Chamber and committees

We have just under four minutes and four more questioners. I am keen to get them all in, but we need brief questions and responses, as far as possible.

I think that the people we represent are less interested in who is doing less and who is doing worse. What they want to know is that, in both Governments and at the local government level, all the powers and all the resources are being deployed to their fullest extent.

The Conservatives have chosen to break their promise, though, by hiking national insurance and handing UK taxpayers a £10.9 billion tax hike. In the current circumstances, that is, frankly, reckless. Yet the Scottish Government is scarcely blameless. As Paul O’Kane highlighted, the SNP Government has been hollowing out local authorities for years. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that many councils, including Orkney Islands Council, have been forced to raise the level of council tax after being handed, in effect, a £250 million cut to their budget by the SNP-Green coalition.

As Pam Duncan-Glancy reminded us, abolishing the unfair council tax altogether was once an SNP flagship policy. That flagship appears to have gone the way of the SNP ferries over recent years. The SNP and Greens have also chosen this moment to use the powers at their disposal to hike rail fares while failing to increase disability benefit in line with inflation. Both of Scotland’s Governments are failing to rise to the challenge of this emergency.

No. I do not have time, I am afraid.

What, then, should they be doing? Not—as Christine Grahame and Jackie Dunbar urged us to do—blasting a black hole in the country’s finances and supercharging austerity through separation. As Alex Rowley reminded us, that would provide no immediate benefit and much medium to longer-term disbenefit. Rather, as the motion proposes, they should be taking steps to make a meaningful difference to those who are worst affected. At the heart of our proposals, Scottish Liberal Democrats believe that VAT should be cut to 17.5 per cent. That alone would be worth £600 to the average Scottish household, and it would boost consumer spending and therefore business prospects.

A windfall tax on the inflated superprofits of oil and gas companies would allow us to extend the criteria for the winter fuel payment and the warm homes discount and to double them. We would use the levers at our disposal to reverse the hike in rail fares and would activate an emergency insulation programme this summer to improve the energy efficiency of the households who are most in need.

The grim truth is that this crisis is far from over. Predictions suggest that a difficult 18 or so months lie ahead, as my colleague Alex Cole-Hamilton reminded us. With a further wave of increases in energy costs looming later this year, there is also the prospect of things getting worse before they get better.

The crisis is already taking a heavy toll on individuals, households and businesses across Scotland. They need to see more from both of their Governments. I have set out some of the ways in which Scottish Liberal Democrats believe that more can be done. Those are tangible, meaningful, deliverable steps that would offer those whom we represent the help and hope that they desperately need to breathe a little easier.

I urge Parliament to support the amendment in the name of Pam Duncan-Glancy and the motion in the name of Alex Cole-Hamilton.

That concludes this item of business. There will be a brief pause before we move on to the next item.

This short debate has been timely and important, and it is precisely the sort of topic that our constituents would expect to see us debating.

As everybody has acknowledged, Scotland is facing the biggest fall in living standards in generations as household bills skyrocket. At every turn—whether due to rising energy bills or the price of the weekly shop—it is getting harder and harder for so many people in Scotland, across the UK and more widely to make ends meet. That is compounded by soaring inflation, which is driving the worst squeeze on incomes since records began.

There will not be a single member in the chamber whose inbox and mailbag are not overflowing with countless desperate examples of the impacts that those eye-watering increases are having on so many. In my Orkney constituency, average fuel bills are set to go up by a staggering £1,300. In a community that is already suffering the highest levels of fuel poverty and extreme poverty, it is no wonder that islanders are at their wits’ end. For many, being in this position is a new and profoundly unsettling experience.

Therefore, it is incumbent on all of us to respond in a manner befitting the scale of the challenge that is faced by those whom we represent, and to use all of the powers and resources at our disposal to the fullest extent, as Alex Rowley demanded. We must also demand the same of colleagues at Westminster and, indeed, in local government. That might still not be enough to do everything that we would wish, but it is the very least that people across Scotland have a right to expect and demand.

I am certainly not arguing that either of Scotland’s Governments has done nothing; the cabinet secretary, Patrick Harvie, and Liz Smith have set out their cases. Rather, I would argue that what has been done to date still falls short of what is needed. Liz Smith fairly acknowledged that in what I thought was a characteristically measured contribution. In all honesty, I am pretty sure that Liz Smith and many of her colleagues on the Conservative benches will have seen the chancellor’s spring statement as deeply disappointing.

The interim voucher scheme, which closed last month, was intended to plug the gaps in the communities with the lowest coverage in the country, which are predominantly in the north of Scotland. Not only has the take-up of that scheme been low, but Government figures have demonstrated that the poorest amount of money has gone to those in the north, compared to those in the south and central regions. Can the minister explain the logic of that?

The next item of business is a statement by Neil Gray on displaced people from Ukraine—an update. The minister will take questions at the end of his statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions.

The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in his statement. Despite the statement overrunning slightly, I still intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions, after which we will need to move on to the next item of business. It would be helpful if members who wish to ask a question could press their request-to-speak buttons or place a R in the chat function.

The final item of business is a member’s business debate on motion S6M-03367, in the name of Joe FitzPatrick, on sexism in football. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. I encourage members who wish to participate to press their request-to-speak buttons now, or as soon as possible. I call Joe FitzPatrick to open the debate, for around seven minutes.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament condemns the findings of a recent investigation, undertaken by the Courier and Press & Journal, which, it believes, shows the scale of sexist abuse facing those involved in women's football in Scotland; notes with concern that the investigation found that 60% of female respondents had experienced sexism in football, and that sexism was the most commonly encountered form of abuse experienced by female players; highlights that, according to the investigation, just 8% of respondents believe that the football industry does enough to reduce discriminatory behaviour towards women; notes that 86% of respondents think that increasing media coverage of women’s football could attract more people to the sport; welcomes increased participation in women’s football in Scotland, including in Dundee; understands that the number of registered female players in Scotland increased by 21% during 2019; notes the physical and mental health benefits of participation in sport; commends the work of HerGameToo which, it understands, strives to support, empower and progress women’s football; strongly believes that discrimination of any kind has no place in sport; applauds journalists Sophie Goodwin and Stephen Stewart for conducting this important work, and notes the calls for action to be taken now to stamp out what it sees as the culture of misogyny in football.

I call the minister to respond to the debate.