Chamber and committees

The reason why the prisons are in such a catastrophic state is entirely down to this SNP Government.

Let us take a look at the kind of criminals that we could be talking about if a new form of SNP early release is announced today. Here are some examples of recent sentences that have been imposed by Scottish courts: seven years for raping a 10-year-old girl; nine years for stabbing a man to death; and five years for sexually abusing four young boys. All those criminals, and many others like them, could be let out early. People in the real world cannot get their heads around criminals not serving the sentences that they are given. Would the First Minister ever find it acceptable to let those kinds of criminals out early?

Just weeks ago, the Scottish National Party released almost 500 prisoners early, before they had served their sentences. In 98 per cent of those cases, the victims were not even told. The Government is now considering the early release of some of the most dangerous criminals in Scotland. Does John Swinney believe that that is the right thing to do?

In 2015, John Swinney’s Government ended the automatic early release of prisoners serving sentences of more than four years. My party voted against it, because we believed that the measure should have gone further by applying to both short-term and long-term prisoners. The SNP believed the same—at one stage, at least. Nicola Sturgeon even said:

“Our objective remains to end the policy of automatic early release completely”.—[Official Report, 2 April 2015; c 19.]

John Swinney might be even softer on crime than Nicola Sturgeon. Victims groups feel that killers, rapists, domestic abusers, drug dealers and child abusers could be freed early. Does the First Minister believe that such prisoners should be let out without any consideration for victims or public safety?

Unbelievable. What a stunning lack of self-awareness. John Swinney talks about respecting judicial independence, but by releasing 500 prisoners early, he trashed judicial independence.

Over the past 17 years, the SNP has relentlessly weakened justice in Scotland. Criminals already get away with inflicting pain and misery on innocent people due to the SNP’s failure to tackle crime. Victims and the law-abiding majority are paying the price. For far too long, the SNP’s justice system has sided with criminals and not with victims. We have the police issuing a slap on the wrist for serious crimes, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service diverting criminals from prosecution and prisoners not serving sentences that have been imposed by the independent judiciary. There is a stunning lack of common sense, and it is leaving people feeling that this Parliament does not represent them.

Why has the Government stacked the entire justice system against crime victims?

I return to the key point, which is that the Scottish Government has been in power for 17 years; it is in receipt of a record block grant and it is utterly incapable of spending it properly. Maybe it should take some responsibility for that.

Poverty is unjust. It causes misery, crime, illness and premature death. In many parts of Scotland, it has become deep rooted, trapping generation after generation. I am determined that my party will fight to increase opportunity, prosperity and good health for all people across Scotland.

This week—in challenge poverty week—it is important that we debate poverty and how best it can be tackled. However, I believe that the debate should be broad—not narrow—which is why I have lodged an amendment to John Swinney’s motion. The motion refers only to the UK Labour Government’s harmful decision to axe lifeline winter fuel payments for millions of elderly people.

It is shocking that Sir Keir Starmer did not conduct any assessment of the impact that his decision would have. That is despite the fact that his own party once warned that stopping these payments could result in the death of 4,000 pensioners in a single year. In the depths of a long, cold Scottish winter, we know that the winter fuel payment can be the difference between heating and eating.

Across the country, the anger at Labour is palpable. It promised change—and this is it. This is what it is really offering people. Elderly folk who have slogged hard all their days feel absolutely betrayed. Many were further angered upon discovering that Sir Keir, a man who certainly does not worry about his electricity bill, is a champion freeloader.

My party broadly agrees with Mr Swinney’s motion. However, as with all state benefits, as in life, nothing is truly free. The SNP often does not seem to grasp that fact. Too often, it recklessly wastes taxpayers’ money. However, the removal of this payment is the wrong way to go about introducing any form of means testing. Any change of this nature should have been made much more fairly and respectfully and with a sufficient period of notice. I think that the Labour members actually agree with that. Labour should never have put vulnerable pensioners at risk, as it has with this decision—aided and abetted by the SNP.

Today’s debate is timely, following the release yesterday of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s “Poverty in Scotland 2024” report. The publication is produced annually, and this year it asks

“how effective social security is at reducing poverty and advancing equality in Scotland.”

Unlike Mr Swinney’s simplistic one-line motion, the report sets out the complexity of the problem over 100-plus pages. It contains some truly disturbing data that ought to make left-wing politicians in the Parliament question some of their preconceived ideas.

Okay.

—to the high-tax, low-ambition, Holyrood consensus. We will stand up for everyone who wants their politicians to show a bit of common sense for a change. We will give people the opportunities to get themselves out of poverty, because we believe in their potential.

We believe that, given the chance, people will work their way up and find a way to succeed. All that they need is opportunity, which is what this Parliament often fails to deliver. It speaks only of giving people a hand out and not a hand up. It spends all its time talking about the problems, not providing the solutions to fix them.

There is crushing poverty out there in the real world that stops Scots from getting ahead, and it is not helped by the poverty of opportunity on their doorstep—the poverty of opportunity that this Parliament fails to tackle. It does not create the new jobs that are needed to give people a chance. It has not looked after Scotland’s education system. It has not improved healthcare. Life expectancy is falling under the SNP Government.

The Parliament has become detached from the bread-and-butter issues that people are most concerned about. All those things are barriers to people fulfilling their potential in life. I want to knock them down. I want to support people’s aspirations, not block them. Only if we achieve that will we finally make progress on tackling the scourge of poverty. That will be my party’s focus, and I believe that it should be what this Parliament as a whole spends most of its time and energy on.

I urge all parties to support my common-sense amendment. Either way, my party intends to support the Government’s motion while recognising that it cannot absolve itself of responsibility for the winter fuel payment cut.

I move amendment S6M-14820.1, to leave out from “must” to end and insert:

“and the Scottish Government must both reverse the introduction of means testing for the Winter Fuel Payment; notes that the Scottish National Party administration has failed to reduce poverty during its 17 years in power; recognises that the best way to tackle poverty is to provide high-quality healthcare and educational and employment opportunities for people across Scotland, with appropriate levels of housing, and condemns the Scottish Government’s failure to achieve any of these objectives.”

John Swinney has been a member of the Scottish Government for 16 of the past 17 years. That Government is in receipt of the largest-ever block grant but is unable to spend money wisely. That is part of the reason for the poverty that we experience in Scotland.

In each area, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation warns that the SNP Government looks likely to miss its targets. Before any other SNP members attempt to question the numbers, I point out that the report data is from the Scottish Government. I am usually averse to reeling off statistics in the chamber—I think that they can be a little bit abstract—but many of the numbers that the report contains are informative and consistent with other research. A recent Scottish Government study says that overall poverty has, in effect, remained unchanged since 1999. At that time, the figure was 24 per cent, and it has fluctuated since, but it is now back at about 21 per cent.

Most of the data that I have cited relates to the post-devolution period. For 25 years, we have had a Scottish Parliament with a huge array of powers at its disposal. This place has the capacity to make bold changes to the lives of people in Scotland.

People do not expect miracles from their politicians: they just want them to tell it straight and to only make pledges that they can actually achieve.

The SNP and Labour offer different shades of socialism that keep people down and trapped in poverty. They make promises that they will never meet—and we will not do that. We will offer an alternative way forward—[Interruption.]