Chamber and committees

The Covid pandemic has severely impacted many students, and it has magnified the financial burdens that some students face during the summer. The Scottish National Party continues to prioritise improving the attainment gap in Scotland, and providing summer support to students is a very positive step towards achieving that. Many students find themselves in debt over the summer months, and not all have the capability to find work, sustain their accommodation or take up training or volunteering opportunities relevant to their degree, because they simply cannot afford it. That puts those students at a disadvantage relative to their peers who can do so, based on their financial situation rather than their learning ability.

Can the minister provide an update on the timescale for the review of future summer support for students, as outlined in the plan for the first 100 days of government?

I declare that I am still a councillor at Renfrewshire Council. I mention that in case there is a crossover between any of the issues that we discuss in the committee and those that arise in my role as councillor.

No, that is my only interest, thank you.

Thank you. Welcome to your role, convener.

The deputy convener was spot on in talking about COP26. We need to move quickly so that we know what our aims are.

In the context of the green recovery, climate change and net zero, I am particularly interested in transport and infrastructure, which will be key. The move away from cars and the drive to improve public transport will be a massive part of our remit.

I was interested in what the deputy convener said about community empowerment, which is hugely important. As a councillor, I have been very much involved in that. There will be huge changes in our communities and it is important that we take local people’s views and consider the need to do things differently in different areas, depending on their make-up.

When I look at the legacy reports, I can see that we will be dealing with a massive number of issues, and it is hard to say that any one thing is more important than another. Given the timescale, our climate change and net zero brief will be hugely important.

I welcome yesterday’s announcement that not only will dental charges be removed for care-experienced young people, as set out in the Scottish National Party manifesto, but the policy has been extended to all 16 to 25-year-olds. Can the First Minister tell us how that will benefit young people and what plans she has for the expansion?

To ask the Scottish Government how many families in the Renfrewshire North and West constituency it estimates will receive support from the roll-out of the Scottish child payment. (S6O-00032)

The Scottish child payment will make a massive difference and help lift many children in my constituency out of poverty. However, the United Kingdom Government’s welfare policies are having the opposite effect. The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland has said that, if the UK Government scraps the £20 universal credit uplift in September,

“effectively it will knock out the benefits that the Scottish Child Payment brings into families.”

Does the cabinet secretary think that the UK Government should start matching our ambitions and introduce anti-poverty measures instead of cuts?

I welcome you to your new role, Deputy Presiding Officer.

I thank the Deputy First Minister for his statement on what is an extremely important issue. As he touched on, it is important that people who apply to the scheme do not then find themselves in a position in which receiving a redress payment has a negative impact on their benefits or social care entitlements. Will he provide more detail on the discussions that the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government to ensure that that does not happen?

Does the minister agree that the red tape that travelling artistes face as a result of Brexit is unacceptable and that the best way to support them would be through the restoration of the freedom of movement?

I welcome you to your new role, Presiding Officer. I also welcome the cabinet secretary to her new role.

I am proud to be standing here in our Parliament to give my first speech on a matter that is extremely close to my heart. Before I go on, I give a heartfelt thanks to the people who made that possible: my family, my fantastic campaign team and all the voters. I am honoured to represent the constituency in which I have lived my whole life and that I love so much.

Renfrewshire North and West is a beautiful constituency. It is rich in history, from Erskine, on the banks of the Clyde, to the historic town of Renfrew, and it contains many beautiful villages, from Kilmacolm to Bishopton. However, it is the people of Renfrewshire North and West who make it such a wonderful place.

In relation to today’s debate, poverty stretches right across my constituency. People are impacted deeply by poverty, whether they are in Gallowhill or Bridge of Weir. I am pleased to see the huge steps that the Scottish Government is taking to eradicate poverty, with real targets and policies that benefit people’s lives. There is certainly more to do, but introducing the Scottish child payment, free school meals and best start payments, widening access to childcare, removing financial barriers to education and empowering and enabling women to take up employment are just some of the ways that we are raising the bar. I am thrilled that the Scottish National Party won an election standing on bold policies such as introducing a citizens basic income and a minimum citizens wage guarantee. Such policies will genuinely make our country fairer and make a real difference to people’s lives.

However, while we give to families through the Scottish child payment, Westminster takes money away from the same families through the removal of the £20 uplift to universal credit, which is set to plunge even more children in this country into poverty.

I believe that we all want to raise attainment, tackle drug and alcohol abuse, protect jobs, improve mental health and create a greener environment. Those progressive moves will become more achievable not if but when we eradicate poverty, and we can do that only with full powers over welfare, employment, drug policy, defence and many other matters. When someone is living meal to meal, day to day, with no money, life is a struggle. Planning every penny really takes it out of someone, and too often that impacts on other parts of life. Living in poverty is tiring. What should be simple things in life, such as weekly shops and buying clothes for the kids, become hard, laborious and, at times, impossible tasks. It is no wonder that poverty can lead to addiction, mental health problems and even suicide.

We can take our climate emergency, which is the most pressing issue on our planet right now, as an example. For someone who has just been sanctioned for being late to the job centre, or who is fighting addiction after years of neglect or mental health problems, I am sure that recycling is not always a top priority.

We must also consider the children who are living in poverty. How many members know how hard it is to keep your mind on your schoolwork when you are worrying about where your dinner is coming from that night, or what state your parents will be in when you get home from school? How fast does that make a child have to grow up?

Poverty is not a choice, and it is certainly not inevitable. It is a lifestyle that is inflicted on people. No child should grow up hungry in Scotland. We have food banks and homeless people while the United Kingdom spends billions of pounds on palaces, boats and nuclear missiles. That is 21st century Great Britain for you.

Tony Blair did not end child poverty, David Cameron and Nick Clegg normalised it and now Boris Johnson encourages it. We will never see an end to child poverty while we are tied to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government can make bold move after bold move, but we cannot mitigate everything. That is why it must be our mission in our Scottish Parliament to give the people what they voted for—an independence referendum—so that we can get those vital powers away from out-of-touch politicians in London and into the hands of the people of Scotland.

I will finish by saying this to anyone who has experienced or is experiencing poverty, anyone going to food banks, anyone from a bad background, any child who does not understand why this is happening to them and who questions why they were born into this life, and anyone who thinks that the system is against them: please do not give up. I am living proof that you can make it out the other side of the UK Government’s complete neglect of Scotland’s working class and its underclass. I will not abstain on you. Until we see an end to child poverty in an independent Scotland, I promise that I have your back and I am fighting for you.