Meeting of the Parliament 19 February 2026 [Draft]
The IFS has said that the Scottish Government is living in a parallel universe, and I think that Ross Greer is quoting data from a parallel planet. In relation to the Scottish child payment, on the introduction of which there was consensus, one in 10 recipients of that payment have changed the way that they interact with the labour market. Therefore, it is a far more complex issue than Mr Greer makes it out to be.
We would do what Mr McKee seems incapable of doing by cutting the civil service back to 2016 levels. We would reduce quangos by a quarter, and we would fix Scotland’s broken benefits system.
Anyone who has watched the Scottish Government’s actions could be forgiven for thinking that the Parliament only has tax-raising powers, but that is not the case—it has tax-varying powers. However, under the SNP, the levers are only ever pulled one way—towards ever higher tax. It has never tried to cut tax in any meaningful way; a tax cut of £32 a year is not a meaningful tax cut. It has never tried to apply the logic of the Laffer curve.
Scots are sick and tired of paying more for the SNP’s failed projects and misplaced priorities, but there is a different way—a commonsense, Conservative way. We would lower tax, increase growth, tackle the benefits bill and, in turn, generate the tax receipts that are needed to build a fairer and better Scotland—a Scotland where hard work is rewarded, where excellence returns to our public services and where efficiency is at the heart of Government. However, we will never get that from this failed SNP Government and this failed First Minister. That is why we will vote against the income tax resolution tonight.