Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 22 November 2018.
Alexander Burnett
Conservative
I thank the Cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement, and I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests with regard to renewable energy.
It is with huge regret that I must point out that, although the Scottish Parliament’s settled will on 10 May 2018 was to bring forward from 2040 to 2030 the target for all homes to reach EPC band C rating, the Scottish National Party has yet again chosen to ignore Parliament when it suits it. When the cabinet secretary and Kevin Stewart begin to prepare their suite of legislation next year, they would do well to note the cross-party support for all the amendments that were lodged that day.
As for complaints that the Scottish Government is just kicking the can further down the road with more consultation and working groups, they are exactly the truth. Under the fig leaf of inflationary prices, the Government is going to commit households to another decade of wasted energy and environmental costs. Can the cabinet secretary provide the evidence that his proposal is less detrimental than the one that was wished by this Parliament?
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.
