Vaccine rollout cause for concern
The biggest issue for local residents over the past few weeks has been the rollout of the COVID vaccination programme.
It has been truly excellent to see the effort that has gone into this from NHS staff, and I have to pay tribute to them for all the extra hours they are putting in to get this delivered.
The UK is far ahead of any other European country in terms of delivery of vaccines, and we are amongst the best performing countries in the world. This is something we should all be proud of.
That said, there remain specific concerns about individuals locally not receiving the vaccine on time, and the whole delivery programme has been the subject of a great deal of discussion in the Scottish Parliament.
Of particular concern is that Scotland appears to be lagging behind other parts of the UK in terms of the numbers being vaccinated. There seems to be no particular reason for this, and it is important that Scots are not left behind because the SNP government hasn’t been able to get their act together in ensuring that vaccines are delivered on time.
The other major Parliamentary event last week was publication of the Scottish Government’s budget.
Thanks to the broad shoulders of the British Treasury, this is the highest budget ever in the history of devolution, with unprecedented support coming through for the NHS in Scotland, and for businesses and individuals.
I very much welcome the decision taken by the Scottish Government not to increase Income Tax rates for the coming year. At a time when we need to see increased consumer spending to get our economy back post-COVID, that would have been entirely the wrong choice. It is also encouraging to see all Barnett consequentials from spending on the NHS south of the Border being allocated to the health service here.
However, we have a number of concerns about the Budget as proposed. It simply does not go far enough to support businesses, many of which continue to really struggle because of all the lockdown restrictions.
We have specifically called for an extension for the whole of next year of the 100 per cent rates relief for retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses. This is essential to allow these businesses to rebuild after the incredibly difficult twelve months that they have just experienced.
With an additional £2.4 billion in the budget next year, this policy was easily affordable by the Scottish Government, but it has chosen not to pursue it.
I believe that this is a serious error, and I am pressing the SNP to rethink, and to commit to this necessary support. We also need to ensure that the existing business support schemes are paying out on time to those who are in need.
It was also incredibly disappointing to see in the SNP budget an increase of £4 million for“constitutional affairs”, which in effect means preparations for another independence referendum.
Nothing can better summarise the misguided priorities of the SNP government than its focus on another divisive referendum, at a time when we should be rebuilding our economy and getting people back into jobs.
Budget discussions will continue over the next month, and the Scottish Conservatives will be making very clear that we need to have spending plans that are focussed 100 per cent on economic recovery and supporting the NHS, not pursuing another referendum, which would be a hugely unwelcome distraction in these difficult times.