Meeting of the Parliament 08 October 2014
Johann Lamont clearly has not been listening to my speech. I certainly hope that we get the powers that mean that we do not need to implement the welfare policies that were outlined at the Labour and Tory conferences, which will be extremely damaging to the people of Scotland.
We must have the levers that are most fundamental to strengthening our economy and creating jobs. The current proposals leave most of the decisions on welfare and social protection in the hands of a Westminster Parliament that imposed the bedroom tax on Scotland and mean that the Scottish Parliament would be responsible for only between 20 and 30 per cent of the taxes raised in Scotland. That is not good enough for us or for Scotland.
I started my remarks by highlighting the energy that the public and civic society brought to the referendum debate and campaigns. That conversation with the people of Scotland did not end with the referendum. As Patrick Harvie rightly says, their voice must be heard in the work to deliver additional powers for the Scottish Parliament. We will support his amendment to our amendment because we fundamentally believe in what it says.
I am also delighted that Lord Smith has made engagement with wider civic society and the people of Scotland a priority in the work of his commission. I encourage everyone to make their voice heard as part of that process, because the people of Scotland are the guarantors of real change.
The Smith commission process sets a challenge for all the parties in the Scottish Parliament—[Interruption.]