Ministers act to protect Scots facing cost of living crisis
A combined rent freeze and moratorium on evictions to help people through the cost crisis has been announced as the centrepiece of the 2022-23 Programme for Government (PfG).
The programme outlines emergency legislation which will be introduced to put in place a rent freeze until at least 31 March 2023 and a moratorium on evictions, as well as a new tenants’ rights campaign. In addition a ‘one-stop-shop’ website will be introduced to provide people with information on the range of benefits and support available to help them through the current cost of living crisis.
With £3 billion allocated to the end of March for a range of support that will help mitigate the impact of the cost crisis on households, the PfG also confirms the Scottish Child Payment will increase to £25 per week per eligible child from 14 November when it also opens to all under 16s.
In addition, the programme includes the roll out of free school meals across all primary school age groups, doubles the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million to help households at risk of self-disconnection or self-rationing of energy, confirms rail fares will be frozen until March 2023 and widens the Warmer Homes Fuel Poverty Programme.
For businesses – in addition to an existing package of financial aid worth over £800 million – six ground-breaking ‘tech scalers’ will be opened, two job-boosting Greenports progressed and the National Strategy for Economic Transformation focussing on economy supporting measures continued.
In total, the PfG sets out 18 new Bills including legislation on an independence referendum and major reforms in the justice system, including a Criminal Justice Reform Bill that will propose the end of the Not Proven verdict in Scots Law and provide anonymity for complainers in sexual offence cases. A Bill for the creation of the new National Care Service will also go through parliament this year.
The programme also builds on long-term commitments made in the Bute House Agreement and restates Ministers’ commitment to the importance of delivering on Scotland’s climate ambitions. These range from a consultation on legislation to transform how buildings are heated to continuing record investment in active travel.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “This Programme for Government is published in the context of the most severe cost crisis in many of our lifetimes. It is a crisis pushing millions into poverty and poses a genuine danger, not just to livelihoods, but to lives.
“The Scottish Government is already committed to a range of measures, worth almost £3 billion this year, that will help with rising costs. But the magnitude of what is being experienced by people and businesses means that mitigation is nowhere near sufficient. What is needed now is action on a scale similar to the initial Covid response.
“Regrettably, the powers to act in the manner and on the scale needed do not lie with this Parliament. In my view, they should lie here. If they did, we could have acted already. But they don’t. These powers are reserved to Westminster.
“The cost crisis means this Programme for Government is more focussed than ever before – deliberately so – with priority actions to provide help now.
“To that end we will provide more help for people who may be at risk of self-rationing or even self-disconnection from their energy supply and we will double the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million this year.
“We will also propose emergency legislation to put in place a rent freeze until at least March and a moratorium on evictions.
“Given the powers to act in the manner and on the scale needed do not lie with this Parliament, this Programme for Government also provides for a Scottish Independence Referendum Bill.
“Independence would give us – like it does other independent countries – the levers we desperately need to respond to a crisis such as this. That’s the prize we surely must grasp.”
Commenting on the Scottish Programme for Government, Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance said: “The First Minister outlined many important measures today. The increase in the value and availability of the Scottish Child Payment will help thousands of households with rising living costs. Rent freezes will help tenants across the country.
“But we could do more. The First Minister said that it is not a lack of political will that prevents us from further action to help people with this cost crisis – it is a lack of money. So, the upcoming emergency budget review must focus on getting additional cash into the pockets of people on low incomes.
“One way we can raise money in Scotland, is through devolved taxes. Previous changes to the Scottish Income Tax have raised hundreds of millions of pounds for public services. We can go further. There are also opportunities to reform local council taxes, to make them fairer and raise much-needed revenue for overstretched services in our communities. There was no mention of any new wealth taxes in this programme for government.
“The First Minister talked about creating a culture of solidarity in Scotland. People in Scotland already believe in holding out a hand to others when we need help. We can use our tax system to support each other in this time of crisis, and reflect the values of compassion and justice that we all share.”
Commenting on the Scottish Programme for Government, Friends of the Earth Scotland head of campaigns Mary Church said: “There is a welcome recognition in the Programme for Government that the cost of living crisis and the climate emergency are interconnected but the action to mitigate their impacts and tackle their root causes falls far short of what is needed.
“One year on from COP26 in Glasgow, the Scottish Government’s fine rhetoric has not turned into the transformative action needed to drive change across transport, housing and energy.
“The Scottish Government must use its forthcoming energy strategy to spell out how it will secure a rapid and fair transition away from the fossil fuels which are driving both crises within the next decade. By transforming our energy system to run on reliable, affordable renewable energy we can future proof our lives against further damage from volatile fossil fuels.
“The energy strategy must focus on demand reduction, energy efficiency and renewables, which can deliver decent green jobs in Scotland instead of fantasy techno-fixes like hydrogen and carbon capture. The Scottish Government has admitted that these speculative negative emission technologies won’t be able to deliver this decade so it’s hard to see why it continues to throw time and resources at the fossil fuel industry’s pipe dreams.
TRAIN FARE FREEZE
“The freeze on ScotRail fares demonstrates how public ownership can keep fares from getting even higher, benefiting passengers and helping support the necessary shift away from cars. While the fare freeze is welcome, the Scottish Government should be going further and actually reducing fares to help more people leave the car behind.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
“We saw the same promise to introduce a Circular Economy Bill 12 months ago, it must be delivered this time. Consumption targets to reduce both Scotland’s carbon footprint and material footprints need to be at the heart of the Circular Economy Bill to create real change.
HUMAN RIGHTS BILL
“It’s disappointing that the Human Rights Bill that would enshrine the right to a healthy and safe environment in Scots Law has been kicked into the long grass. This is a vital piece of legal protection for people and nature that should not be delayed any further nor cannot it be allowed to become a political football in the constitutional debate.”
City council Leader Cammy Day has welcomed yesterday’s announcement by the Scottish Government that it intends to introduce a bill to give councils the powers to introduce a visitor levy.
The bill, which is expected to be laid before parliament early next year, forms of the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government for 2022/23, as set out by the First Minister in Holyrood this afternoon.
The council has long campaigned for the powers to introduce a levy – which would see overnight visitors pay a small additional charge on their accommodation – and has produced a substantial body of work to back its case.
This included a detailed consultation conducted by Edinburgh’s SNP-Labour ‘Capital Coalition’ in 2018, which saw 85% of the 2,500 respondents expressing strong support for its introduction. This figure included a majority of Edinburgh-based businesses and accommodation providers.
It was estimated then that a levy in Edinburgh could raise in the region of £15m per year to invest in sustainable tourism and managing the impact of tourism on the city.
Council Leader Cammy Day said: “This is fantastic news for the city, and a landmark step following years of work here in the Capital to make the case for a visitor levy – something that’s common practice in other major cities and destinations across the world.
“We’re very proud to be one of the world’s most popular visitor destinations, but we’re equally aware that this success comes at a cost. That’s why we believe it’s right to ask visitors to make a small contribution to help us sustain and improve our tourism offer while managing its impact.
“We’ve been building the case for Edinburgh to become the first city in the UK to introduce such a levy, consistently and repeatedly making the case to Scottish Ministers without success – until now. From our citywide consultation held in 2018, our proposals gained overwhelming backing from Edinburgh’s residents, businesses and attractions – and, importantly, also from the majority of accommodation providers.
“Ultimately the income this generates will help us continue to invest in and manage the success of tourism on our city, making sure we continue to offer one of the most enviable and enjoyable visitor experiences in the world – while bringing new and additional benefits to our residents who live and work here all year round.
“We acknowledge, of course, that this has been an extremely challenging period for our culture and hospitality industries and are fully committed to working together with them, the wider tourism industry and other partners to co-produce a scheme that works best for the whole of our Capital city.
“I’ll be pushing the Scottish Government hard to ensure that any income generated is in addition to our block grant funding – not instead of it – and that we’re in a position to benefit from this as soon as possible.”