Chamber and committees

I am slightly confused about the £80 million because, when you committed that initially, the Acorn project had not even been given approval. Therefore, we are actually in a better state now than when you first put the money in your budget. When you put that £80 million in your budget initially, what was it envisaged that it would be used for? What was the scope of the £80 million? How was it going to be spent?

Thank you.

My questions are about carbon capture. Like you, cabinet secretary, I was delighted that the Acorn project was put on the track 2 process. That is really good news. How are the Scottish Government and the UK Government working together to ensure that we maximise the potential of the Scottish cluster?

How big a role will SNIB have in helping our SMEs?

No, I will not.

The Government should stop cutting libraries, stop cutting sport facilities and stop cutting vital services.

The Government talks about early intervention and prevention, but the savage cuts to local government are making things worse; Brian Whittle also made that point. Fewer public sporting facilities will mean higher levels of obesity and more cost to our NHS. Daniel Johnson was right to say that the economic data is stark. We are lagging behind. Value added tax registered businesses are down and job creation is down.

Willie Rennie described the programme as “uninspiring”, and I completely agree, but his most important point is that there is no clarity for farmers on climate targets. That must come urgently.

As Murdo Fraser highlighted, the Scottish Conservative Party is the only party that is offering a clear vision for the economic future of Scotland within a strong United Kingdom; a United Kingdom that has recovered faster than any other European nation following Covid, and with strong growth. This week, the First Minister said that the SNP is pro-growth, yet we know that its tail-wagging coalition partner is anti-growth. The Scottish public is under no illusion about who is pulling the strings, and it knows that independence is top of the SNP’s agenda, not the wellbeing and livelihoods of hard-working Scots.

The programme for government is not ambitious, it is not forward thinking, it does not offer solutions and it does not even offer a vision for Scotland. It only offers some mitigation for 16 years of an SNP Government.

Last week, the Scottish Conservative Party set out its vision for the future of Scotland. It is a vision where we work hand in hand with the UK Government to deliver economic growth for our country and a national workforce plan to align skills to our education opportunities.

We will put emphasis on lifelong learning and work with partners to provide more rural housing in areas that face depopulation. We will tackle long-term health issues, including by setting up a network of long-Covid clinics—an issue that the Government has failed to address. We will review business taxation to ensure that it is fair and flexible, and we will build a network of regional clusters of excellence to build international excellence in goods and services. That is how we will lift people out of the poverty caused by the failures of the SNP Government.

That is a vision for Scotland. However, instead of getting that, we have the same old tired and worn-out rhetoric of a First Minister who has no ideas and no vision and who is just a poor imitation of what went before. He is the continuity candidate who offers a Government that continuously fails to address the needs of Scottish business, Scottish schools and our health service; that fails to listen to the concerns that are expressed by businesses up and down Scotland, whether in our drinks industry or our short-term lets industry; that lacks ideas and vision; and that can only ever prioritise independence, to the detriment of everything else.

What we have seen over the past few days has shown the SNP-Green Government to be failing in its duty to serve the people of Scotland through working with the UK Government to bring investment and support to our business sector. It has failed in its duty to deliver for our children and young people through better education and closing the attainment gap. It has failed in its duty to deliver world-class healthcare—given that one in seven Scots is on a NHS waiting list. This programme for government does nothing to address those failures, and the people of Scotland deserve better.

Thank you, Presiding Officer; maybe they do not like what they are hearing.

I will turn to some of the comments that have been made in today’s debate. Pam Gosal was right to highlight that local government is not mentioned in the Government motion today. Local government is at the heart of our communities, but the Government often treats it badly. Stop the cuts should be the slogan for the programme for government.

I welcome this debate on the programme for government and on the opportunities before us in Scotland. We have heard many good contributions. I hope that the cabinet secretary has listened to some of the concerns that have been shared here today, and by stakeholders, many of whom I have met in the past couple of months.

Yesterday, I attended the Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen and met oil and gas workers and leaders who are increasingly concerned by this SNP-Green devolved Government’s lack of interest in the sector. There was not one mention of oil and gas in the programme for government and only a passing reference in the First Minister’s speech. The main message that I took away from the conference and want to convey to the Government is that hostility to the oil and gas sector is harming the supply chain.

Larger energy companies are choosing to invest in other areas around the world. That is having a knock-on effect on the supply chain, which is vital for our transition. We cannot have a just transition from oil and gas to renewables if we kill off the supply chain. Only the Scottish Conservatives are standing up for the oil and gas sector in the north-east of Scotland—and the oil and gas sector knows that.

I do not know whether Kevin Stewart has gone offshore. If he had, he would have learned that the Government’s actions are killing off the energy industry in Aberdeen. Without a supply chain, there will be no transition, and that is the path that we are going down.

The programme for government could have been titled “A failure of Government”, given the number of broken promises that it represents. There is failure to dual the A9 or to set a timetable for the work to be completed. There is failure to dual the A96, to eliminate the attainment gap, to build ferries, to protect our rural communities, and failure to grow our economy in line with the rest of the UK. I could go on, but time is limited.

My colleagues have highlighted only some of the impacts that those failures have meant for our communities—

To unlock the benefits of harbour improvements at Fraserburgh, it is vital that road infrastructure to Fraserburgh is also improved. Last week, six people were taken to hospital after a car accident at Cortes junction, and we have all heard of the many incidents at the notorious Toll of Birness.

Can I ask the minister how many more lives will have to be impacted before the Government will sort out the dangerous route to Fraserburgh? Without that happening, a just transition will never be delivered.

Thank you, convener, and thank you for your welcome to the committee. I have no relevant interests to declare that would stop me taking part in the committee’s work.