Chamber and committees

I am happy to make an intervention on the member.

On a point of order—

Thank you very much. For clarity, I need to make the point that, when I used the word “fascist”, I was talking about Mussolini. It is stretching the point to compare a Scottish Government minister with a fascist in Italy, and I thought that it was shameful to do so.

I am sure that members, including Jackie Baillie, will welcome the First Minister’s comments about the fact that the number of nursing and midwifery posts has increased by 4.5 per cent since last year. What further steps are being taken, in particular by the nursing and midwifery task force, to ensure that qualified nurses continue to be supported through the hiring process?

Will the Deputy First Minister say a bit more on the cumulative impact of EU funding on my constituents in Dundee and on communities across Scotland since the UK’s accession in 1973? What is Scotland now missing out on due to the absence of that funding?

I am sure that the cabinet secretary will join me in commending the fantastic work that Dundee City Council has been undertaking to electrify its vehicle fleet and support the increase in the number of electric taxis and buses in the city. It is, of course, early days for the LEZs in Dundee, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, but is the cabinet secretary aware of any significant problems with compliance or early impacts on people travelling to and around Scotland’s city centres? Does the cabinet secretary share my concerns that the interests of the Tories, rather than being concerned about people’s health, appear to be entirely connected with the upcoming general election?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I could not connect. I would have voted yes.

What about your £30,000?

It is not possible for there to be no impact on capital borrowing from the cuts that have been made to our capital budget by the United Kingdom Government, if we want to continue running some of the services that are provided.

As we are talking about councils going bankrupt, I note that no council in Scotland has gone bankrupt, and the latest report suggested that none is likely to. That is in huge contrast to Conservative-controlled England, where there have been 12 section 114 notices, in eight councils. Those are not just Labour councils. There was Northamptonshire County Council, twice; Croydon Council; Slough Borough Council; Nottingham City Council, again; Croydon Council, again; Northumberland Council; Croydon Council, again; Thurrock Council; Woking Borough Council; Birmingham Council; and, most recently, Nottingham City Council, again. The Scottish Government will keep doing what it can to support and work with our local authorities, and the UK Government should start doing the same with its local authorities.

The Scottish Government recognises the challenging financial circumstances that local authorities and, indeed, the entire public sector are currently facing. Those challenges were considered and were reflected in the local government finance settlement, which is providing local authorities with record funding of more than £14 billion in 2024-25, which is a real-terms increase of 2.5 per cent compared with the previous year. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources that are available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.