Cole-Hamilton: This Scottish budget is just not good enough

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has confirmed that his party will vote against the budget.  

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:  

“Despite the evidence and reports of multiple committees of this Parliament, local government, trade unions, charities and frontline workers, the National Care Service Bill has still not yet been abandoned.

“When the NHS Recovery Plan was launched, 1 in 5 children were waiting too long for mental health treatment. Now it is 1 in 3. To freeze the mental health budget, on top of the £38m cut this year, is a recipe for more missed targets and scandalous long waits.  

“Throughout the 158-pages of the draft budget, there was not a word on long Covid.  

“We still have the government spending £17 million on the national testing of children as young as four and five. We have a budget which will lead to class sizes increasing and subjects being removed from the curriculum.  

“If this budget package was right, we would support it. But the government hasn’t budged to the degree needed to win our support. This budget is just not good enough.”