Chamber and committees

Will the Deputy First Minister take an intervention?

I will be brief. The Deputy First Minister has talked about investment coming in. What would help with that would be the release of the energy strategy. We were told that it was almost ready just before the general election, but it has been delayed. When will that strategy come out? Will it remove the presumption against oil and gas developments?

Dear, dear!

On a point of order, Presiding Officer.

I could hear one of the members at the back of the chamber shouting, “Fascist!” I do not know whether you heard that, Presiding Officer. I think that that is disgraceful—

The SNP Government’s actions are driving people away from the railways. Its reintroduction of peak fares will double fares in some places. Services are being axed—6,000 trains have been cancelled as a result of a temporary timetable.

Let us look at journey times, as mentioned by Stephen Kerr. In 2016, the devolved SNP Government promised to spend £200 million by 2026 to reduce journey times between Aberdeen and the central belt by 20 minutes. That would have provided the north-east with a huge economic boost and encouraged more people to use the railway but, nearly eight years on, less than 5 per cent of that promised money has been spent, and we are now told that the project is under review. That is another broken promise, just like the promises to dual the A96, to dual the A9 by 2025 and to dual the A90 north of Ellon—a list of broken promises to the north-east by the SNP Government.

I will move on to some of the contributions that we have heard today. Craig Hoy reminded us about the temporary alcohol ban on ScotRail that was introduced nearly four years ago. The Government is so weak that it cannot make up its mind what to do about that. A succession of transport ministers seem incapable of making a decision.

Graham Simpson rightly reminded us that the SNP Government has ditched its climate change targets—probably a good job, when they make public transport much more expensive. He also pointed out the flawed survey that his new friends in the RMT highlighted.

Once again, we heard the cabinet secretary pass the buck to Westminster, even though the Scottish Fiscal Commission has said in its publications that the overall budget is up by 0.9 per cent in real terms this year.

Alex Rowley is spot on when he says that targeting drivers and making rail as attractive a choice as possible will get that modal shift. The Government has set a target of a 20 per cent reduction in car mile journeys by 2030, but once again it has no plan.

Mark Ruskell is right to say that fares are extortionate and confusing. We need to simplify, not force people to buy flexipasses or whatever they are called. More time was needed for the pilot.

Ben Macpherson and Christine Grahame both asked where the money would come from. These are political choices, so I will give them some ideas for where the money can come from. The Government should scrap the national care service, scrap the independence unit that it spends money on, trim the constitution budget and grow the economy at the same rate as in the rest of the UK. We would then have plenty of money to spend on things that Scots actually want.

The fact is that only 2 per cent of journeys in Scotland are made by rail. The decision to reintroduce peak fares will not increase that figure, the decision to pause the journey time reduction project at Aberdeen will not increase that figure and the decision to kick new stations—such as the one at Winchburgh that my colleague Sue Webber is campaigning for—into the long grass will not increase that figure.

We have to make it easier for people. We would scrap peak fares and introduce a Scottish smart travel card that can be used on all forms of public transport. The smart card is another SNP broken promise.

The people of Scotland want to do their bit when it comes to net zero. They want to travel sustainably, but they are being prevented from doing so by this SNP Government. The Government is making it harder and more expensive for Scots to use our trains, with cancelled and delayed services, increased fares and poor connectivity. It is not too late for the Government to change its mind on that policy. It is not too late to announce that peak fares will be abolished permanently and that hard-working Scots will not be penalised for trying to do the right thing by using the train.

I am pleased to support the motion, which calls on the devolved Scottish Government to reverse its poor decision to reintroduce peak-time fares on our railways. Once again, the SNP Government fails to listen to the Scottish people, Scottish businesses, the rail unions and our tourism sector and fails in its promises. The reintroduction of peak-time fares is, simply, a tax on those who seek to go about their daily lives and to do so responsibly.

I have spoken many times in the chamber about how the Scottish people want to do their bit. They want to be environmentally responsible and they want to help us all to achieve net zero, but they are being stymied time and again by this short-sighted and visionless SNP Government.

The SNP amendment sums up a Government that is out of ideas and out of time. It tries to pat itself on the back by calling the removal of peak time fares “pioneering”, but it has ditched it and, of course, is trying to blame Westminster once again.

This Government owns and has full control over ScotRail. It should do anything that it can to encourage more people on to ScotRail to enable the modal shift that we desire, but the SNP Government’s actions are driving—[Interruption.]

It is a question for the Scottish Fiscal Commission. We spoke briefly about this earlier. The financial memorandum says that the bill has “no significant cost implications”. Do you agree with that, and that the cost will come later?

Do you think that the bill could be improved to almost tighten the link between the medium-term financial strategy and the budget process and the carbon budgets?

That would involve a change to the budget as opposed to a change to the bill.

Do you feel that that work should be done by the Scottish Government or the Scottish Fiscal Commission before the bill is passed, so that we understand the potential costs to the Government of enactment of the bill and the plan?