Scotland is stuck, fixing a broken political system - Lorna Slater
Last week’s U-turn by the UK Government on winter fuel payments is a damning indictment of a broken system.
It is a change that anyone with a concern for the health and wellbeing of older people would welcome, but we should never have been in this position in the first place.
It was the result of a system that continues to put Scotland at the mercy of decisions we didn’t vote for.
This is not the first time Scotland has had to clean up the mess created in Westminster. Whether it’s the cost-of-living crisis, a Brexit we overwhelmingly rejected which has hiked prices and cost jobs, or attacks on our social security system and the most vulnerable people.
Far too often we’re left dealing with the fallout of callous and chaotic decisions from a government that is out of touch with the people of Scotland.
The winter fuel payment row is about more than just policy. It’s about priorities. It lays bare the values of a Westminster system that continues to put ideology before people, threatening the wellbeing of older Scots to score cheap political points or balance budgets on the backs of the vulnerable.
Pensioner poverty is rising. Energy bills remain sky-high. Thousands of older Scots are having to make impossible choices between heating and eating. The last thing they need is to worry about whether basic support will be stripped away next winter.
In Scotland, we’ve chosen a different path. Through the Scottish Greens’ work in government, we’ve delivered the Scottish Child Payment, scrapped peak rail fares, expanded free bus travel and invested in warmer homes and fairer energy.
But our ability to go further is too often constrained by a Westminster system that prioritises austerity over dignity. Scotland deserves better than this endless cycle of reacting to Westminster’s chaos.
We shouldn’t be stuck offsetting misery; we should be building a fairer, greener, independent country. One where decisions are made by the people who live here, for the people who live here.
Independence isn’t about flags or parliaments. It’s about fairness. It’s about using our powers to build a Scotland where nobody goes cold because a distant government decided their support wasn’t worth keeping. It’s about giving our pensioners the security they deserve and investing in a future we can be proud of.
This winter fuel payment fiasco should be a wake-up call. It is yet another example of why Scotland must take its future into its own hands. We need independence and we need it now.
Lorna Slater, Scottish Green party co-leader