline services? Why will he not stand up for the people and communities of Scotland?