– in the Scottish Parliament am ar 17 Ionawr 2024.
Brian Whittle
Ceidwadwyr
8. To ask the Scottish Government how its fiscal policies support the development and growth of the rural economy. (S6O-02973)
Shona Robison
Scottish National Party
Scotland’s land-based and marine sectors are vital to our economy, and that is why the Scottish budget has allocated more than £700 million to agricultural support and related services, along with £97.9 million across Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland and £93 million across Marine Scotland and support for fisheries and aquaculture.
Scotland’s non-domestic rates relief package includes rural rates relief and the United Kingdom’s most generous small business rates relief. The hospitality sector in the islands will get 100 per cent relief for hospitality, capped at £110,000 per ratepayer.
It has to be said that the UK Government has failed to meet previous European Union funding levels, has cut capital funding and has not provided certainty regarding any post-2025 rural funding.
Brian Whittle
Ceidwadwyr
I thank the Cabinet secretary for that answer, but the budget has slashed funding in vitally important portfolios, including support for bus and rail services. In cash terms, the agriculture and forestry budgets have been cut by £32 million and £34 million respectively. It has also been recently reported that no homes have been secured through the rural affordable homes for key workers fund.
Does the cabinet secretary not realise that those decisions are actively undermining the growth and development of rural economies, because the fiscal policies do not make rural Scotland a viable place to live and work?
Shona Robison
Scottish National Party
The UK Government’s real-terms cuts to the Scottish budget have consequences for all parts of our budget. That is the reality of the difficult decisions that we have had to make. A 10 per cent reduction in capital budgets affects infrastructure investment in rural Scotland as well as in urban Scotland, so Tory MSPs cannot pitch up here with their list of asks when their Government has slashed the funding for Scotland’s public services. [
Interruption
.]
The Presiding Officer:
Let us hear the Cabinet secretary.
Shona Robison
Scottish National Party
We will continue to invest in Scotland’s rural economy. We have invested and will invest in rural housing, and we will make sure that we work with partners to deliver on the priorities for rural Scotland. However, that is no thanks to the UK Government’s funding settlement.
Jim Fairlie
Scottish National Party
Brian Whittle is talking about choices. In December last year, a headline in
The Scottish Farmer read:
“Upland farms are facing a cut of 37% in support payments as direct payments are being phased out with new schemes failing to bridge the gap.”
That was in relation to farmers in England and Wales, not Scotland—a UK Government choice. More than half of Scotland’s agricultural land is dedicated to upland sheep farming and mixed beef cattle and sheep farming, and the Cabinet secretary, Mairi Gougeon, confirmed in committee today that less favoured area payments will be maintained in the current funding cycle. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the treatment of farmers in England is definitive proof that the development, growth and prosperity of our rural economy is best served by this Scottish National Party-led Government and its commitment to active farming, food production and direct payments—and even more so in an independent Scotland?
Shona Robison
Scottish National Party
Jim Fairlie has utterly exposed the hypocrisy of the Tories in this Parliament and in the UK Government, and their chuntering from a sedentary position shows that he has done so very effectively indeed. I cannot agree with Jim Fairlie more.
As I said in my final point to Brian Whittle, the UK Government has failed to meet previous EU funding levels, despite all the promises that were made during the Brexit debate. The UK Government has cut capital funding and has not provided any certainty whatever around post-2025 rural funding. The Tories should get their act together before coming here and demanding action from this Government. They should be getting on the phone to their own Government colleagues before coming to complain here.
The Presiding Officer:
Before I draw this part of the session to a close, I remind members to reflect on where they are. I may even have witnessed the spectacle of a member who was out of his seat and still commenting on proceedings. That is simply not acceptable. We have a great privilege in representing the people of Scotland in this chamber, and I ask all members to remember that at all times.
Portfolio Question Time has now concluded.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
In the process of debate, members of parliament need to stand up in order to be recognised and given a turn to speak, and then they formally make a speech in the debate. "From a sedentary position" is Commons code for "heckling".
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
