First Minister refuses to rule out public sector job cuts
At the first First Minister’s Questions following a historic election for the Scottish Greens, the party co-leader Gillian Mackay raised concern about the SNP’s plans to slash public spending and cut jobs.
Highlighting a new report by Tax Justice Scotland, Gillian echoed the calls for a ‘post-election reality check’ on Scotland’s public finances, and she warned that so-called ‘public sector reform’ can’t just be slashing budgets and cutting jobs.
Greens agree there is a need for change, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of workers and our communities. That's why, instead of cuts, the Scottish Greens proposed scrapping and replacing the council tax to fund public services, introducing a four-day work week to improve efficiencies in the public sector, and introducing wealth taxes to invest in a fairer and greener country.
Speaking at FMQ’s, Gillian said:
“The Scottish Greens were the only party at this election to say that we need to use our full taxation powers to raise more money, particularly from the wealth of the super-rich.
“Today, the Tax Justice Scotland coalition has written to the First Minister calling for a ‘post-election reality check’ on Scotland’s public finances.
“In their words, “if we want a fairer and greener country, we need to invest in it: you can’t promise a better Scotland and avoid paying for it.”
“We know public sector reform is badly needed, but trade unions in particular are rightly concerned that reform is usually a euphemism for slashing budgets and cutting jobs.
“Does the First Minister agree with the Scottish Greens and Tax Justice Scotland, that we should explore all options for taxing wealth before cutting public sector jobs?”
Disappointingly, the First Minister refused to commit to exploring wealth taxes before considering cutting public sector jobs, instead claiming that an ‘honest discussion’ was required.
Gillian also asked the First Minister to commit to rolling out four-day working weeks throughout the public sector and to scrap and replace the council tax, to which the First Minister failed to commit to the proposals put forward by the Greens.