Meeting of the Parliament 09 October 2024
We are back to being a Parliament of minorities, which means that, for a budget to pass—or, indeed, for any parliamentary business to be agreed to—co-operation and compromise will be required. That is not a new challenge for this Parliament. In the previous session and in a number of other previous sessions, compromise has been required and minority government has been the order of the day.
However, minority government is a greater challenge today because Scotland is in a financial crisis. Our public finances are simply not sustainable. It is well timed that this debate comes at the start of this month and that, at the end of the month, we will have a Government debate on fiscal sustainability, which was requested by the Finance and Public Administration Committee.
The Green motion does not pretend that devolution is enough: devolution does not give us all the powers that we need to achieve our goals for Scotland. Under the powers of devolution, we cannot eradicate child poverty, nor can we completely take the required action against the climate emergency.
However, at the same time, we cannot afford to sit on our hands. It is of no comfort to people at the sharp end for us to explain the limits of the Scotland Act 2012 or the constraints of the fiscal framework. That does not help those who are suffering as a result of cuts to public services or who are suffering the effects of climate breakdown. We have a moral responsibility.