Meeting of the Parliament 26 February 2026 [Draft]
I think that the Government’s approach in its budget and in its social security expenditure is fair and affordable. What the Government is doing in relation to cost of living support, for example, has a whole variety of different elements to it. It results in people in Scotland paying lower council tax, on average, than people in other parts of the United Kingdom. It results in the abolition of peak rail fares, which means that, if a person is a commuter between Edinburgh and Glasgow, their travel costs have been halved as a consequence of the Government’s action. [Interruption.]
I hear a Conservative member talk about rural areas. The Government is piloting a £2 bus fare cap in the Highlands and Islands, and I heard on my visit to Shetland that it is going down fantastically well as a measure to support the cost of living.
Of course, if people live in Scotland, they also have access to the social contract, which means that they do not pay prescription charges, they do not pay for personal care and they do not pay for tuition fees—as we have heard this week, the whole issue of student debt in the United Kingdom is becoming such a significant issue, but people living in Scotland do not pay tuition fees in Scotland.
I think that the Government has got the balance right in asking people on higher incomes to pay slightly more in taxation. Of course, the majority of taxpayers in Scotland pay less in taxation than they would pay if they lived in other parts of the United Kingdom and they get access to the social contract, which protects people from the rises in the cost of living.