With rising food prices and energy bills hitting household budgets hard, the cost of living crisis is being keenly felt in communities across the country, especially where rents are high and the availability of affordable housing is low.
I’m proud that the Scottish Government is using our limited social security powers and resources to help families in need, including the automatic awarding of benefits, increasing the Scottish Child Payment to £20, and again to £25 by the end of the year, and uprating eight Scottish benefits by 6%.
But these are mitigations against the source of this crisis, which is the Conservative Government at Westminster.
‘Blame Brexit’
Although the war in Ukraine has had an impact, the price of food and energy was already skyrocketing before it began.
It is the Tory hard Brexit which made the import of food much harder, disrupting supply chains and trade.
We saw after January 2021, when Brexit was formalised, an increase in regulatory and border checks on goods.
This led to a drop in imports and has led to a 6% rise in food costs, according to this week’s study from the London School of Economics’ Centre for Economic Performance.
Energy is the other big driver of inflation, and it is the Tory decision to “cut the Green crap” under David Cameron which has led to an over-reliance on the volatile price of fossil fuels.
The Chancellor’s response to this has been pathetic, awarding mandatory loans to bill payers that will simply make further price rises inevitable.
He has cut fuel duty by 5p, but that has only served to line the pockets of the fossil fuel industry, with the supply chain absorbing much of it rather than passing it on to consumers.
‘Horrendous’
Let’s not forget it is the Tory agenda on social security which has put so many people in the horrendous position of having to choose between heating and eating in the first place.
As it is, our Scottish Child Payment is acting as a mitigation of the cruel £20 cut in Universal Credit.
And the benefit cap, an arbitrary Tory limit to how much someone can claim whatever their circumstances, has forced some out of their homes.
Thanks to Green influence, we are supporting councils to mitigate the impact of the benefit cap where it is most needed.
Indeed, councils are well placed to provide the best tailored support to those who most need it, and why the local authority elections in a few days’ time are so important.
It will be councils who deliver rent controls, who use our record investment in recycling, in nature restoration and infrastructure for walking, wheeling and cycling.
And with free bus travel for young people, I hope councils will take bus services in-house so they serve communities again, instead of the shareholders of private companies.
In this election campaign I’ve noticed the other parties talking about things that councils will have no influence on, like the independence referendum or energy policy.
Greens understand the importance of local decision-making, and if you want councillors who will support our communities in need, put Scottish Green as your first preference vote.