A Greener budget that delivers for people and planet - Lorna Slater

Last week, following several rounds of negotiations, my Scottish Greens colleagues and I secured a deal with the Scottish Government to support their upcoming budget. 

The whole process had been put in flux by Anas Sarwar’s announcement that Labour would abstain and allow it to pass whatever happened. It gave the SNP free reign to power on and not bother negotiating with others.

We didn’t want to walk away and did what we could to secure a budget that worked for people and planet.

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It makes a lot of important progress, with my Scottish Green colleagues and I securing record investment in climate action nature restoration, free ferry travel for young islanders and doubling the tax on the purchase of holiday and second homes to help fix the broken housing market.

There is also a vitally important real terms increase in funding for local councils, which will allow them to support services like waste collection, schools and social care which are crucial for families across our city.

Our campaign to provide free bus travel to those seeking asylum had already been secured in parliament prior to Christmas and will be confirmed in this budget deal. The Scottish Government have also committed to trialling a regional £2 cap on bus fares, something the Scottish Greens have want to be introduced and rolled out nationwide. 

Our commitment to tackle child poverty is supported with the expansion of free school meals to thousands of S1-S3 pupils from families in receipt of Scottish Child Payment.

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No child should be sitting in school hungry, and this is another important step forward in delivering free school meals for all. Scottish Greens already delivered policy to provide free meals for primary school students, I am proud we continue to work toward achieving this for all school children.

Given we were starting from a weakened negotiating position thanks to Labour’s complete lack of strategy, the Scottish Greens have continued to pull the SNP in a more progressive direction. Prioritising workers and child poverty while protecting our climate and restoring our natural environment will always be my priority. 

Polling out this week indicates a record result for the Scottish Greens, which would give us more MSPs and a greater opportunity to deliver change.

Both as a party of government and in opposition, we have shown that we can get things done. The more Greens we have in Holyrood the more we can do for climate action, equality and tackling inequality.

The best way to secure green change is by voting for Scottish Green MSPs and councillors who will deliver it.

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