Meeting of the Parliament 24 September 2024
It is a novel experience for those of us on this side of the chamber that, for the first time in 14 years, we are not in government in Westminster and, therefore, will not have to defend a budget that is on its way. That will bring an interesting new slant to my remarks. To borrow a line that we have heard several times from members on the other side of the chamber, I can say with all integrity that Scotland is being failed by both its Governments—the one in Holyrood and the one in Westminster—because we have had a dismal start from the new Labour Government. It is not surprising that the Prime Minister’s ratings are already in free fall.
Before I turn to the Scottish National Party, let us look at what will come from the budget of the Labour Party in government. The economic legacy that was inherited by the Labour Government is far better than it would suggest. Despite the headwinds that all western Governments have faced since the financial crash of 2008-09—a financial crash that happened, of course, under the watch of a Labour chancellor and Government—the UK economy has performed well in relation to many competitor economies. In that period, UK gross domestic product grew faster than GDP in any other European country in the G7 and faster than that in the European Union as a whole, and we avoided the depth of recession that was seen in, for example, Germany.
In that same period, 4 million new jobs were created, there were record levels of employment and inflation returned very close to the Bank of England target of 2 per cent. Therefore, the economic legacy that was inherited by the Labour Government was a strong one in relative terms—as, indeed, was the financial legacy. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the deficit that Labour inherited was 4.5 per cent. Mr Johnson is shaking his head at that, but I remind him that, when Labour left office in 2010, the financial deficit was 10.3 per cent—more than double the deficit that the Conservatives left Labour. If the Deputy First Minister wants to intervene to defend the Labour Government, I will give way to her instead.