HUMZA Yousaf will set out his key priorities for Scotland in his first major statement to Parliament today.
The First Minister is expected to publish a policy prospectus alongside the statement, which will set out what he wants his Government to deliver over the next three years.
The work to achieve these outcomes is expected to fall under three key missions of equality, opportunity and community, building on the Scottish Government’s legislative agenda in the Programme for Government and the Bute House Agreement.
Speaking ahead of the speech, Yousaf said he is looking forward to updating Parliament on the plans of his Cabinet for the next three years.
He said: “These challenging times we live in call for us to share a fresh vision of how we face them.
“My cabinet has considered how we can build a better future for Scotland and the outcomes necessary to achieve that – through a determined focus on reducing poverty and strengthening public services, seizing the opportunity to build a growing and green wellbeing economy through the net-zero transition and supporting business, and reaffirming our commitment to equality, inclusion and human rights in everything we do.
“We will do so using the powers of devolution to their maximum, whilst making the case that as an independent nation, we can do so much more to make Scotland a wealthier, fairer, and greener country.
“I have promised to lead Scotland in the interests of all our people. I am grateful to my cabinet and ministerial colleagues for the major steps we’ve already taken towards that aim.”
Since being made First Minister around three weeks ago, Yousaf said his Government had “tripled our support for households struggling with high energy bills with our £30 million fuel insecurity fund, announced an additional £25m to help the North East become the net-zero capital of the world, and reinforced our commitment to supporting families with a £15m investment in free high-quality school-age childcare”.
He said the measures would “make a real difference” and had come as a response “to the challenges presented by our ongoing recovery from the Covid pandemic and a cost of living crisis exacerbated by Brexit and the UK Government’s economic mismanagement, as well as climate change impacts and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”.
Poverty and climate change are among the issues Yousaf must be bold on, say campaigners.
In his bid for the leadership, Yousaf said he would consider the creation of another tax bracket for those earning more than £43,662.
The IPPR think tank, which is among those calling on Yousaf to announce tax reforms today, has said the change could raise as much as £257 million and would be enough to increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40 per week.
Jamie Livingstone, the head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “The First Minister has been strident about his desire to tackle poverty and climate change but if he’s to achieve those ambitions then he must now back up his commitments and consider bold changes to tax.
“There is no shortage of money in Scotland. The First Minister now must prove that there is also no shortage of the political courage needed to take the urgent action required to build a fairer, more sustainable future.
“Failure to do so would short-change us all – Scotland simply can’t afford to be timid on tax any longer.”
Ruth Boyle, the policy and campaigns manager at the Poverty Alliance, said the tax system in Scotland “simply hasn’t kept pace with Scotland’s growing inequality of wealth and income”.
“It’s time for the Scottish Government to use our tax powers in a progressive way, to raise the investment we need for the just and compassionate society that people believe in,” she added.
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) director John Dickie added: “With families across the country struggling to put food on the table and pay the bills and one in four of our children still living in poverty, this is absolutely the time for the new First Minister to be bold in his use of Scotland’s tax and benefit powers.
“Harnessing Scotland’s undoubted income and wealth and investing in tackling poverty through, for example, the Scottish Child Payment, are vital to ensuring every family has the resources they need to give their children a decent start in life.”
