Christmas, as most of us know, is meant to be the season of good will to all, of giving and receiving presents and of thinking about others less fortunate than ourselves. And in January we get the credit card bill.
We all know generosity costs money and along with the new year diet and determination to get fitter and healthier, comes the realisation that belt tightening isn’t just for disguising the expanded waistline.
It’s no different for public services and whether it’s at a local or national level, the need to balance the books has rarely been greater, especially with the cheery but entirely justified pre-Christmas message from the Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey that the economy is stagnating thanks to Labour’s budget decisions. Businesses, like households, must make ends meet, so higher taxes and the increased minimum wage mean higher prices and fewer jobs. And that kills economic growth.
The SNP Scottish Government may have received an unexpected boost because of Labour’s big spending on public sector pay deals, but because they came without meaningful reforms, we are footing the bill.
But after new promises not to hike taxation further, a day of reckoning is coming and it means things like catching up on NHS Scotland’s estimated £1.3 billion maintenance backlog won’t be possible without other sacrifices.
It’s therefore reasonable to ask whether any of the NHS investment promises made by finance secretary Shona Robison, like replacing the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion, will ever be honoured.
It should also mean that if there is any suggestion of further above-inflation public sector pay deals, then they come with cast-iron commitments to reform, and in the case of junior doctors and train drivers it should also mean legally-binding no strike agreements.
In my shadow ministerial brief of transport, the need for investment has been glaring for years, with the improvement of roads like the A9, A96, A77 and A75, essential for sustainable economic growth as well as the protection of communities on the routes.
It’s the same locally, with simple improvements to rail infrastructure bringing obvious benefits, like building the train station at Winchburgh to put a booming town of over 3400 new homes on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow line and building the short “Almond Chord” link to turn the Edinburgh Gateway station from a white elephant into a hub for the new West Town as busy as Haymarket.
But off Santa’s list must surely come the Edinburgh North-South tram proposal, for which even just drawing up a business case will cost £44 million, which the Scottish Government won’t fund, and Edinburgh Council can’t afford.
At a very, very conservative estimate, building a line from Princes Street to the Royal Infirmary will cost £2 billion and take 11 years to build, and just do what the buses do.
And on the subject of buses, protecting drivers is paramount, but after free bus travel for under 22s was introduced in 2022, abuse and assaults on Lothian Buses’ staff rose from 473 in 2019 to 2,581 in 2023. It now stands at an appalling 5817 incidents, and taxpayers should not be funding this spree of violence on public workers.
Christmas is a time of hope, so maybe those who spend our money will make a New Year resolution to do so wisely.
