Chamber and committees

The member mentioned fuel costs. Does she agree that the biggest factor in the rise in fuel costs is the war in Ukraine?

The member misses the point completely. What we want is a society in which people do not rely on welfare but have the jobs and opportunities to progress. The best way to tackle poverty is by providing good education, getting people into well-paid employment and growing our economy. We want the Scottish Government to commit to develop schemes that provide employment for people. We want it to tackle the root cause of poverty and to focus on growing the economy, to provide the opportunity that our people deserve.

I again thank all the organisations that gave the committee such moving evidence about the people with whom they work and the stories that those people told. We face a difficult time. Many households are fearful of the future and are wondering how they will pay their bills and meet their financial commitments.

The Government should be doing all that it can to address those needs, but instead we get empty promises and diversion politics. The Government blames someone else while saying that there is nothing that it can do.

We believe that there is much more that the Scottish Government can do, including delivering on some of its promises of the past. We want to see a fair funding settlement for local authorities, so that they can deliver the help and services that are required in our communities. We want to see free school meals delivered, not only promised; debt services funded properly; economic growth and employment at the heart of Government policy—

Will the member take an intervention?

—and an increased focus from the Government on the day job. The people of Scotland deserve a Government that thinks about their needs rather than stokes division and grievance.

—to provide that kind of support. We hope that both Governments—

This is an important debate as many of our constituents are facing a winter of worry and concern. Bills are going up, food prices are increasing and interest rates are on the rise. I am contacted every day by people who are looking for help and assistance. The UK Government has been quick to offer support, including by helping with energy bills for the most vulnerable, placing a cap on energy prices until April next year and cutting national insurance contributions, and I am sure that more support will be offered as the crisis develops.

The war in Ukraine has pushed up energy prices and also the prices of many everyday commodities, which has pushed inflation to higher levels than we have seen in many years. It was reported just yesterday by the Office for National Statistics that, as Willie Rennie mentioned, many of our everyday food prices are increasing at an eye-watering rate.

What we do not need is the SNP-Green coalition of chaos’s constant focus on division—

—or a break-up of the United Kingdom that would cause untold economic harm and SNP austerity like we have never witnessed before.

The SNP has no plan on the Scottish economy except independence. It has no credibility in this area and no idea how economic stability would be achieved.

In closing, Presiding Officer, I again point to the assistance that has been given by our UK Government to Scots during this crisis, with more promised over the winter. Some £1,650 will be provided to the most vulnerable in our society. That will be delivered because we are part of the United Kingdom, with the resources and economic ability—

If Mr Greer looks into the matter further, he will see that the inflation rates and interest rates in Germany are just as high as those in the UK. Surely that cannot be blamed on a Conservative Government.

The problems that we are facing are not unique. They are being faced by countries across the globe, and our UK Government will address them in the best interests of us all. That is the difference between our two Governments. We have one Government that is helping people and another that tries to use every opportunity to repeat its nationalist call for separation. It wants to act in its own self-interest, rather than in the people’s interest, by constantly talking about independence as the answer to all and any woes. The last thing that our nation needs is further instability, and a hard border with our closest and largest trading partner would give us just that. It is a disgrace that this devolved Government continually bangs that drum rather than focusing on the day job of bringing economic growth to this country.

It is the UK Government that is pushing ahead with free ports that will bring economic growth to our communities; with levelling up, which even SNP councils have welcomed; and with investment zones that will bring benefits for businesses that want to grow, develop and provide employment in our cities. The SNP Government is so full of grievance politics that it is failing to propose any policies that will actually deliver economic growth in this country.

The UK Government is providing a £650 cost of living payment for every household on means-tested benefits, a £300 extra cost of living payment to pensioners who are in receipt of the winter fuel payment, a £300 extra disability cost of living payment, a £400 cash grant to every household for energy via energy suppliers, a national insurance cut that will save 2.3 million Scots an average of £285 a year, and the list goes on. The UK Government is putting money back into people’s pockets when they need it most.

The SNP Government will tell us that it has no money even though it has the biggest core settlement ever. However, setting a budget is, of course, about priorities. The SNP has plenty of money for the things that it really cares about: a couple of hundred thousand pounds for a court case to push a divisive referendum and £20 million in the coffers for the pretendy referendum itself.

The people of Scotland need both Governments to work together to tackle the crisis. We need a laser focus on how we help vulnerable families and communities and grow our economy.