Meeting of the Parliament 01 April 2015
Over the past few weeks, SNP members have demonstrated just how untrustworthy they are with figures. First, they deny the black hole at the heart of Scotland’s finances; then they fiddle the figures to make the position seem even better; and then they deny what the independent experts are saying and hide their plans for continued austerity. One thing is absolutely clear: honesty and transparency have been posted missing with this SNP Government.
Like others in the chamber, we believe that the SNP Government needs to publish an oil and gas analytical bulletin—one made a brief appearance prior to the referendum—and an updated outlook for Scotland’s public finances that takes account of the recent projections. It should publish both before May 2015 so that people can judge whether it has something to hide.
I move, amendment S4M-12857.1, to leave out from “that the Scottish Government” to end and insert:
“that the Scottish Government’s plans for full fiscal autonomy within the UK would have instant and damaging consequences for Scotland’s economy, with huge funding cuts to areas such as health, education and policing totalling £7.6 billion in additional cuts or tax rises, as confirmed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies; further notes that this would be on top of Conservative austerity plans and that the Scottish Government has set out its intention to adopt Conservative austerity plans in 2015-16; calls on the Scottish Government to publish an updated Outlook for Scotland’s Public Finances on the basis of full fiscal autonomy and an updated oil and gas analytical bulletin before the UK General Election in May 2015, and believes that the only way to avert a £7.6 billion deficit would be to reject full fiscal autonomy within the UK in favour of keeping the block grant and the Barnett formula.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.