Meeting of the Parliament 09 February 2023
The minister is quite correct that there is a convention in this Parliament—rule 9.16.7 of standing orders says that a rates resolution must be passed before stage 3 of a budget process can happen.
It is clear there are strongly different views about tax policy and, in fact, I think that Mr Rennie has opened up another area of difference of opinion about tax. I will be interested to hear what he is saying this time next year about Liberal Democrat party policy. We have that difference of opinion, but there is the restraining order on us that, if we were to vote against a resolution, the Scottish Government would be prevented from collecting any tax whatsoever. From that angle, particularly just now, that would send out an irresponsible message, because it is a time of great economic difficulty, and people are under the cosh when it comes to raising sufficient revenue. That is difficult, and it would be irresponsible to vote against the resolution, so I put on record that we will not oppose the rates resolution, but we have considerable differences of opinion with the Scottish Government about tax.
In recent weeks, this Parliament has witnessed several debates—in the chamber or in committees—about the economic priorities that will be required as we continue our efforts to tackle the very difficult economic circumstances that the minister has referred to, including the fallout from the war in Ukraine, the many problems of supply chains, energy costs and labour markets, adapting to a post-Covid and post-Brexit landscape, as well as the significant changes that happened as a result of UK Government fiscal policy.
Despite our differences and the committee’s report, we have agreed on some main objectives, especially in relation to addressing the skills gap and retraining, encouraging different policies that will promote economic growth and ensuring that we do something about the labour market inflexibilities. I am grateful to the cabinet secretary and the minister for their engagement on that basis, because there is a huge issue with people leaving the labour market post-Covid, either because of long Covid or because they have decided, for one reason or another, that they wish to come out of the labour market. At stage 2, we had an exchange about that issue, and I share the cabinet secretary’s concern.
Of course, we are especially keen to ensure that Scotland remains a very attractive place in which to work, live and invest, and it is important that that is right at the centre of our deliberations.