Meeting of the Parliament 19 February 2026 [Draft]
I had a rather disturbing dream last night and it involved Craig Hoy. He listed every single Liberal Democrat achievement during the budget process, starting off with the community fund and going on to colleges, hospices, young entrepreneurs and money for the islands. He went on about business rates and colleges—I may have said colleges already—and covered all those things. Then I woke up. Now, I have just been subjected to a lecture from Craig Hoy, who supported Liz Truss’s budget just a few years ago.
There is an important lesson. I remember when John Swinney was standing in as finance secretary and told us that the tax increase to be introduced that year would be an emergency one. I remember asking him at the time whether the tax would go back down again when we were through the emergency. The answer was a bit vague and noncommittal and the result was that that tax rise has been embedded since then and is not an emergency tax any more.
I have supported tax rises in the past. Back at the time of the 2016 election, we supported using, for the first time, the tax powers that Parliament had at the time. However, we opposed the subsequent tax rises proposed by this Government because we think that we have to be incredibly careful with trust regarding tax.