Meeting of the Parliament 21 February 2018
The budget is one for chief executives in Morningside, not one for communities who are facing savage SNP cuts. It is a budget that fails the needs of Scotland’s communities. Parents in Clackmannanshire will be dismayed by the fact that the budget will result in cuts in the number of teachers in their children’s schools.
Parents of children who are living in poverty who are struggling to pay energy bills will not understand why MSPs’ tax bills will barely increase. Pensioners who today have been unable to get an appointment with their general practitioner until next week will not understand why SNP MSPs cheer Derek Mackay’s budget. It fails on so many levels that it should be voted down by Parliament tonight.
One of the key areas in which investment is required is support for public services. Even after the changes that were announced following the grubby deal between Derek Mackay and the Greens, there remains a £386 million black hole in local government funding. It is not just the numbers that are affecting councils; it is the decisions that they are having to take. Moray Council is having to reduce the number of library assistants and close library services. How does the reduction in the number of teaching and learning assistant posts in Clackmannanshire help to educate our children or to build skills in the economy?
South Lanarkshire Council is proposing increased charges for school meals and care services at a time when the cabinet secretary has announced a pay policy for which he is not providing adequate funding. At the start of the process, there was a £200 million shortfall in the amount of money required to fund the pay policy and, as we have gone through the process, no new money has been announced. The reality of that, particularly for local councils, is that they face a decision. If they really want to fund fair pay, they will need to cut services and, potentially, jobs, as we see in Clackmannanshire.
There is also the modern-day scandal of child poverty in Scotland, where 260,000 children are living in poverty. Recently, during questions on finance, there was a question relating to Ayrshire and it emerged that, in Irvine West alone, 35 per cent of children are living in poverty. That is totally unacceptable, yet the SNP has rejected Labour’s proposals for an increase in child benefit to alleviate child poverty in wards such as Irvine West and throughout the country.
Yesterday, we saw again the drastic performance figures for accident and emergency departments as the NHS continues to struggle through the winter.
This budget has failed in many respects and is not fit for purpose, partly for the reason that came up in the debate on tax that we had yesterday afternoon. Ultimately, if we want a budget that addresses all the issues across public services, that funds fair pay and that tackles child poverty, we need a tax regime that raises adequate amounts of money.