Meeting of the Parliament 26 February 2025
I remind members of my voluntary registration of trade union interests.
Last month, the Accounts Commission teamed up with the Auditor General to publish a hard-hitting report on the Government’s wish to reduce car use in Scotland by 20 per cent by 2030. They gave evidence to the Public Audit Committee just this morning. What they found was that there had been no consultation on the setting of that target, that there is no clear or costed plan to meet that target, that there are no measurable milestones towards that target, that there are no equality impact assessments and that the Scottish Government’s arrangements for monitoring and scrutinising progress are insufficient. In fact, the failings are of such a magnitude that they conclude that it is
“not possible to see how the national target of 20 per cent will be achieved”,
and that it is
“impossible to understand which interventions will have the most impact on the target or deliver the best value for money.”
It is little wonder that their key message is that there is a “lack of leadership”.
In the same report, the ScotRail peak fares pilot is considered as a test case. The cabinet secretary hides behind the evaluation report, but she should listen to this conclusion from the Auditor General:
“The evaluation report does not outline the impact ... reinstating peak fares will have on car use or acknowledge that it can take time to sustain positive behavioural changes, such as encouraging modal shift from car to rail use.”
As the RMT union has pointed out, that the evaluation report does not assess the impact on passenger use at peak times is “a glaring omission”.
Let me say this to the Government: you cannot claim to be committed to cutting car miles when you are driving up the cost to passengers of train miles. You cannot welcome COP26 to Glasgow, declare to the world a climate emergency, raise the hopes of the people and then hope that no one will notice that you have reneged on nearly every one of the undertakings that you gave and all of the goals and targets that you set. The 2030 emissions reduction target—dropped. The climate change plan—delayed. The spending commitment to active travel—axed. The bus partnership fund—discontinued. Spending on rail—down. Spending on trunk roads—up. I say to the cabinet secretary that these are contradictions that cannot be left unchallenged, that these are conclusions that cannot be denied and that this is a calamitous climate catastrophe that cannot be ignored.
One of the reasons why I am a democratic socialist is that I believe that ownership is power. The Government is the sole shareholder of ScotRail and it has the power to embark on a bold and radical course of action. If the Scottish Government chooses not to act—chooses not to exercise that power for the common good—and if that requires this Government to be led by this Parliament this afternoon, then so be it, because, in the end, it is our duty to reverse these proposed hikes in rail fares, to abolish these peak train fares once and for all and to stop the cuts to ticket offices.
We understand that the Government’s present course of action does not reduce inequalities but widens them, and that needs to be noted. We must understand that we need not just words, but deeds. We need clear, urgent action and we need a compelling vision. I, for one, will be voting for the Green motion and for the Labour amendment to achieve that this afternoon.
16:40