Scottish First Minister John Swinney has declared that Scotland will be the only part of the UK guaranteeing to address the cost of living crisis, as he intensified pressure on Labour rivals. In his programme for government statement, Swinney highlighted his administration's efforts to boost incomes for the worst-off and tackle child poverty, unveiling policies aimed at bolstering the Scottish National Party's (SNP) re-election prospects next year.
Swinney announced the reintroduction of peak rail fare abolition on all domestic Scottish rail travel from September, a policy scrapped eight months ago due to lack of impact. He also pledged to increase GP appointments for high-risk diseases by 100,000 this year, a modest fraction of total appointments, but claimed it would help reduce soaring waiting lists. He cited free tuition, free prescriptions, the UK's lowest council tax and water bills, free bus travel for young and elderly, Scottish child payments, and free school meals as evidence that Scotland is the fairest place in the UK.
“This is my cost-of-living guarantee. A package that year-on-year delivers savings for the people of Scotland, a package that exists nowhere else in the UK,” Swinney said. However, opposition leaders, trade unions, and Oxfam criticised the statement for lacking new policies, with only five pieces of legislation announced, three of which were minor. Jamie Livingston of Oxfam Scotland said it was “too quiet on inequality, too soft on polluters and too slow on change”.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar accused Swinney of stealing Labour proposals but failing to address falling school attainment, government waste, record child homelessness, and record waiting lists. “The truth is they have no plan, because after nearly two decades in government, if the SNP had a good idea, they would have delivered it by now,” Sarwar said. Swinney retorted by contrasting Scotland's better record on council housebuilding, improved literacy and numeracy, and record health spending, and criticised Sarwar for muted opposition to Keir Starmer's spending decisions and pensioner welfare cuts, unlike Welsh Labour First Minister Eluned Morgan.
