Seòmar agus comataidhean

I thank Elena Whitham for bringing the debate to the chamber. This year’s challenge poverty week has a clear focus on the current devastating cost of living crisis and the threat that it poses to people living on low and—because of the brutal nature of the crisis—average incomes. It is hoped that this week will bring attention to our strategy and resources for eradicating poverty, including support for policies that are aimed at ensuring that no one in Scotland lives in the grip of poverty.

I have made it clear before, and I make it clear once again, that I deplore the Tory Government’s attack on working-class people. The Tories are the friends of the rich and show no interest in redistributing wealth to those who are most in need. That is the opposite of what people are crying out for right now. Little interest is being given to working people as the Tories fight among themselves and act only in the interests of the rich. The impacts of their actions are felt across the UK, including here, in Scotland, so I ask Elena Whitham and her colleagues to work progressively with Scottish Labour to ensure that we rid the entire United Kingdom of the policies of the current UK Government.

Grass-roots campaigners, trade unionists and socialists are organising right across the UK, including here in Scotland, to fight those injustices. Scottish Labour colleagues and I are out day in, day out in solidarity with trade union striking workers, the Scottish Trades Union Congress and campaign groups, and we are now collectively saying that enough is enough.

I thank the Poverty Alliance for its briefing, which reminds us again of the need for immediate action from both our Governments in Scotland. Twenty-four per cent of children in Scotland live in poverty. I will say that again: 24 per cent of children in Scotland live in poverty. The figures for people with a disability and for those from ethnic minority communities are even worse. It is a disgrace.

There is need for urgency in our approach to fighting poverty here in Scotland, and it demands that we in the Scottish Parliament accept that there is an emergency and that, to save lives, we must do all that we can.

I thank my colleague Monica Lennon for that intervention. She has worked tirelessly to support interventions to address child hunger, including universal access to free school meals. The Government’s intention is to provide such access, but we would like those policies to be introduced urgently.

The Poverty Alliance has set out key asks of the Scottish Government, and I ask the SNP back benchers who are here tonight to push those on the front bench to deliver those asks. I mention, in particular, the Scottish child payment, which the Poverty Alliance says should be increased to £40 per week. I applaud the Scottish Government for what it has done, but it needs to go further. Amid a cost of living crisis, and with a brutal Tory Government the likes of which we have never seen, it is pivotal that people who are most in need are supported financially to put food on the table, and that the Scottish Government’s targets on child poverty are met.

Indeed, we know that the Scottish child payment contributes massively towards tackling child poverty, and that it alleviates pressure on families who receive it. I again commend the Scottish Government for the progress that it has made, but now is no time for complacency—we must speed up the roll-out of the payment and constantly look at ways to increase it. Many organisations believe that failure to deliver that will likely lead to the Scottish Government failing to meet its interim targets for child poverty, but I do not believe that the Government or SNP back benchers want that. There is no chance that the Scottish Government would do that willingly. Tackling child poverty is the best hope that we have of changing the trajectory of this country.

In conclusion, Presiding Officer, I thank the member again for bringing the debate to the chamber, and I reach out to her and her colleagues to join us with grass-roots campaigners on the streets of Scotland to make our voices heard in communities, and join us in this chamber in demanding that the Parliament and the Government do everything that they can to prioritise the eradication of poverty, so that lives are saved.

Before I make my contribution, I refer members to my entry in the register of interests.

I am happy to have the opportunity to speak in the debate. This action is welcome, but it is long overdue. From the beginning of the cost of living crisis, Scottish Labour has called for real, measurable action to help those people in most need—from a windfall tax on energy companies that make eye-watering profits while working people struggle, to a rent freeze to support tenants who have been exploited by rogue landlords who increase bills during a time of severe economic uncertainty.

It is therefore welcome that the SNP-Green Government has U-turned on the issue of rent freezes. Let us not forget, however, that if the SNP and Greens had backed the proposals of my Scottish Labour friend and comrade Mercedes Villalba in June, the rent freeze would have been in place months ago, and tenants would not have had to wait until December—a point that the First Minister had implied would not be the case.

The member knows from my colleague Mark Griffin that we will lodge amendments on that issue. We know that we are secure until the end of this financial year, but we are happy to debate the issue again tomorrow.

The introduction of the legislation is a welcome step forward. However, as members have mentioned, the bill will not help all tenants and is by no means a long-term solution to the challenges that Scotland faces in relation to the housing market.

Scotland’s councils have been starved of funding by the Scottish Government and the Tories in Westminster. In recent years, Labour in local government has been delivering nation-leading house-building programmes, despite the cuts. That is essential work, and we are proud to say that those programmes are delivering council housing once again, and are providing stability and security in the most uncertain of times.

As the member for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, Elena Whitham, said, a home is more than bricks and mortar. That is why we must challenge the balance between landlords and tenants, as my colleague Richard Leonard mentioned. I hope that the Scottish Government recognises the short-term nature of the plans that are set out in the bill. I call on the Government to invest in our councils to ensure that they have adequate funding to build the required quantity and quality of houses that are needed in Scotland today. Furthermore, I hope that the minister listens to calls for the rent freeze to remain in place until a national system of rent controls comes into effect. We know that we can be bolder and go further. I call on the Scottish Government to show that ambition.

I pay credit to my colleague Mercedes Villalba, tenants organisations such as Living Rent, and the trade union movement for their relentless campaigning to force this U-turn. It is a welcome step that will have a positive short-term effect. Scotland is in desperate need of a reformed housing policy that delivers first and foremost for our working population. Today is a step forward, but there is room for us to go further.

I reaffirm my party’s support for the principle of the bill and I highlight our commitment to delivering a long-term housing strategy that meets the needs of our populations.

The minister knows that Labour’s position is that he could have lodged an amendment or had a discussion on those points at that time.

The proposed rent freeze from the SNP and Greens will not help those people whose rents were hiked over the summer after the Government’s failure to support a rent freeze in June. The average rent in Scotland was £780 in April, when Living Rent and my colleague Mercedes Villalba first raised the need with the First Minister; it now stands at more than £850, which we can agree is a significant increase in just six months.

Clearly, this is not the time for patting the back of a Government that, before the summer, said that the scheme was unworkable. It is a time to highlight the power of working people, of our trade unions and of their campaign to deliver this change. Inaction and empty promises were never going to be enough during a cost of living crisis, and I am pleased that the Scottish Government has come to that realisation.

I agree with the Scottish Government that the cost of living crisis is a result of years of irresponsible Tory economic policy, of austerity, of cutting taxes for the rich and increasing costs for the workers. However, in Scotland, we have powers to mitigate. We have powers in social security and through local councils to improve service delivery for those people who are most in need.

It is often suggested in Parliament that there is only one way out of this mess. In fact, what the past weeks, months and years have shown is that Scotland has two Governments that are often set on dividing communities. The fact that people power has brought about this change of heart in the Government highlights that the people of this country want to unite around policies that will improve their lives and set a brighter future for the next generations.

As members have highlighted, tenants and tenants organisations are knowledgeable enough to come to Parliament and give us sound advice that we should listen to the people of Scotland.

I have no interests to declare, but I refer members to my entry in the register of interests.

This is my first time on the committee. If we close a petition, does the petitioner have the right to come back on it? How does that work?

I have read the evidence in detail because I have also been approached by constituents about the issue. For me, the key was the fact that the petitioners have said that mesh should be used only where it is essential. We should drill further into that. People should be properly informed and consent to these procedures, because we know from previous work on the use of transvaginal mesh just how life changing these things can be. Therefore, it is an important issue, and I would like to see the petition go further so that we have clarity on the issue.

Okay. So the petitioner has options.

Will the member take an intervention?