Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 23 February 2022
I welcome this debate led by Graham Simpson. Let us be clear: despite what the minister said, too many people across Scotland simply cannot rely on our public transport system to get to work—and that is truer today than it was when the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 was passed. There has been a huge contraction in the bus network and in rail services since the pandemic, and services are not returning to pre-pandemic levels. Just two weeks ago, the Scottish Government made it clear that it does not support returning ScotRail services to pre-pandemic levels—at least not now, and not any time soon.
People who take the car to work because there is no affordable or convenient alternative should not be penalised for the failures of this Government—the Government that is responsible for the failed deal with Abellio and that took us into the pandemic with bus passenger numbers at a record low.
A commuter tax on getting to work is not the solution—not for the economy, not for the climate and not for workers, and certainly not when people are facing a cost of living crisis. The SNP and Greens rightly criticise the Conservatives’ cuts to universal credit by £20 per week, but they are now enabling proposals to hit low-income workers with a tax that could be up to £20 per week.
The solution is to transform public transport and invest in real, viable alternatives to car dependency, with alternatives such as integrated multimodal ticketing, which was promised 10 years ago, or a publicly controlled bus network for Strathclyde, with its population of 2.1 million. City regions across England are planning to take control of bus networks. If we want to make bus travel more affordable, why are we not doing that here in Scotland, in cities such as Glasgow? It is telling that the Government is proposing to grant powers for this tax before rolling out the bus regulation powers contained in the 2019 act.
Our society faces two great challenges: a cost of living crisis and a climate crisis. We do not deal with the cost of living crisis by taxing commuters getting to work; we deal with it by transforming public transport.
Let me be clear: Scottish Labour opposes the workplace parking levy. We opposed it in 2019, and we oppose it now. We are demanding that this tax on working people stops before it starts. With living costs rising faster than at any time in the past 30 years, we are demanding that the Scottish Government act now. It is wrong for ministers, who have the privilege of a chauffeur-driven car to get to work, to impose this commuter tax now. It is wrong for MSPs, who claim mileage and enjoy free parking, to impose this tax now. Politicians here do not experience transport poverty. The Green and nationalist MSPs behind this tax are not on low incomes. There are people experiencing transport poverty in Scotland now, however, and they could be hit if and when their employer passes this levy on to them. I say to those politicians: do not punish the working people of this country, who have kept Scotland going throughout the pandemic, for your failure to provide a decent public transport system.
We know that there has been no modelling of the impact of the levy, and there is no consistency on exemptions, so we face the possibility that healthcare workers will be exempt, but a low-paid cleaner working late for a private employer will not be.
There has been no engagement at ministerial level with the trade unions since the 2019 act was passed. For all those reasons, the levy should be stopped.
We know that the concentration of workplaces in city centres drives commuting patterns that place a strain on our cities, and we understand city councillors’ concerns about congestion and air quality, especially in Edinburgh and Glasgow. We believe that the Scottish Government should work constructively with Scotland’s cities to address those issues comprehensively.
Nonetheless, action on air quality and congestion must not be limited to a single ineffective unfair tax. The Conservative motion rightly identifies the need to promote electric vehicles, but the Scottish Government and councils have to ensure that charging infrastructure is easy to use, convenient and resilient. The Government can do more. It can, for example, provide new park-and-ride facilities, restore suburban rail services and embed better access to public transport in planning guidance, and I have written to the minister to ask her to consider those points.
Scottish Labour is prepared to work constructively with the Government to reduce pollution and congestion in our cities. We say to the Government that there are alternatives and better ways to reduce car dependency, and we will work together to find solutions. However, the imposition of a new tax on working people who are in the grip of a cost of living crisis solves nothing. I appeal to members to support the Labour amendment today and demand better for Scotland’s commuters.
I move amendment S6M-03279.1, to leave out from “, not on using taxes” to end and insert:
“; believes that the Workplace Parking Levy will unfairly penalise working people who have no option but to drive to work due to the chronic failure of the Scottish Government to improve public transport; regrets the Scottish Government’s decision to reject calls for a freeze on rail fares this year; considers that the Scottish Government’s decision to pursue policies that increase costs faced by workers during a cost of living crisis is irresponsible; notes objections to the Workplace Parking Levy from trade unions and the business community, and considers that the Scottish Government should make positive interventions to tackle transport emissions, reduce car dependency and drive modal shift by making public transport more affordable, safe and accessible, restoring ScotRail services to pre-pandemic levels, supporting municipal ownership and control of local bus services, developing safe cycling routes, and rolling out integrated ticketing across the public transport network.”
16:26Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.