Budget Resolutions

Stephen Gethins Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Gethins (Arbroath and Broughty Ferry) (SNP)]

It is good to be able to make my presentation today, after the past few days of drama. The Budget is meant to be a showcase for this place. The Conservatives will be well aware of past years when Budgets unravelled in the days just after they were delivered, but I think we all found it quite something to see a Budget unravel in the days before it was even delivered.

Now, there are a couple of more serious points. The Scottish Government get most of their finances from Westminster. We continue to live in an overly centralised state. I say this constructively, because the Health Secretary is a constructive person: engagement with the devolved Administrations should happen before a Budget, not after. It is unacceptable for the First Minister to offer meetings and get no response. That is unacceptable not just for the First Minister of Scotland, but for the First Ministers of Northern Ireland and Wales, who should be afforded a similar courtesy.

We have had a lot of silence from Scottish Labour about the Chancellor over the past few days—a lot of silence.

[Melanie Ward]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Stephen Gethins]

Ah! Is the hon. Lady about to disagree with her Scottish leader? Please, I would love to hear it.

[Melanie Ward]

The hon. Member says that he has not heard much from Scottish Labour MPs about the Chancellor, so let me take this chance to put on record my thanks, and the thanks of my constituents, to the Chancellor for ensuring that this Budget gave £20 million to Kirkcaldy to begin the renewal of our town, after almost two decades of his party’s rule in Scotland.

[Stephen Gethins]

We would have had the money that the hon. Lady talks about had we remained in the European Union and had access to European regional funding, which she does not want any more.

I am astonished at the split in the Labour party over what happens to the Chancellor. I am glad that the Chancellor has the hon. Lady’s confidence, but even the BBC is reporting that “we were misled”. We can all agree that the Chancellor holds a serious post. With the chair of the OBR gone, and the director general of the BBC having recently gone, we have to be sure that the Chancellor has the confidence of this House and those around her. Given the chaos of the past few days, we cannot be sure that that is the case anymore.

On a more positive note, I give the Health Secretary his due: the question of child poverty is close to his heart, as it is to mine, and he speaks passionately and eloquently about it. The Labour party was chucking out Members of Parliament for voting to get rid of the two-child cap, and it voted against our motion just a few weeks ago. A couple of years ago, the leader of the Scottish Labour party even said that getting rid of it would “spook the markets”. The markets have not been spooked. It has been done.

The Scottish Government were ahead of the game. What is the only part of the UK where child poverty is falling? Scotland. What is the only part of the UK that has a Scottish child payment that is driving down child poverty? Scotland. I know that the Health Secretary is constructive and takes this to heart.

[Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Stephen Gethins]

I have already given way. I urge the Health Secretary to look at the benefits of the Scottish child payment. I am a believer in solidarity, and would love to see it being rolled out to the rest of the UK, given its successes in Scotland. I say that constructively, and I hope that the Health Secretary will consider it.

We are talking about renewal. On the energy sector, we have heard about Harbour Energy, which is the latest to announce job losses as a direct consequence of the energy profits levy. Offshore Energies UK has talked about the loss of thousands of jobs as a result of the levy. I remind the House that the UK is about the only state in the world that found oil and gas and never introduced a future generations fund. Why have such a fund? Because oil and gas are finite resources, and a fund allows us to invest in the future instead of taxing them out of existence, which is what is happening at the moment. I hear that from my constituents, and we hear it from across north-east Scotland.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister mentioned the failure of Brexit, and the Health Secretary has done the same. According to House of Commons figures, it is costing the public purse £250 million every day. That is a disgrace. It is a Tory and Reform failure that all of us are paying for. Trade is down. Brexit is responsible for a large chunk of the tax rises and, according to the Mayor of London’s research, made the economy £140 billion smaller. I appeal to the Labour party: start doing something differently from the Conservatives and Reform. They failed; please do not.