Chamber and committees

I will give way to Stephen Kerr, then I will make some progress.

The cabinet secretary perhaps did not hear me say that I believe that we have to invest in supporting people who want to work to get into work. We need to reform the system.

On ADP, the cabinet secretary and I have had this debate, so we know that already in the system is a £1 billion overspend in block grant adjustments, which we had to have a debate about. Indeed, for the first time last week at committee, the cabinet secretary acknowledged the challenge in that, and it is a stark situation. We have to look at how Social Security Scotland is working and how its systems can work more efficiently.

Multiple interventions have been made since the UK Government came into office, but there are challenges here, as well. The Scottish Government wants to ignore the fact that it has a responsibility to ensure that we have the energy mix that I mentioned, which can provide more sustainability and self-sufficiency and bring down bills. The Scottish Government has a long-standing aversion and opposition to nuclear power, as I have already referenced today. We know that planning approval for Berwick Bank is waiting on desks.

I will finish, if the cabinet secretary will allow me to do so. I think that I am rapidly running out of time.

The cabinet secretary is shouting at me from a sedentary position, but she could not answer any of the questions that I put to her. I am trying to say that ensuring that we have a strong energy mix and keeping the lights on are important to bill payers and will, in fact, keep bills down. It really is time that the Government considered its position on many of those issues.

Since the general election, the UK Labour Government has started long-term work to secure our energy future and the energy market. Last week, we heard the announcement of funding for expansion of Port of Cromarty Firth, so that it can make floating offshore wind turbines on site in the UK for the first time.

Proposals were set out just yesterday to reduce energy rates for communities that accept the need for new and upgraded pylons being sited near them, to ensure that the communities benefit from building the infrastructure that will be absolutely necessary in order to ensure energy sufficiency.

Those are just some examples that reflect the importance of ensuring our energy security, which can bring down bills in the long term, which is what the Labour Government pledged to do.

The cabinet secretary and Liz Smith touched in their opening remarks on the wider issues that exist in relation to the cost of living. It was welcome that we heard about the extra funding that will be provided to the Wise Group. I met it just last week to discuss many of the issues, and it said to me that fuel poverty cannot be considered to be unique and separate from general poverty or from the work that we have to do more widely to tackle all facets of poverty. There is a discussion to be had on what we can do about energy bills specifically, but that issue cannot be separated from the wider discussion.

I am proud of the work that the UK Government has undertaken to support that vision. The increase in the national living wage will result in a pay rise for 200,000 of the lowest-paid Scots, and the Employment Rights Bill will ensure rights for workers in well-paid and secure work. The UK Government is ensuring that the state pension will rise by £470 and that the debt repayment rate for Scottish families who are in receipt of universal credit will increase, on average, by £450 a year. We rehearsed many of those issues in the debate about the economy last week.

It is clear that we are talking about a very serious issue. It calls for the two Governments to be willing to work together to ensure that we have energy security and that we bring down people’s bills in the long term.

I move amendment S6M-16750.4, to leave out from “notes” and insert:

“recognises that there are significant cost of living pressures in the UK and globally; further recognises the impact that rising energy bills have for families and communities across Scotland; welcomes the recent announcement by the UK Labour administration that it is expanding the £150 Warm Home Discount scheme so that 220,000 more Scottish households receive help to reduce energy costs; further welcomes the other support delivered by the UK Labour administration, including an extra £41 million in funding this past winter for the Scottish Government and delivering a record budget settlement for Scotland; demands that the Scottish Government works to urgently introduce greater support in the short term and accelerate insulating and decarbonising homes to bring down energy bills in the long term, and calls on the Scottish Government to deliver the policies that the Scottish Labour Party is calling for, such as scrapping peak rail fares, delivering affordable housing and keeping council tax low while boosting Scotland’s energy security through its sprint to clean power to keep bills low.”

Will the member give way?

I have been trying to ascertain something from SNP members for some time. They have £5.2 billion extra for the Scottish budget as a result of the budgetary decisions that the UK Government has taken, but they do not support a single measure in the UK budget. What would Fulton MacGregor have done differently if it was not to be the national insurance increase?

I am conscious that time is available, so I will give way.

Mr Macpherson used two very telling words: “proposed” and “potential”. [Laughter.] I do not know the detail of the green paper—perhaps members opposite know—but I do know, because we debated it last week, that there is a very important discussion to be had—

I will just finish this point, if the cabinet secretary will allow me to do so.

There is a very important discussion to be had about the fact that the social security system is not working and is broken. We have to invest in supporting people who want to work but who face too many barriers to getting into work, because that is an important part of ensuring that people can receive an adequate income.

I will finish my point, if the cabinet secretary will allow me, because she might want to respond to it. The Berwick Bank approvals have sat delayed on ministers’ desks for years, the Government has failed to deliver on its commitment to create a publicly owned energy company and it is selling off the sea bed on the cheap in the latest round of ScotWind options. Perhaps Gillian Martin will comment on some of that.