Seòmar agus comataidhean

To ask the Deputy First Minister whether the Scottish Government will review the impact of the short-term let licensing legislation, in light of the upcoming summer tourist season. (S6F-03216)

During the debate on the legislation, I raised concerns about its reach, as it includes, for example, yurts, tree houses and even lighthouses. I also raised concerns about local pressures for accommodation at times of popular tourist events, such as, in my constituency, the Melrose sevens, the Borders book festival in Melrose and common ridings across the Borders. I understand that flexibility to local authorities was part of the solution. I understand from what the Deputy First Minister said that the Government is monitoring the issue. Can she advise Parliament whether that flexibility is working?

I hope that you feel that my question is relevant, Presiding Officer, as it is about affordable homes.

I believe that there are more than 43,000 empty homes in Scotland at large—perhaps this issue is more for the Minister for Housing—including more than 400 in Midlothian and 1,000 in the Scottish Borders. What levers are open to the Scottish Government to bring those homes into the market legally?

Will the member take an intervention?

I asked the member whether she was challenging the quotes, which have been used in the Labour Party’s election campaigning. She did not challenge them, so I adhere to them.

In Labour-run Wales, when the draft budget was published, the Minister for Finance, Rebecca Evans, said:

“After 13 years of austerity, a botched Brexit deal, and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, this is the toughest financial situation Wales has faced since the start of devolution. Our funding settlement, which comes largely from the UK government, is not enough to reflect the extreme pressures Wales faces.”

What is true for Wales is true for Scotland.

On top of that, Scotland is still living with the bruising legacy of Labour’s private finance initiative, which has landed us with a bill of £30 billion. That was handed down to taxpayers by Labour, which built in Scotland using a “build now, pay later” scheme. The SNP Government had to buy out, for example, the contract levying car parking charges at the Royal infirmary of Edinburgh because of the PFI contract.

Until we are independent and have control of all our resources, the stark truth is that the Westminster Government might change from Tory blue to a lighter Labour shade of blue, but that will be the only change.

In conclusion, I will again quote Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, who is now one of my favourite people. He said:

“all roads lead back to Westminster”

and

“The NHS is in crisis and all decisions that are taken in Westminster don’t just affect England – but Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.”

That should be borne in mind when Labour’s proclamations of change mean Labour’s creeping NHS privatisation plans, with a predictable reduction in Scotland’s NHS budget. We will not even be able to firefight, let alone do preventative medicine and treatment, because no reform can cope with that.

[Made a request to intervene.]

I thank Carol Mochan for that new title, “the member at the back”—I am quite happy with it.

Carol Mochan is a good socialist, like me. Does she have concerns about the noises coming from Wes Streeting and Rachel Reeves with regard to public services and, in particular, privatisation steps in the English NHS, which will impact on Scotland?

I will take the member. Is she challenging those quotes?

The Scottish Government, in choosing to invest more than £19.5 billion in health and social care in 2024-25, is giving our NHS a real-terms uplift in the face of UK Government austerity. I understand that NHS funding comprises almost 40 per cent of the Government’s budget. It has more than doubled under the present Government, and staffing is at a record high, as colleagues have said, with far more doctors and nurses per head in Scotland than in England. By working with the trade unions, the Government prevented a single day of strike action over pay in our health service, unlike elsewhere in the UK. We all know that Scotland has an increasing ageing population and, therefore, increasing demands on health and social care, and the fallout from Covid continues to add pressure to NHS services.

I now turn to the financial context, which Sandesh Gulhane and Jackie Baillie conveniently sidestepped. There is a perfect financial storm, which started with austerity under the Tories, following the 2008 bank crash, and continues to this day. There was Covid; Brexit, with its costs; the raging inflation, which peaked at 11 per cent, that was brought about by the disastrous Liz Truss budget, and the natural wage demands that followed as a consequence; and the energy inflation that resulted from Ukraine’s invasion by Russia, which was compounded by a failure of UK Governments to invest in home-grown energy over decades, having squandered North Sea oil revenues, unlike independent Norway.

Before we tackle reform, let us lay to rest some myths. A good place to start is to follow the money. If any UK Government makes public sector cuts, because of Barnett consequentials, we suffer, too. That is significant when I refer to Labour’s plans, should it come to power. For example, if more health is delivered through the private sector, public funding decreases in England, so funding that is devolved to Scotland decreases when the Scottish Government is determined to keep the NHS in public hands.

Yes, I will take an intervention.