Meeting of the Parliament 06 December 2023
I have no doubt that there are significant problems with the autumn statement, the situation that the Tory Government has left this country in, the state that it has made of our economy and the fact that it is not sufficiently funding our public services—the Labour Party and I have said that clearly. If we have the great joy of having the opportunity to serve in Government in the years to come, Labour will have to deal with the situation that we find ourselves in. We know that there are difficult times ahead in that regard, and we know that the finance secretary has a difficult time on her hands in dealing with the budget that is in front of her. However, she also knows that the situation that this country finds itself in is because of the failure of the SNP to grow the economy, grow the median tax income and grow the tax receipts that fund our public services. That is the only way in which we can substantively deal with the situation that we face.
The actions that we are hearing about today are not those of a competent Government that is thinking strategically about how best to serve the people of Scotland. Rather, they are the actions of a Government that is in crisis, out of its depth, making it up as it goes along and caught in a maelstrom of its own scandals, gaffes and controversies. Scotland deserves far better than that.
I move amendment S6M-11546.3, to leave out from “, while” to end and insert:
“the deal was agreed to by both governments as part of the devolution settlement that has evolved significantly since 1998; regrets the lack of public scrutiny afforded by a rushed final agreement that saw the simultaneous publication of the Independent Report along with the political agreement, thereby preventing full parliamentary discussion and the input of expert bodies; believes that Scotland has been held back by the Scottish National Party administration and the UK Conservative administration, which have built a low-growth, low-wage economy and, as a result, the UK Autumn Statement was delivered in the context of a stagnating economy and the highest overall tax burden since the Second World War; notes the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s modelling of a £1.9 billion revenue gap by 2027-28 between the Scottish Government’s committed spending and projected available revenues; further notes that this analysis was undertaken prior to the First Minister’s further sizeable spending commitments made at the Scottish National Party conference in October 2023, and calls on both of Scotland’s governments to prioritise economic growth, to put wages into the pockets of hard-pressed people in Scotland, and to generate the taxes to pay for vital public services, which are currently undermined by the financial and economic incompetence of ministers in Edinburgh and London.”
15:21Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.