Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2026 [Draft]
I believe that that is part of the problem, and we should not kid ourselves that it is all just one equation. I accept that and I encourage firmer and faster measures, but we are in this Parliament, where we need to make decisions about our finances. We need to be focused rather than deflecting on to other Parliaments and other issues.
Public service reform will require to be substantial, and we will need to engage in new methods of reform. I will work in partnership with Ivan McKee and Jenny Gilruth to make that happen and reach agreement, if we possibly can, because I accept that change is hard. Today, I met an organisation that promotes social impact bonds. I know that that area was in the Scottish National Party’s manifesto—it was in ours, too—to incentivise investment from private sources in order to secure a return for substantial change. We know that, when a fire is going on in public services, it is difficult to implement change at the same time, because of the people and money that are available, so I am in favour of such measures.
I am in favour of tax reform and, on the face of it, I agree with everything that is in the Green amendment. Council tax reform is long overdue. I would favour moving from taxation of physical assets through business rates to online taxes for Amazon and other such companies. My problem with that is the rhetoric, which sounds too enthusiastic about increasing taxation.
We should have reform, and we should work on the basis that it is revenue neutral as a starting point, before we even consider whether it should result in increased revenue in the future. It sounds as if I am being boring, but a bit of boringness in politics does no harm, because it brings predictability and confidence. The Government and parties sometimes reach for easy solutions, but sometimes the easier and more glitzy something sounds, the more unbelievable it is.
Let us focus on actually making the change. Let us build confidence among taxpayers. Let us grow the economy. Let us make sure that we have more participation in society and the economy, so that more people contribute to taxation—that way, I will get excited. That is the change that we need, and I urge members to vote for our amendment.
I move, as an amendment to motion S7M-00249, to leave out from “welcomes” to end and insert:
“notes that fair taxation must recognise the current cost of living crisis and the impact that any tax increases can have on individuals and businesses; believes that the Scottish Government must prioritise getting Scotland’s finances in order, in light of warnings by the Institute of Fiscal Studies that it faces a ‘fiscal reckoning’; considers that taxpayers in Scotland deserve value for money as well as confidence that their taxes are being spent wisely, and believes that the trust that taxpayers should have in a government to spend wisely has been lost over the last 19 years of an SNP administration.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.