Hansard

I am pleased to speak on behalf of the Liberal Democrats.

The fiscal framework is, of course, key to the pooling and sharing of resources across our islands and ensures that Scotland benefits from the decisions that we make while being protected by a framework of support from the UK Government in the good times and at times of national crisis.

What we are talking about today is a situation in which there is more flexibility than ever and more power than ever, but—as we have already heard—that will not stop the SNP blaming Westminster more than ever. Listening to ministers, one would not know that we have seen income tax being devolved and that the way has been opened to a £4 billion social security system, and one would not know any of the other positive changes that make the fiscal framework a necessity.

I am glad that agreement could be reached on changes including increasing resource and capital borrowing capacity, but Scotland deserves two Governments that have a genuine interest in working together to make devolution work as it should and as it could. Resolving differences maturely should be the norm—not a rarity. There should be a shared interest in devolution being a success. Of course, there is little spirit of co-operation and partnership on show in either the SNP or Conservative contributions to the debate. The Scottish Government would rather debate powers that it does not have than make best use of the powers that we already have.

Do not get me wrong: I am happy to agree with the Deputy First Minister that there was little that was worth welcoming in the UK Government’s autumn statement, which saw NHS budgets being squeezed and a giveaway to big banks that will cost the Treasury billions of pounds by prioritising big banks’ profits over making working families better off. I sincerely hope that it will be the Conservatives’ very last autumn statement.

However, there is no escaping the fact that the SNP Government has been writing cheques that people simply cannot cash. It has had its fingers in its ears and has been taking them out only to point them at Westminster.

Let us take, for example, devolution of social security, which is a crucial component of the reasons why we need a fiscal framework. We have seen the latest independence paper, which was published just today. What is not in it is mention of the agency agreement that Scottish ministers have with the Department for Work and Pensions. Powers that we all agreed in 2014 should be devolved are still not available to be used, because Scottish ministers are still not ready to receive them and are asking the DWP to run the system for them.

I know that ministers will say that some benefits have already been devolved—that is certainly true—but look at what is happening in that regard. We have seen reports that, under Social Security Scotland, waiting times for decisions on adult disability payments are, in some cases, in the region of four to seven months. Compare that with their taking two or three months under the DWP in London. Applicants have spoken about waiting on the phone for three hours or more before giving up. They were promised a better system—a system that would be steeped in dignity, which is what we all rallied behind.

Members should remember that the SNP wants us to believe that it could set up an independent Scotland’s welfare system in its totality—pensions and all—in just 18 months, although it has taken more than a year to devolve 11 simple benefits. People were promised a better system in 2014—it is just not good enough. This Government would rather debate powers than make best use of the ones that we already have.

Behind the lazy cry for the break-up of the United Kingdom in the Scottish Government’s motion, members will find years of warnings from experts who went unheeded.

For example, at least as far back as 2018, the Auditor General was warning that the NHS was not in a financially sustainable position. Scottish health boards are now forecasting a deficit of £395 million this year. The problems have been allowed to stack up, and people will be worried that the dire outlook will mean cuts to services and even longer waits for patients who are in pain.

I remember the words of Professor Paul Gray, the chief executive of NHS Scotland for six years under Nicola Sturgeon. He said:

“The current system was going to be overwhelmed regardless of Covid. The virus ... simply brought the date of that event forward.”

In 2011, the Christie commission warned about the need to increase preventative spending in order to stop demand swamping public service capacity. However, cuts to mental health and drugs budgets have flown in the face of that reform agenda. The Scottish Government would rather debate powers than make the best use of ones that we already have.

The amendment in my name speaks to Scottish councils’ ever more precarious position. Council leaders have just warned that local authorities are at risk of bankruptcy and that essential services, in their words, “will cease”. It will be game over. Councils need a fiscal framework that respects and recognises the important work that they do, the freedoms that they need in order to innovate, and their need for a fair share of Scottish Government resources. However, in recent months, in the shape of the Verity house agreement, the Scottish Government drove a coach and horses through the fiscal framework.

When councils are squeezed until the pips squeak, education gets squeezed until the pips squeak, as well. We do not need to look far beyond yesterday’s programme for international student assessment—PISA—figures, which Michael Marra rightly referred to as an insight into the impact of the Scottish Government’s cuts. I will speak more about that in my closing remarks.

I move amendment S6M-11546.2, to leave out from first “limited” to end and insert:

“improvements to the Scottish Fiscal Framework, following a joint review with the UK Government, and welcomes the outcome, which will protect and enhance devolved powers, providing more flexibility and choice than ever before, continuing to build on the cross-party agreement reached at the Smith Commission in 2014, but condemns the Scottish Government’s repeated failure to treat local authorities fairly in setting the Scottish Budget or to establish a new fiscal framework that ensures that local authorities get a fair share of resources, harming their efforts to reduce poverty, grow local economies, tackle the climate emergency and invest in essential public services, including schools.”