Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 26 January 2011
26 Jan 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Budget (Scotland) (No 5) Bill: Stage 1
The kids who are in schools that are decaying around them are not laughing, Mr Swinney. The people in our hospitals who require better care are not laughing, and the 40,000 construction workers who have lost their jobs because of Mr Swinney’s inability to make the Scottish Futures Trust deliver anything will not be laughing.
Of course, that all happened in the good times for Scottish budgets. The SNP inherited growing budgets and had a £1.5 billion reserve, which it has blown. We no longer have the ability to respond to the Conservative-Lib Dem cuts. The budget that is before us today is not a budget for jobs and is not in a form that we, on the Labour benches, can support.
We have heard the threats before and we have heard them again. The First Minister has, yet again, with his threat of resignation, threatened to flounce off in the huff to his campaign battle bus. Now that Stewart Stevenson is no longer the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, he has even got his old driver to do the work for him. However, we are not interested in Mr Salmond’s ego; we are interested in the young unemployed who do not have the opportunities that they should have, in those who are in search of work in our communities, and in our teachers, nurses and all those who serve our communities and our people. That is why I want to make this budget about jobs and the economy. That is not, however, what any report about the budget says it is.
From day 1 of the SNP Government to these, its dying days, it has always been about the politics and never about the country. It has been about the SNP’s position as a political party, not about addressing the needs of Scotland. It has been about their jobs and not the jobs of the Scottish people. [Interruption.]
Even this week, Mr Swinney promised us illustrative figures for future years, but what we got was an election trick. He insulted the Parliament and tried to con the public by claiming that there will be no changes to public spending in Scotland over the next four years. That is simply not credible. [Interruption.]
Of course, that all happened in the good times for Scottish budgets. The SNP inherited growing budgets and had a £1.5 billion reserve, which it has blown. We no longer have the ability to respond to the Conservative-Lib Dem cuts. The budget that is before us today is not a budget for jobs and is not in a form that we, on the Labour benches, can support.
We have heard the threats before and we have heard them again. The First Minister has, yet again, with his threat of resignation, threatened to flounce off in the huff to his campaign battle bus. Now that Stewart Stevenson is no longer the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, he has even got his old driver to do the work for him. However, we are not interested in Mr Salmond’s ego; we are interested in the young unemployed who do not have the opportunities that they should have, in those who are in search of work in our communities, and in our teachers, nurses and all those who serve our communities and our people. That is why I want to make this budget about jobs and the economy. That is not, however, what any report about the budget says it is.
From day 1 of the SNP Government to these, its dying days, it has always been about the politics and never about the country. It has been about the SNP’s position as a political party, not about addressing the needs of Scotland. It has been about their jobs and not the jobs of the Scottish people. [Interruption.]
Even this week, Mr Swinney promised us illustrative figures for future years, but what we got was an election trick. He insulted the Parliament and tried to con the public by claiming that there will be no changes to public spending in Scotland over the next four years. That is simply not credible. [Interruption.]
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Alex Fergusson)
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S3M-7771, in the name of John Swinney, on the Budget (Scotland) (No 5) Bill.14:35
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth (John Swinney)
SNP
Last week, I introduced the 2011-12 budget bill, which I commend to the Parliament. The bill takes forward the draft budget that I set out in November.I welc...
Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind)
Ind
The cabinet secretary will forgive me if I do not identify a source from which I hope that he will find enough money to help to pump prime an initiative that...
John Swinney
SNP
There have been constructive discussions between sportscotland and Midlothian Council about the situation at Hillend, and I hope that a positive outcome can ...
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Lab
The cabinet secretary is aware that Argyll and Bute Council has a huge number of islands to cover. Why does it face one of the largest cuts in spending compa...
John Swinney
SNP
Argyll and Bute Council’s need to support islands will be covered by the special islands needs allowance, which is applied to all local authorities that have...
Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD)
LD
I seek clarification regarding the figures that the Government has published for the coming four years. Are those figures predicated on the 3 per cent effici...
John Swinney
SNP
The Government envisages that, for the longer term, an efficiency programme of 3 per cent will be essential to deal with the financial challenges that we fac...
Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab)
Lab
Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?
The Presiding Officer
NPA
No. I am afraid that the cabinet secretary is in the last minutes of his speech.
John Swinney
SNP
I will have to draw my remarks to a close now, although I will be happy to give way to Elaine Smith when winding up the debate.I will consider the Finance Co...
Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD)
LD
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. It is on a procedural point. Could you make it absolutely clear that Parliament must not be misled? The cabinet secre...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Order.
Mike Rumbles
LD
The correct procedure is for the Parliamentary Bureau to recommend to Parliament that it consider the regulations next week. That is for Parliament, not the ...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
That item will be on the agenda for next Tuesday’s bureau meeting and it will be duly discussed then.I call Andrew Welsh to speak on behalf of the Finance Co...
Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP)
SNP
Before I turn to the detail of our report and recommendations, I will briefly outline some of the changes to this year’s budget process.The fact that the UK ...
Margo MacDonald
Ind
Will the member give way?
Andrew Welsh
SNP
Forgive me, but I have a great deal to cover. The key issue of efficiency savings has exercised the Finance Committee and our predecessors in sessions 1 and ...
Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the convener of the Finance Committee for his report to the Parliament.However, from looking at the budget, I believe that the signal failure of near...
Margo MacDonald
Ind
Will the member give way?
Andy Kerr
Lab
I will not at the moment, thanks.In four years, Mr Swinney has brought forward four budgets. He has slashed the funding to enterprise, to energy and tourism,...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Order.
Andy Kerr
Lab
The kids who are in schools that are decaying around them are not laughing, Mr Swinney. The people in our hospitals who require better care are not laughing,...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Order. Can we have slightly better order, please, from the party in government?
Andy Kerr
Lab
Not in my words, but in the words of The Sun, the budget was described as “The great Swinney swindle”. He did not even have the ability to respond to all-par...
John Swinney
SNP
Would Mr Kerr like to comment on the competitive disadvantage that he was party to creating when he was a minister in the previous Administration, which kept...
Andy Kerr
Lab
We set about—Interruption.
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Order.
Andy Kerr
Lab
We set about creating parity. Perhaps the cabinet secretary will compare his actions today to his manifesto promise that rates in Scotland would not rise abo...
Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con)
Con
There are things in this budget with which we agree, such as the pay freeze on salaries of over £21,000, to protect jobs; the protection of the national heal...