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Oh, come on.

Will the minister give way?

It has been a very full debate, so I do not intend to delay the committee for much longer. I will simply make a couple of points. The first is a point that nobody has really addressed—the minister did not address it when I intervened on her; instead, she wanted to talk about Brexit. This is not the right time to introduce the instrument, because companies and employers are suffering. We need to be building back from the pandemic. The wrong way to do that is to impose extra taxes on employers, which could potentially be passed on to employees—that could well happen.

The matter of exemptions has been raised. The minister has the power to introduce exemptions, but it seems that she does not want to use it. That could cover people such as shift workers. I used to be a shift worker and I had to work in a city centre. There was a concern, particularly for some of my female colleagues, about having to walk through a city centre late at night. What about people who work in an industrial estate at night where there is no public transport? Their employer could well decide to pass on the parking levy to staff.

I will try not to take up too much of the committee’s time but, clearly, committee members are very engaged with the issue. I will take any interventions, including from the minister, if possible. I know that she is joining us remotely but, if she wants to intervene, I will allow her to do so, if I can, because we need a proper debate.

The minister said that the reason why the instrument has only just been developed and brought before Parliament is because of Covid—those were her words. That is exactly the reason why it is wrong to introduce the measure now. Businesses are still recovering from the pandemic. The committee has heard concerns from several organisations, including the Food and Drink Federation Scotland and the Scottish Retail Consortium, and we know that Scottish Chambers of Commerce, the CBI and a number of other organisations have concerns. Businesses have made it absolutely clear that this is the wrong time to introduce the measure.

To go back to what Ms Hyslop said, timing is important. Indeed, it is crucial. Businesses are struggling, and they need to recover. The last thing that they need now is an extra tax, and this is an extra tax.

Okay. It would have been useful to hear from the minister what she thinks would be an acceptable level. She seems to think that she has the power to call in schemes—I will take her word for that. If she does have that power and if she were to call in a scheme, what does she think would be an acceptable level per parking space? I will let the minister in again if she wants to respond.

I thank Jackie Dunbar for taking an intervention. She has focused a lot on exemptions. We have established that the minister could make exemptions at a national level—for example, for teachers and police officers, who have to park outside their work. Is that the sort of thing that she would like to see?

Would you like the minister to make that sort of move?

Will you take an intervention?

As a follow-up, why have you chosen not to use those powers and set out further exemptions?

You said that it is up to local councils to set out exemptions, and then you agreed with me that you could do it in regulations, which you can but you have chosen not to.