Meeting of the Parliament 18 February 2025
In my view, honesty is a primary responsibility of the Government. This Government needs to be honest about what it is proposing, but I do not believe that it does that in the motion. The maths is simple: the £5.2 billion is considerably more than the additional costs that it is incurring through the national insurance increase. If it cannot do the maths, maybe the SNP is not fit to be in government, and maybe it should make way for people who are.
I move, as an amendment to motion S6M-16488, to leave out from “recognises” to end and insert:
“welcomes the record £5.2 billion of additional funding for Scotland delivered as a result of the UK Government’s Autumn Budget; agrees with the STUC that the additional positive measures that are set out in the draft Scottish Budget 2025-26 are ‘dependent on UK Government funding’; regrets that the fiscal changes called for by the Scottish Government would significantly reduce the level of funding available to Scotland’s public services; understands that the First Minister has publicly advocated for a cut to Scotland’s budget of £636 million; regrets that the Scottish National Party administration’s failure to grow Scotland’s economy has negatively impacted the level of funding available in the Scottish Budget over many years; understands that decisions around the level of staffing in Scotland’s public services are devolved to the Scottish Government, and calls on the Scottish Government to ensure that the record funding delivered by the UK Government reaches the frontline services that need it most.”
16:15Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.