The Scottish Conservatives have said the Scottish Parliament has “lost the plot” after the Greens brought forward a debate on providing free bus travel to asylum seekers.
Shadow transport secretary Sue Webber warned that going ahead with the proposal at a time when the SNP and Labour governments are removing universal winter fuel payments for pensioners would show “that this parliament doesn’t stand up for them”.
She described it as “scandalous” that MSPs from a range of parties supported a £2million transport subsidy at the same time as support for heating bills was being cut from almost a million elderly Scots.
Sue Webber added that the Scottish Conservatives opposed the plans because they believe every penny of taxpayers’ money should be spent on the “real concerns of the people”.
Scottish Conservative shadow transport secretary Sue Webber MSP said: “We all want to do right by asylum seekers and help people in need – but it’s on every politician in this building to spend public money on the biggest challenges facing our country.
“The proposal is to spend millions of pounds giving asylum seekers free travel at the very same time the SNP and Labour are taking away the winter fuel payment from pensioners.
“People who have worked hard all their days are getting their winter fuel payment cut, forcing some to choose between heating and eating this winter.
“It’s scandalous and, to people across Scotland, it looks like the Scottish Parliament has lost the plot.
“No wonder so many people feel that this parliament doesn’t stand up for them or represent their interests.
“The Scottish Conservatives will oppose these plans because we believe every penny of taxpayers’ money must be spent carefully to address the real concerns and needs of people – especially at a time when the SNP Government are imposing swingeing cuts across the board.”
Notes
Scottish Greens motion and amendment:
Maggie Chapman (S6M-14823): That the Parliament believes that the Scottish Government should extend free bus travel to people seeking asylum as soon as possible and at least before the end of the current parliamentary session.
S6M-14823.3 Fiona Hyslop: Free Bus Travel for Asylum Seekers—As an amendment to motion S6M-14823 in the name of Maggie Chapman (Free Bus Travel for Asylum Seekers), insert at end ", and urges the UK Government to provide adequate financial support to local authorities and asylum seekers to ensure that they are not pushed further into hardship."
S6M-14823.2 Sue Webber: Free Bus Travel for Asylum Seekers—As an amendment to motion S6M-14823 in the name of Maggie Chapman (Free Bus Travel for Asylum Seekers), leave out from "extend" to end and insert "ensure that there are reliable and affordable bus services in every community across Scotland; acknowledges that the Scottish Government has failed to make the ‘public transport network cleaner, smarter and more accessible than ever before’, as was the stated aim of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, and calls on the Scottish Government to introduce a national £2 bus fare for any single ticket on a bus route, to fully support the Community Bus Fund to allow local authorities to propose bus services in their area, and to implement integrated ticketing across all public transport.”
S6M-14823.1 Claire Baker: Free Bus Travel for Asylum Seekers—As an amendment to motion S6M-14823 in the name of Maggie Chapman (Free Bus Travel for Asylum Seekers), insert at end ", and further believes that public transport should be affordable, accessible and reliable for everyone."
The free bus fares for asylum seekers pilot was set to cost £2million. Humza Yousaf confirmed the cost of the pilot to Holyrood during First Minister’s Questions last year. (Official report, 2 November 2023, link).