Meeting of the Parliament 26 October 2022
As the Prime Minister did, I do.
If prices can be stabilised, the positive impact on the worst medium-term projections for energy costs will be considerable. However, the hard reality is that the underlying problems will not go away in the immediate term, and they will underlie our economic decision making well into next year. At this stage, it is a vital role of Government to use its best efforts to reduce the impact and support people through the winter.
The UK Government acted quickly and decisively to bring about £37 billion of intervention to help people with energy bills. Many parts of that package have been targeted specifically to help those who are most vulnerable, including low-income families and pensioner households that are often on fixed incomes. That is the right approach, and it will be of immense help to people the length and breadth of the UK.
We should not forget that that support comes on the back of the extraordinary assistance that was provided through furlough and other schemes during the worst part of the Covid pandemic. We were able to draw on the resources of Government to keep people in jobs and avoid the mass-scale unemployment and business closures that could very easily have resulted. The UK Government has gone further and faster than many would have expected. Although the costs borne by the Treasury have been eye watering, we can only imagine the costs of not acting.
Absent from Labour’s motion is consideration of the impact on businesses, including the additional costs that they face, the disruption to supply chains and the wider questions over their future. I was open in my calls for action to help businesses tackle the hike in energy bills that threatened the survival of so many, so I was delighted when that support was given by the UK Government. That has, undoubtedly, saved jobs and livelihoods in my region and beyond.
We agree with Labour that both Governments should be responsive and working with the common purpose of helping and supporting our constituents through this period. More will undoubtedly need to be done, which is why it is particularly galling to see the Scottish Government use its time and resources to call for more division, pretend that a Scotland without a proper central bank or control over its own currency is a good—or even viable—idea and try to wrench us away from billions of pounds of fiscal sharing within the United Kingdom. The idea that this is the time for its constitutional obsession to be pursued is ridiculous. That it would plan to take it forward under the calamitous and discredited economic prospectus that the First Minister outlined only weeks ago—proposals that were described as “utter pish” by one leading nationalist and so bad they would make another vote “no” in a referendum—is an insult to Scottish voters.
We cannot underestimate the seriousness of the cost of living crisis. It is hitting hard those who are already some of the most disadvantaged in our country. Scotland’s Governments must step up, work together and ensure that their actions are well targeted and that families and businesses are protected.
I move amendment S6M-06438.1, to leave out from “condemns” to end and insert:
“recognises that an increasing rate of inflation is a challenge faced by many countries around the world; welcomes the cost of living support provided by the UK Government to both businesses and households, including freezing the unit price of energy and giving payments to the most vulnerable in society worth up to £1,650, and calls on the Scottish Government to end its campaign to hold another independence referendum during this cost of living crisis and for both the UK and Scottish governments to work together to tackle the current crisis.”
16:17Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.
- S6M-06438.1 Cost of Living Motion