Meeting of the Parliament 08 October 2024
Poverty is unjust. It causes misery, crime, illness and premature death. In many parts of Scotland, it has become deep rooted, trapping generation after generation. I am determined that my party will fight to increase opportunity, prosperity and good health for all people across Scotland.
This week—in challenge poverty week—it is important that we debate poverty and how best it can be tackled. However, I believe that the debate should be broad—not narrow—which is why I have lodged an amendment to John Swinney’s motion. The motion refers only to the UK Labour Government’s harmful decision to axe lifeline winter fuel payments for millions of elderly people.
It is shocking that Sir Keir Starmer did not conduct any assessment of the impact that his decision would have. That is despite the fact that his own party once warned that stopping these payments could result in the death of 4,000 pensioners in a single year. In the depths of a long, cold Scottish winter, we know that the winter fuel payment can be the difference between heating and eating.
Across the country, the anger at Labour is palpable. It promised change—and this is it. This is what it is really offering people. Elderly folk who have slogged hard all their days feel absolutely betrayed. Many were further angered upon discovering that Sir Keir, a man who certainly does not worry about his electricity bill, is a champion freeloader.
My party broadly agrees with Mr Swinney’s motion. However, as with all state benefits, as in life, nothing is truly free. The SNP often does not seem to grasp that fact. Too often, it recklessly wastes taxpayers’ money. However, the removal of this payment is the wrong way to go about introducing any form of means testing. Any change of this nature should have been made much more fairly and respectfully and with a sufficient period of notice. I think that the Labour members actually agree with that. Labour should never have put vulnerable pensioners at risk, as it has with this decision—aided and abetted by the SNP.
Today’s debate is timely, following the release yesterday of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s “Poverty in Scotland 2024” report. The publication is produced annually, and this year it asks
“how effective social security is at reducing poverty and advancing equality in Scotland.”
Unlike Mr Swinney’s simplistic one-line motion, the report sets out the complexity of the problem over 100-plus pages. It contains some truly disturbing data that ought to make left-wing politicians in the Parliament question some of their preconceived ideas.