Holyrood message

LAST week children were locked out of the classroom across Inverclyde.

Before Christmas, it could be the turn of NHS nurses who join them on the picket line.

The same people who were clapped on the streets by government ministers for social media clips are now being told they don’t deserve the pay they are asking for at a time when their energy and shopping bills are going through the roof.

Working people in Inverclyde are being failed by two governments, one in Holyrood who is wasting taxpayers’ money on a referendum Scotland doesn’t want, another in Westminster led by Rishi Sunak, a multi-millionaire whose family dodged paying tax through non-dom status.

No wonder local nurses are angry. In response, here are two suggestions on how we make a fair pay offer to the nurses and teachers rightly asking for a pay rise.

First, let’s abolish ‘non-dom’ status and let’s replace it with a modern, fair system which attracts talent but isn’t open to abuse.

Non-doms are UK residents who declare that their permanent home is in another country, meaning they do not need to pay tax on overseas earnings.

Experts at the London School of Economics believe abolishing the non-dom system, which benefits thousands of the wealthiest people in society, would result in additional tax receipts of more than £3 billion.

If we want to invest in our NHS, we need to raise the money to do it and this is one way of doing it. By taxing those who can afford it, we can bring staffing numbers up at a time when waiting lists are growing and maintenance backlogs are spiralling. The latest figures show the Inverclyde Royal Hospital has a repair backlog of more £100 million, a million of which is high-risk.

Secondly, let us end the squabbling over a second referendum. The SNP government in Edinburgh is spending £20 million on a referendum the courts have ruled they can’t hold and all the polls show the people of Scotland don’t want.

With nurses and teachers struggling to make ends meet, and being forced on to the picket line by a Scottish Government, surely we can find a better use for that money?

For too long, governments in Holyrood and Westminster have been focused on their own priorities, not those of communities like ours.

With money tight, we cannot afford to indulge them any longer. It’s time your money was spent on the things that matter to you in Inverclyde, not politicians in Edinburgh and London.