Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 17 March 2026 [Draft]
17 Mar 2026 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Topical Question Time
Cost of Living (Support for Families)
In my constituency, more than 86 per cent of homes are off the gas grid, and some 46 per cent are heated with oil. Given that critics have warned that Keir Starmer’s support package works out at around £33 per affected household—as the cabinet secretary also mentioned—does the cabinet secretary agree that that will be little consolation for the thousands of people whose fuel prices have doubled overnight? Does the cabinet secretary also agree that that cannot be the end of any action taken by the UK Government, given that energy policy is reserved?
In the same item of business
2. Alasdair Allan (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)
SNP
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding the steps being taken to support families with the cost of living, in light of the...
Gillian Martin (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP)
SNP
The United Kingdom Government has been painfully slow to act on the matter, given that heating oil prices had already doubled before its intervention yesterd...
Alasdair Allan
SNP
In my constituency, more than 86 per cent of homes are off the gas grid, and some 46 per cent are heated with oil. Given that critics have warned that Keir S...
Gillian Martin
SNP
I absolutely agree with Alasdair Allan on all the points that he has made. Developing global events only reinforce the need to put in place robust and effect...
Alasdair Allan
SNP
I welcome the Scottish Government’s work to support households and families across Scotland with the cost of living, in stark contrast, it would seem, to the...
Gillian Martin
SNP
I agree with all the points that Dr Allan makes. Our island and rural communities already face significant challenges, which have been disproportionately imp...
Tim Eagle (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
Isn’t it crazy? People across Scotland are suffering with heating oil prices and we are here talking about independence. This is just the Scottish National P...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Let us hear one another.
Tim Eagle
Con
Let me get to my constituents, who are deeply troubled. It is great that we have extra money coming in from the Scottish Government, and I applaud that, but ...
Gillian Martin
SNP
I do not know whether Tim Eagle was listening to anything I was saying, rather than frothing at the mouth. I said that, given the urgency of the problem, we ...
Emma Harper (South Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
Almost 40 per cent of households in Dumfries and Galloway rely on heating oil and are therefore particularly exposed to global price volatility. Does the cab...
Gillian Martin
SNP
It is rural areas of Scotland that have the most to gain from the development of renewables. If the SNP Scottish Government had not stayed the course in our ...