Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 3:26 pm on 13 June 2024.
Ross Greer
Green
3:26,
13 June 2024
To be clear, there are many parts of Scotland’s economy that the Greens want to see grow, most obviously the renewable energy sector. We supported the growth of those parts of the economy during our time in government.
The point that I was going to make is that Liz Smith mentioned that people across the country want lower taxation. I am sure that, if all else was equal, that would be the case, but poll after poll has shown that the vast Majority of people in Scotland are willing to pay more tax if that money is invested in our public services. That shows the strong commitment to the social contract in this country. Does Liz Smith acknowledge that the Conservatives are vastly out of line with public opinion on that?
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
