Meeting of the Parliament 29 October 2024
No. I do not have time.
The Scottish Conservatives will welcome a credible medium-term fiscal strategy to achieve long-term fiscal sustainability, but we have serious doubts about the SNP’s capacity to deliver that. As the Finance and Public Administration Committee has made clear, the Government talks in terms of long-term planning, but is all too often distracted by having to fight short-term fires that it has ignited.
Simplifying tax, boosting growth, overhauling public sector delivery and reversing the rise in welfare spending will not be easy. Making Scotland a better and simpler place in which to do business should be non-negotiable. However, to avoid Scotland’s finances crashing to the ground in years to come, the Government now has to rise to the challenge of changing the engine while the aircraft is in flight. However difficult that may be, the SNP must now firmly take control and take the necessary action to urgently deliver widespread structural reform. Only by doing that will the Government be able to deliver the long-term financial sustainability that is so urgently needed by the Scottish public, Scottish business and Scottish public services.
I move amendment S6M-15048.2, to leave out from “recognises” to end and insert:
“realises that a significant change of approach is needed to deliver sustainability in Scotland’s public finances; recognises that sustained strong economic growth is essential to this; is deeply concerned that the Scottish National Party administration has failed to deliver the growth- and business-friendly policies needed to realise sustained economic growth; notes with alarm the absence of reform and the growing inefficiency of government and its agencies, and the impact that this has on fiscal sustainability; reiterates the need to prioritise productivity and government efficiency, and to keep social security costs and public sector pay under close review; stresses the importance of proper investment and infrastructure development, and calls on the Scottish Government to use its fiscal discretion to ensure that this investment is not jeopardised for any reason.”
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