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I am pleased to hear the Deputy First Minister talk about private investment. Leveraging private sector investment will be vital to growing Scotland’s green economy and building on the success of recent significant projects, such as the major development in Coalburn, which will boost economic growth and prevent around 1.6 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions over 35 years. How can the draft Scottish budget support the leveraging of more such investments?

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage and maximise levels of global capital investment in Scotland, to benefit the economy and communities. (S6O-04189)

When Labour ditched the universal winter heating payment, it abandoned many vulnerable older people—not least those who qualify for but do not claim pension credit, who can be particularly vulnerable. Pension credit uptake might be a UK Government responsibility, but will the cabinet secretary give details of what the Scottish Government will do to maximise uptake among Scottish pensioners and boost their income so that, unlike the UK Government, we continue to do the right thing by them?

Mr Leonard makes a powerful case, and I cannot claim to share the expertise that he has on this issue. However, I would say that the issue may very well be a complicated one with unintended consequences, and that it might impinge on UK employment law and UK immigration law. Should those aspects also be brought to the table so that no stone is left unturned to deal with the situation of those workers, who, rightly do not want to be exploited by employers and the state?

I welcome that positive news.

When the cabinet secretary next meets the chief constable, she might wish to indicate that MSPs such as myself wish to see greater support for Police Scotland in policing the dangerous misuse and often illegal use of off-road vehicles and e-bikes. Councillor Allan Gow and I have an upcoming meeting with the Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on related issues, given our public safety concerns. Given that many e-bikes, scooters and quad bikes will have been purchased as gifts at Christmas and will generally become increasingly common across our communities, does the cabinet secretary agree that promoting the responsible and legal use of such vehicles with related public awareness and education campaigns is worthy of consideration?

Will the member give way?

I thought that an appropriate contribution for me to make in this afternoon’s debate on tackling child poverty through Scotland’s budget was to bring to the Parliament, as I have done before, the lived experience of the direct detrimental impact of the UK Government’s two-child benefit cap, which our SNP Government’s budget—which will come before us in just a few weeks’ time—will take action to finally begin to end. It will transform the real-life experience of many young people and lift 15,000 of them out of poverty. The difference on this occasion is that I no longer speak of the Conservatives’ two-child cap; I speak, unfortunately, of the Labour Party’s two-child cap.

In bringing such lived experience to the Parliament this afternoon, I once again thank Glasgow North West Citizens Advice Bureau, which has captured examples of lived experience and has advocated strongly for many of the Maryhill and Springburn constituents I am privileged to represent.

For instance, Glasgow North West CAB supported a woman who, when she separated from her husband, found herself and her children reliant on universal credit. Imagine discovering, on the breakdown of your marriage, when you need support the most, that the UK Government takes the view that only two of your four children will be supported financially. To put it bluntly, the family will deliberately not be given enough money to live on.

In another example, a father whom Glasgow North West CAB supported had to give up work in a well-paid job in the most tragic of circumstances. The dad had to somehow support four children aged between three and 12 when, sadly, their mum died. As a father, I can only imagine having to support children in such tragic and distressing circumstances. Finding himself in financial difficulty, the dad was supported to make a claim for universal credit. Imagine a UK Government that, in essence, tells a grieving dad that it will not offer adequate support for two of his children. Do those children not count? Do they not have needs and rights?

A UK welfare system that financially penalises a child when they lose their mum is simply repugnant. Likewise, a UK system that will not support children who need support following a marital breakdown is surely inhumane.

Either way, it is now a UK Labour system that is simply not fit for purpose. Most disturbingly of all, it is not fit for purpose by design and not by accident.

I am aware that there is a struggle in the Scottish Parliament Labour group about whether to support SNP plans to mitigate UK Labour’s immoral two-child cap. Several Labour members will agree with me—I know that they will. However, it would be better if, instead of angsting over whether to do the right thing, Scottish Labour stood up to the UK Labour Government and supported the SNP here, in Holyrood.

In the time that I have left to speak, I will talk about a couple of other matters in the budget. I am proud of the SNP’s position on free school meals. Before I was elected to the Scottish Parliament, I was part of the campaign to change SNP policy to bring in universal free school meals. I wish that we had gone quicker and gone further. I say to the First Minister that I am looking forward to a re-elected SNP Scottish Government in 2026, and I see universal free school meals being provided in secondary schools as well as in primary schools.

I want there to be a breakfast club culture in schools across Scotland, not just to alleviate child poverty but for the additional benefits that breakfast clubs give young people.

I know that my time is up, so I will leave it at that.

My constituency has no banks—they have all deserted the communities that I serve. In Springburn town centre, however, there is a Crown post office. It is an anchor tenant in the local shopping centre and provides a vital service to hundreds of customers every week. A strategy that has been agreed by the United Kingdom Labour Government and taken forward by the Post Office could axe that service, which would be a body blow for financial inclusion and local regeneration plans.

How can the Scottish Government support areas such as Springburn that are facing such challenges? Will the First Minister write to the UK Government, as I have done, urging it to halt that flawed process and to engage meaningfully with local communities and trade unions to ensure that that post office can have a strong and vibrant future at the heart of Springburn?

I commend Paul Sweeney for his role in the campaign to secure free bus travel for asylum seekers, which I was happy to support on a cross-party basis. I detest the Conservative Party’s position on that. Would Mr Sweeney support on a cross-party basis the submission that the Scottish Government has made to the UK Government on the right-to-work pilot for asylum seekers, which would further the rights of the most vulnerable and isolated in society?

Will the member give way on the small business bonus scheme?