Chamber and committees

That is a complete rewriting of history. Keith Brown will be aware of the £400 heating payment that he and everyone else across the country will have received from the UK Government. That was real action in difficult times—not cuts, as we see from the Labour Government now.

We need to look at what can be done. I have been as constructive as I can be with ministers by putting forward where they have the opportunity to defer the block grant adjustment on the winter fuel payment this year, so that ministers can make the payment. That would present an opportunity for people across Scotland to continue to benefit from the payment. I hope that ministers will go away and look at that, because it is an option that they could take forward.

The debate has presented an opportunity to consider other groups that will be impacted. One group that has not been mentioned so far is kinship carers and unpaid carers. The nature of kinship care is that it is often grandparents and retired individuals who care for young people—in many cases, they care beyond anything that we would ask. They, too, will be impacted by the decision, and we need to ensure that that is taken into account. The Carers Scotland report showed greater levels of poverty and financial insecurity for unpaid carers across Scotland, with more than a quarter of carers—28 per cent—struggling to make ends meet, which increases to 41 per cent of carers who are in receipt of carers allowance.

Alex Cole-Hamilton’s and Stuart McMillan’s points about people not claiming pension credit are important. It is critical that take-up is encouraged and that all of us across the chamber, in whatever opportunities we have, encourage low-income households to claim pension credit and, therefore, unlock access to the winter fuel payment in the future. I hope that the Government channels that are available will be looking at doing all that they can in that regard.

We need to ensure that people do not forget about this policy. After just three months in power, the Labour Government has taken this decision. It is clear that Labour was not honest with the people of the United Kingdom at the general election. At no point did it mention that there was—

No, I am not saying that. I am saying that Labour politicians need to be honest. This is their black hole, and no one else’s. Michael Marra and Daniel Johnson are not in opposition now—they need to wake up to that fact. These are Labour Party decisions and this is Labour’s mess alone. I believe that the Labour Party will pay a huge price in 2026 when pensioners across Scotland are given the opportunity to pass judgment on this decision.

The decision will have huge impacts.

I am sorry, Mr McKee; I do not have time.

The First Minister mentioned work on a social tariff. I welcome that and hope that there can be cross-party involvement on that issue. Children’s Hospices Across Scotland—CHAS—and other organisations have been looking at that, and the fuel poverty campaigner Carolynne Hunter and I are trying to take forward a round-table meeting. Although it looks as though the First Minister is not listening to members on this side of the chamber, I hope that he is willing to include cross-party involvement in that work.

I support the amendment in Russell Findlay’s name.

I start by thanking the organisations that have provided helpful briefings ahead of today’s debate. I also thank those charities across our country for the work that they are doing to challenge poverty. It is important that we note their work this week.

I welcome today’s debate, which gives us an opportunity to, rightly, put on record serious concerns about the impact that the removal of the winter fuel payment will have on older citizens and people who live in fuel poverty, especially those who live in off-grid households across rural communities across Scotland. The policy will have a severe impact, and I know from speaking to people that their decisions about fuel payments are being taken today, as we head into winter.

The policy is a double whammy for many people in rural communities. People living in fuel poverty in Aviemore, Braemar and Aboyne have seen a cut of £100 to the winter heating payment that they had last year from the SNP Government, and they are now likely to see a cut of between £200 and £300 from the Labour Government.

Politics is about choices, and we need to be honest: this decision by the UK Labour Government will cost lives. The payment is an essential benefit and should be restored to prevent avoidable deaths, as many members have already said.

Last week, The Daily Telegraph published a freedom of information response that revealed that the Scottish Government had not undertaken any specific assessment of how many additional deaths the decision will cause. The Labour Government has not done so, either. In my intervention on the First Minister, I said that ministers have opportunities and options to try to ensure that the cut does not progress this year—

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer.

Michael Marra fails to say that the black hole includes all the pay deals to which the Labour Government has signed up, as well. That is the truth. There is a simple fact here—

I do not think that I will have time to do so.

If I can get some time back.

A freedom of information request made by the Scottish edition of The Daily Telegraph has shown that the Scottish Government undertook no specific assessment of how many additional deaths would be caused by the decision to copy the Labour Party’s plan to cut winter fuel payments. Will Scottish National Party Government ministers now undertake an emergency impact assessment? Can the cabinet secretary confirm whether ministers have considered deferring the block grant adjustment on the winter fuel payment this year so that they could make the payment to pensioners across Scotland?

I thank the Labour Party for using its debating time to debate the motion on the housing emergency. I also thank the organisations that have provided helpful briefings ahead of the debate.

At the election in 2021, every party in this chamber signed up to work to end rough sleeping in Scotland by the end of this parliamentary session. However, that goal is now further away than ever, with the latest statistics showing a significant increase. In 2022-23, there were 450 incidences in which local authorities were unable to offer temporary accommodation. In the space of the past year, that has soared to 7,915 occasions. Indeed, the Salvation Army has questioned the accuracy of those reported numbers—it thinks that the total is higher and that the situation is much worse on the ground.

However, these are not just statistics. As Anas Sarwar said, these are our friends, our neighbours and, in some cases, our family members.

On Monday evening, I walked along Princes Street here in the capital and witnessed people setting up tents for the night in shop doorways. As a Lothian MSP, I know from trying to assist constituents and from the organisations that work with people who are experiencing homelessness that the situation is getting worse, but solutions are also becoming more limited. Where I live in Edinburgh, I have witnessed people setting up tents in graveyards. The capital is at the epicentre of the housing emergency in Scotland. We need a new approach, and we need the situation to be treated as an emergency by ministers now.

I do, and we have not seen any progress from ministers on that, either.

The minister has an opportunity to lead by example and demonstrate that he can actually make things happen. If I was in the minister’s shoes, I would undertake an urgent review of planning policy during the October recess and return to the Parliament in November with Scottish statutory instruments that can help to address those concerns.

Ministers need to accept that they have been responsible for creating many of the problems that we face today. Their only answer to the ever-growing housing and homelessness emergency now appears to be the wholly misguided rent cap and proposed rent control policy, which have resulted in much-needed housing developments being put on hold as well as inflicting eye-watering rent increases on tenants and resulting in new tenants being completely priced out of the market. Ministers want to take forward rent controls in the Housing (Scotland) Bill, when we know that investors will continue to be put off investing in Scotland while that policy remains in place. The Deputy First Minister has been told that rent controls do not work, but ministers will press ahead with them regardless.

The Housing (Scotland) Bill has the potential to address some of the drivers of homelessness, such as those highlighted by Marie Curie in its briefing for the debate. There is little political disagreement on those but, fundamentally, we have a Housing (Scotland) Bill that does not contain any plans to build more houses. We simply cannot continue like this. We need leadership and a fresh approach. After 17 years in office, I know that it is difficult for ministers to say that they have failed but, in many cases, their policy decisions have negatively contributed to the situation that we now face in Scotland.