Chamber and committees

First of all, this is the first time that I have formally had the opportunity to welcome, in Parliament, the support that the Liberal Democrats have expressed for the Government’s budget and for the agreements that we have reached on policy priorities—which we have also reached with members of the Green Party and with the member from Alba. That is an indication of how Parliament should work.

Over the course of Mr Cole-Hamilton’s question, he was subjected to yah-boo behaviour, principally of the Conservatives, who have contributed absolutely nothing to, and have achieved absolutely nothing out of, the budget process. Those are their actions and conduct. The Labour Party is in exactly the same place—it has achieved nothing out of the budget process to date.

I say to Mr Cole-Hamilton that parties have to work together in the common interests of the people of Scotland. I welcome the collaboration that has taken place, because the Government is interested in delivering solutions for the people of Scotland, and not in coming here to posture, as the Labour and Conservative parties are doing. We are interested in doing the hard work to deliver for the people of Scotland. We will deliver a winter fuel payment for pensioners, and the Labour Party and the Tories will not support it when the budget comes to Parliament.

The law on freedom of information is absolutely crystal clear, and all organisations should comply with it and follow its provisions. If the matter is being looked at by the Information Commissioner, I will leave the commissioner to undertake its statutory duty.

I was deeply concerned by what I read in the CBI report on business confidence in the United Kingdom. In my regular engagement with Scottish business, I hear directly that the impact of the recent employer national insurance contribution increases at a UK level is a significant factor.

The Scottish budget for 2025-26 includes a raft of measures to support business and economic growth, as well as enhanced measures to attract private investment.

I have raised the impact of the planned increase in reserved taxation with the UK Government and I wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer earlier this month. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has also raised the issue with the Treasury.

We have made clear the wide-ranging concerns about the impact that the change—which was introduced with no consultation—will have on Scotland. The UK Government seems determined to ignore those concerns, but we will continue to raise the issue and the impact that it will have on the Scottish economy. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government will raise the issue with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury next month.

It seems to me that that particular decision is having a damaging effect on the UK Government’s growth agenda. Although I am wholly supportive of that agenda, that measure is counterproductive to trying to deliver growth in the economy.

In its analysis, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says that it expects the gap between the child poverty rate in Scotland and rates in the rest of the UK to widen because of the action that we are taking to tackle the issue through measures such as the Scottish child payment.

I encourage the Labour Government to take a different course from the one that has been advertised. It is maintaining the two-child limit. Although the Scottish Government will act to remove that in Scotland, our task would be made easier if the issue was remedied at UK level.

We will take every measure that we can. In the budget, we are taking further measures on the two-child limit and the expansion of free school meals in an effort to address child poverty, which is the overriding priority of my Government.

I agree with Clare Adamson on both points: that Scotland would be best served by being an independent member of the EU, and that Brexit has been an economic disaster for Scotland as part of the United Kingdom. It is as a consequence of our membership of the United Kingdom that we have lost our EU membership.

The economic damage done is obvious. That is what is undermining living standards in this country. I accept and acknowledge that and have a solution to it, which is that we should repair our relationship with the European Union and ensure that our businesses and organisations can trade and that we can benefit from freedom of movement.

I assure Parliament that we are encouraging the United Kingdom Government to repair the damage that has been done to our economy and to our relationship with Europe. The living standards of our population depend on that, and it must be given greater priority than it has been given since the change of Government in July last year.

The decision to allow expansion at Heathrow airport lies exclusively with the United Kingdom Government. The Scottish Government will engage closely with the UK Government and Heathrow airport to understand any potential impact of its expansion on Scotland, particularly on our climate targets and connectivity.

I share Mr Ewing’s aspiration that Scottish goods should be able to get to market as quickly as possible, but I am reminded that, when I was in Shetland a few months ago, the fish sector explained to me the obstacles that are in its way to get its products to market because of the stupid procedures that are involved in Brexit, which are deeply damaging to our economy.

If we want to get Scottish produce more quickly from the Shetland Islands and other communities in Scotland to European markets, the immediate priority of my Government would be to get agreements in place with the European Union that would allow freer trade to be undertaken. What I say to people in Scotland is that they have to understand the colossal damage that was done to our country’s economy by Brexit, which was inflicted on us by a bad deal by the Conservatives. I hope that the Labour Government will do something to rectify that, because it is undermining the Scottish economy.

The Government has made a range of interventions to improve access to public transport. For example, more than 2 million children, young people, disabled people and older people in Scotland are now benefiting from free bus travel. Throughout Scotland, more than 150 million bus journeys have been made by children and young people under 22, using their free entitlement. We have been working to expand the opportunities for people to safely walk, wheel and cycle, with the expansion of the network to around 450 miles of routes for walking, wheeling and cycling.

The Government will do that as part of its plans, but it is, frankly, laughable for Sue Webber to take me to task on the issue. Every time that a measure is presented to Parliament that might change any of those patterns of behaviour, who opposes it? The Conservatives do—every single one of them, and then they come here every week and posture with empty rhetoric about such issues. If Sue Webber wants investment in public transport, I gently and respectfully encourage her to vote for the budget that will pay for it, instead of wasting her time coming here and posturing on a weekly basis.

As Mr Sarwar knows, because I told him last week, I am engaging directly with all the interested parties in the health service to make sure that we create cohesive leadership and a focused agenda to improve and strengthen the national health service. That is what is occupying my time, and it is what is occupying the time of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care. We are getting on with doing that.

We are not promising jam tomorrow; we are promising the largest budget settlement for the national health service in a few weeks, and the folk who are not going to vote for it are that lot, Labour, and that lot, the Conservatives.

Mr Sarwar has made the same mistake that Jackie Baillie made last week of saying that things are getting worse week by week. I go back to the same information that I put on the record last week. On accident and emergency waiting times, four-hour performance has increased week on week since the week ending 22 December. Jackie Baillie and Anas Sarwar are once again saying— [Interruption.]