Lib Dems secure Budget to undo SNP damage

The Budget will see £1 million extra for hospices

It’s a list that will improve the lots of people right across the country – that is why we will be backing this budget.

There has been much discussion about the power of this budget, about whether it could be used to sentence the SNP to an early Scottish Parliament election. This, however, was always very unlikely. And when Scottish Labour kicked off the new year by announcing they would be abstaining on the budget, they closed the door on that prospect once and for all.

From day one, Scottish Liberal Democrats went into budget talks in good faith. We knew that they came at something of a critical hour for the country, with public services on their knees after years of SNP mismanagement. The Scottish Budget offered a chance to undo some of that damage; we had to take that opportunity seriously.

I am proud to say that our efforts have paid off. In the pages of this Budget, you will see a kaleidoscope of Liberal Democrat priorities designed to make a difference. Let me tell you how.

Thanks to Liberal Democrats, the budget now delivers further investment in drugs and neonatal services totalling £2.6 million, with a special focus on creating fresh services to help babies born addicted to drugs. As a youth worker, I saw first-hand how substance addiction blighted the lives of newborns and mothers, so I know just how transformational this investment will be.

The ability to make a big impact is why I got into politics – it’s what my party is all about. That’s why you will also see £3.5m for colleges in the Budget lines, giving our economy and public services the expertise they are crying out for, with new programmes focussed on care and offshore wind to produce a pipeline of skilled workers.

You will see £1m more for hospices and £700k worth of support for young people with complex and additional needs attending Corseford College in Renfrewshire. You will see the Scottish Government looking much more closely at replacing key infrastructure, including the Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick, Kilmaron Special School in Cupar and Newburgh Railway Station in Fife.

We didn’t stop there. All of this comes on top of what we secured in the first round of negotiations, including a replacement for the Edinburgh Eye Pavillion and the Belford Hospital in Fort William. We have secured the reinstatement of a winter heating payment for pensioners, extra funding for social care and a £200m investment to reduce waiting times and delays in discharges from hospital.

We have secured additional funding to make it easier to see a GP and additional funding to help Long Covid sufferers, too often passed over in the warm words of SNP ministers. There’s more money to build affordable homes, more money for council services, more support for local authorities operating ferry services. It will now be up to SNP ministers to deliver on these financial commitments.

You will see all of this because this is a Budget that has been shaped by the Liberal Democrats. It is proof positive that by backing us, you get a local champion who will fight tirelessly for what matters to you.

In the weeks and months to come, we will continue to unpick the damage inflicted by the SNP. They have been in power for too long and they have lost sight of what is important; in our hearts, we know that Scotland desperately needs a change of government. In the meantime, Liberal Democrats will be pressing this government to go further, holding them to account when they do not and, above all else, delivering for the people we are here to represent.

Alex Cole-Hamilton is MSP for Edinburgh Western and leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats