Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Debate: Delivering a Common Sense Budget for Scotland

Craig Hoy S6M-15792 That the Parliament believes that the draft Scottish Budget 2025-26 will not deliver good value for taxpayers; notes its continuation of the Scottish National Party administration’s high-tax agenda, which has damaged economic growth in Scotland; condemns funding for free bus travel for asylum seekers, which could have instead been used to provide 6,600 pensioners in Scotland with a full Winter Heating Payment, and calls on the Scottish Government to cut income tax to 19% for those earning up to £43,662, introduce full business rates relief for pubs and restaurants across Scotland for 2025-26, and raise the threshold at which house buyers pay residential Land and Buildings Transaction Tax to £250,000. Shona Robison S6M-15792.3 As an amendment to motion S6M-15792 in the name of Craig Hoy (Delivering a Common Sense Budget for Scotland), leave out from "believes" to end and insert "welcomes steps in the draft 2025-26 Budget to introduce a universal Winter Heating Payment and create the systems necessary to effectively scrap the two-child benefit cap in 2026, and looks forward to further engagement between the Scottish Government and the parties represented in the Parliament in advance of the next stage in the budget process." Michael Marra S6M-15792.1 As an amendment to motion S6M-15792 in the name of Craig Hoy (Delivering a Common Sense Budget for Scotland), leave out from "believes" to end and insert "rejects wholly any attempt to pit vulnerable groups in Scottish society against one another for political ends; welcomes an additional £5 billion of investment in Scotland as a result of the UK Labour administration’s Budget; regrets that the Scottish National Party (SNP) administration has had to use its draft Budget for 2025-26 to correct many of the mistakes that it made in its Budget for 2024-25; notes that the Auditor General, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Fraser of Allander Institute have variously criticised the SNP administration’s failure to reform public services, and further notes with concern the SNP administration’s failure to address the challenges to long-term fiscal sustainability and its absence of a vision to improve outcomes for people across Scotland."