Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 21 February 2018
21 Feb 2018 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Budget (Scotland) (No 2) Bill: Stage 3
The Tories really cannot abdicate their responsibility for macroeconomic policy in Scotland.
In the budget, this Government will invest almost £2.4 billion in enterprise and skills through higher and further education and our enterprise agencies. There will be a 64 per cent increase in the economy, jobs and fair work portfolio. We will allocate £18 million for the new national manufacturing institute and £10 million for the new south of Scotland development agency. We will double to £122 million the funding allocated to the city region deals. This Government is investing in economic growth in the teeth of Tory cuts and Tory opposition.
On business rates, we will offer the most attractive package of non-domestic rates relief anywhere in the United Kingdom, amounting to more than £720 million. Of course, we will also provide the UK’s first nursery relief to support our childcare policies.
Our growth accelerator will encourage businesses to invest in their premises to drive improvements in productivity. We have delivered on the business community’s number 1 ask, which was to cap an annual uplift in business rates at the consumer prices index rather than the retail prices index.
Today’s bill invests £1.2 billion in our transport system, turning the A9 into an electric highway and delivering new railway investments such as the electric trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh)
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S5M-10518, in the name of Derek Mackay, on stage 3 of the Budget (Scotland) (No 2) Bill. As members are awar...
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution (Derek Mackay)
SNP
That is a great relief to me, as I am sure it is to the rest of the chamber. I am delighted to lead this debate on the Budget (Scotland) (No 2) Bill for 2018...
James Kelly (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
Does the cabinet secretary think that it is progressive that, as a result of the budget, members of the Scottish Parliament will pay only an additional 29p a...
Derek Mackay
SNP
James Kelly is simply wrong. The budget proposes to raise taxation in a fair and proportionate way that will deliver hundreds of millions of pounds more for ...
Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
On the basis of requiring strong foundations, can the cabinet secretary explain why 28,000 jobs have been taken out of local government in the past few years...
Derek Mackay
SNP
The scaremongering of the Labour Party as it relates to local government continues. This budget proposes to give a real-terms increase to local government in...
Monica Lennon
Lab
Will the minister give way on that point?
Derek Mackay
SNP
I would like to make more progress. The Scottish Fiscal Commission has highlighted some economic challenges around Brexit uncertainty and the declining work...
Dean Lockhart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
The cabinet secretary talks about the resilience of the Scottish economy. Does he agree with the Fraser of Allander institute’s analysis that Scotland’s econ...
Derek Mackay
SNP
The Tories really cannot abdicate their responsibility for macroeconomic policy in Scotland. In the budget, this Government will invest almost £2.4 billion ...
Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD)
LD
Before the minister gets too carried away about the state of the Scottish economy, will he comment on the rise in unemployment by 14,000 people, which was an...
Derek Mackay
SNP
The figure is lower than it was last year—and all the more reason to support this budget to invest in the economy, skills, productivity, research and develop...
Jenny Marra (North East Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
If the cabinet secretary is committed to improving children’s health, is he minded to drop from his budget the regressive sports tax—his cash grab that conde...
Derek Mackay
SNP
I will certainly not follow Labour’s chaotic and damaging tax plans, which would result in less resource than it claims. On non-domestic rates, I have not fo...
Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
Another day, another budget debate. Sadly, the narrative from the Scottish National Party Government remains exactly what it was yesterday and for weeks befo...
The Minister for Parliamentary Business (Joe FitzPatrick)
SNP
The Tories’ tax plans would take £500 million out of the budget, plus they want to find extra money for local government. What will they cut?
Murdo Fraser
Con
The figure that Mr FitzPatrick needs to keep in his head is £16.5 billion. That is the cost to the Scottish economy of SNP failure. For the past 15 years, th...
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
Does Mr Fraser accept that the economy of London and the south-east is somewhat different from that of the rest of the UK and that, in fact, Scotland is very...
Murdo Fraser
Con
That is not what the Fiscal Commission has been telling us or what its figures disclose. The productivity figures for Scotland suggest that Scotland is among...
James Kelly (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
The budget is one for chief executives in Morningside, not one for communities who are facing savage SNP cuts. It is a budget that fails the needs of Scotlan...
Kate Forbes (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP)
SNP
Labour’s budget plans were based on revenue being raised from various different sources, including a tourist tax and a land value tax. How much would either ...
James Kelly
Lab
They would raise £145 million in total, as we detailed in our tax plan. The reality is that SNP members do not have the political will to make the changes t...
John Finnie (Highlands and Islands) (Green)
Green
Will the member take an intervention?
James Kelly
Lab
No, thank you. We need investment if we are to see kids graduate in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and contribute those skills to the econ...
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green)
Green
As, I think, Murdo Fraser said, “Another day, another budget debate.” It is certainly another day and another opportunity for the Conservative Party to con...
Monica Lennon
Lab
Does Patrick Harvie agree with Mike Kirby of Unison Scotland, who says that the budget “falls far short of maintaining vital levels of services” for our lo...
Patrick Harvie
Green
I agree that local government faces significant pressures. Some of them relate to rising costs and some relate to our expectation of a fair pay settlement. H...
Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD)
LD
The budget is built on a broken promise. Nicola Sturgeon, who is in her seat on the front bench today, will remember that she stood beside me in debates duri...
John Mason
SNP
Will the member confirm that he believes in proportional representation and that one minority party should not be able to force through its manifesto?
Willie Rennie
LD
That very argument has been made before, when we were in coalition, and Mr Mason dismissed it. Now he wants to resurrect it to patch up the SNP’s pathetic ca...