I want to write to Alex Cole-Hamilton
Alex Cole-Hamilton: ...tax by record amounts to freezing it speaks again to a Government that is reactionary and operating without any vision for a tax strategy. SNP tax plans just do not work. The SNP added a further penny on tax last year with the defined purpose—which we supported—of supporting our national health service. However, the crisis in our health service has not got any better, while the IFS has...
Alex Cole-Hamilton: ...to her big sister about gas, electricity and food prices. She found a 5p coin in the street and told me to put it towards the bills.” Is that really what we have come to? When a child finds a penny on the street, they are supposed to wish for good luck, not worry about whether their family has enough to survive on. It is shameful that that is happening now, in Scotland. The stark reality...
Alex Cole-Hamilton: ...that it cannot guarantee to have our support if it brings forward further tax increases. The Scottish Liberal Democrats fought for tax powers for this Parliament, and when we proposed a moderate penny for education in 2016, it was for a defined purpose and period. It was designed to make education the best again, driving the economy and growth. Now there is a crisis in every corner of our...
Alex Cole-Hamilton: ...matter, the Government has been woeful. Only after considerable pressure did the cabinet secretary announce £10 million for long Covid in September last year. Until this month, however, not even a penny of that money had been allocated. Prior to that point, and at every time since, long Covid has only ever been raised in the chamber during Opposition time. In November, I led the first...
Alex Cole-Hamilton: ...First Minister about the issue every month since the funding was announced in September and she said that an action plan was being implemented—six months later, we have just learned that not one penny of that £10 million has left the Scottish Government bank account. Will the First Minister apologise to Scotland’s long Covid sufferers? Will she wake up her ministers on the issue and...
Alex Cole-Hamilton: ...into this year I will provide and offer radical and constructive solutions, such as a doubling of child and adolescent mental health services funding, a talking therapist in every GP surgery, a penny on income tax for education to restore funding to our nurseries and schools and for college places, and the immediate restoration of funding to our drug and alcohol partnerships. At the end of...