Greens extend hand to Scottish Government over budget deal

The Greens have extended a hand to the Scottish Government which would see its budget pass – if ministers are “able and willing” to deliver an agreement.

Parliamentary arithmetic means ministers need two more votes to pass their tax and spending plans – a draft of which will be unveiled on December 4.

Due to a coalition agreement and before that an informal arrangement, the Greens have in recent years pushed the vote over the line.

But the disintegration of the Bute House Agreement earlier this year and the subsequent dropping of some of the Greens’ policies has left the budget uncertain.

The Greens have now sought to entice the Scottish Government to agree to their asks, which include bringing in a cruise ship levy and a tax on private jets.

The push culminated in a Holyrood debate on Wednesday, where the motion from the Greens called for “the most effective and progressive use of existing tax powers and tax reliefs” – essentially a demand to raise taxes.

Speaking in the debate, Green finance spokesman Ross Greer said: “The challenge for the Scottish Government this year won’t just be on specific proposals, but on being able to provide trust and good faith to any other party in this Parliament they need to deal with that what is actually agreed in the budget is what will be delivered.

“Agreement is possible – the challenge is for the Scottish Government to prove that they are able and willing to deliver it.”

The motion also said the powers of the Scottish Parliament are “inadequate” to fully protect public services, and it called on the Government to “use every power at its disposal to address the urgent social, economic and environmental challenges that Scotland faces”.

The motion – amended by the Government to include a call for UK ministers to abandon its fiscal rules – passed by 64 votes to 52.

Responding, Finance Secretary Shona Robison said work on a cruise ship levy – which was pledged in the Programme for Government last month – is “intensifying”.

She added the UK Government should boost funding for public services and infrastructure, while also dropping social security policies held over from the last government and changing the fiscal rules.

“Those are the changes needed to help us address the challenges that we face,” she said.

“If the UK Government is up for it, then we’ll work together to achieve it.”

Robison did not respond to Greer’s entreaties.

Scottish Conservative economy spokesman Murdo Fraser said he does not think he has seen a motion “full of as much nonsense as the one we’ve had from Ross Greer this afternoon”.

The former Tory leadership contender accused the Greens of being “fundamentally hostile to economy growth and wealth creation”.

The Scottish Government should use the budget to cut taxes and close the gap with the rest of the UK, he said.

“That won’t be a budget that the Greens will like, but it will be a budget the rest of Scotland will be thankful for,” he added.