Meeting of the Parliament 07 May 2014
That will help because it will make us competitive and get more than 27,000 additional jobs into Scotland, and because we support the living wage and have a living wage policy. We will also ensure that corporations pay their taxes. Another thing that we will do in an independent Scotland is tackle tax avoidance and come down heavy on companies that do not pay tax. That is another approach in a new system.
In the meantime, we are doing what we can within the limited powers that we have to tackle the huge inequality. Members should make no mistake that we accept that there is huge inequality. What we are doing includes the actions that are set out in our child poverty strategy to maximise household incomes, improve children’s wellbeing and life chances and ensure that every one of us can live in a sustainable home and community.
It is simply unacceptable that, in a wealthy nation such as ours, a third of our children are not getting the start in life that they deserve. That is particularly unacceptable when the latest analysis shows that, if Scotland were an independent country, we would be the 14th wealthiest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
While the UK Government’s austerity programme is placing households under increasing financial pressure—we all know that they are under such pressure—we are defending and extending certain core services, rights and benefits through the social wage. We are providing free personal care for the elderly; abolishing tuition fees; ending bridge tolls; abolishing prescription charges; providing free eye examinations; freezing council tax; providing concessionary bus travel; increasing the provision of free nursery education; and introducing free school meals for primary 1 to 3 children from January 2015.
The Scottish Government takes low pay seriously.