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Engagements
First Minister's Question Time
12:00 pm
Rt Hon Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party)
Later today, I will make an announcement with one of the world's leading online companies, Amazon, which intends to create 950 new full-time jobs in Scotland at two locations—in Dunfermline and Gourock. I know that all members will want to welcome such a positive boost for the Scottish economy in this new year.
Iain Gray (Labour)
We always welcome new jobs in Scotland.
In October, I announced Labour's policy on a single Scottish police force and challenged the First Minister to join us. However, he set up sub-groups of the police board and the ministerial advisory committee. They have reported, so he has set up a consultation, which will report to a commission. Is the First Minister incapable of taking a decision? Does he agree or does he not agree that Scotland should have a single police force?
Rt Hon Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party)
As Kenny MacAskill said yesterday, change is inevitable. The status quo is not an option. Kenny MacAskill has set out the Government's position on the police and the fire service and we have been closely examining the arguments. If we are going to make the greatest change in policing in Scotland for more than a generation, examination of the arguments and an attempt to build consensus seem to me to be particularly important.
As has been said, the status quo is not an option. Kenny MacAskill clearly laid out the advantages and disadvantages of other approaches. We will work to achieve a solution that is in the best interests of Scotland and front-line policing, and which maintains democratic accountability and generates the consensus across society with which such a major change should be introduced.
Iain Gray (Labour)
"When you have to make the decisions, when you are First Minister, you can't afford to be on two or three sides of
Those are not my words; that is what Alex Salmond told the newspapers at the weekend. He is consulting on three options for the police, but the Cabinet Secretary for Justice said on television last night that the Government is now down to two options for the police, although perhaps one option is stronger than the other. Is it three options, two options or one option? This is "daft stuff"; in fact, it is pathetic. When will the First Minister act as he says a First Minister should act and make his
"decision and stick with it, live with it"?
Rt Hon Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party)
I am delighted that Iain Gray has given me the opportunity to remind a wider audience of the reason for my talking about being
"on two or three sides of the same issue".
I was referring to the council tax, of course, and to Iain Gray's attack on the council tax freeze. He said that the bills would have to rise under the Labour Party. Just a few days later, he said that he did not have anything against the council tax freeze. A few days after that, he said that council tax bills would have to go up, but perhaps be limited in how much they increased. Iain Gray is in a very poor position to talk about being on two or three sides of a single issue. He cannot make his mind up on anything.
It is vital that we gain consensus across Scottish society on police reform but, as Kenny MacAskill noted yesterday, Labour has not even achieved consensus within the Labour Party. Prominent Labour councillors have attacked the idea of a single police force. It would be of benefit, if only as an educational experience, if the Labour Party took part in the consultation so that we can move together to get the best result for Scotland and Scottish policing.
Iain Gray (Labour)
I know what Councillor Eric Milligan thinks on the issue and what Tricia Marwick MSP thinks on it, too. She, too, is against a single police force. However, I simply do not know what the First Minister thinks.
Last July, the First Minister's spokesperson said:
"We have no plans to move away from eight police forces".
In October, the First Minister himself told The Daily Telegraph that he was opposed to the creation of a single Scotland-wide operation. The same month, his spokesperson said that there would be more than one force but fewer than eight. Last night, his justice secretary said that the case for one force was the strongest. Is it not the case that the First Minister does not even have a consensus with himself on the issue?
Rt Hon Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party)
As the arguments have been examined, it has become clear that the option of a single police force offers significant savings, which are essential given the mess that the Labour Party made of the economy and the consequent pressure on public finance. Unlike the Labour Party, we stood on a manifesto commitment to have 1,000 extra police on the streets of Scotland, and we have delivered that commitment. Under the public spending pressures from the coalition Government, we know that change is necessary to maintain front-line policing. As the issue is examined, the single police force offers a substantial opportunity for efficiencies that will help on the front line.
There are questions of democratic accountability, however. They are serious questions, and no doubt they are the questions that are in the mind of Councillor Eric Milligan as he opposes Iain Gray's plans. That is why the argument and the examination have to be worked through. If the greatest change in policing in a generation is being proposed, it really is sensible to examine the issues carefully, to come to the conclusions together and to carry a consensus in Scottish society, so that Scotland's police force is the people's police force.
Iain Gray (Labour)
I still do not know what the First Minister thinks. Yes, it is a serious issue—that is why it demands leadership. We can all see how painful it is for the First Minister to sit on this fence. Dither, delay and dodging decisions: that is the First Minister's modus operandi, and he is a serial offender. On public sector reform, a commission is to report—after the election. On higher education, there is to be a Scottish solution—after the election. On climate change targets, there is to be no action until after the election. On police and fire services, there is to be a consultation—which is to conclude after the election. Has the First Minister just given up on governing at all?
Rt Hon Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party)
The council tax freeze is being delivered in Scotland now. The ending of prescription charges is being delivered in Scotland now. A thousand extra police on the streets is being delivered in Scotland now. We have an Administration that has maintained and kept 90 per cent of its manifesto commitments, which is far and away above anything that the Labour Party did. That is 84 out of 94 commitments.
This Administration is saying to people that, in return for the wage restraint that is necessary to protect jobs in the public sector, we will protect household budgets. This Administration does not have a leader who appears on the front of a placard outside the Parliament saying "No Wage Freeze" just days after appearing on the radio saying that a wage freeze was essential. This Administration is delivering for the people of