There was plenty to celebrate for Orkney as the Scottish Budget was laid out last week by Shona Robison, not least with £10 million capital funding for connectivity. I notice that the potential to use some of the funding to make the crossing of one of the Churchill Barriers safer is being suggested by some councillors already. I will be interested to follow how Orkney Islands Council decides to spend the money.
Also on the topic of transport, I was delighted to see that free inter-island ferry travel is to be introduced for islanders under the age of 22, to recognise that these ferry journeys are the equivalent to busses elsewhere.
I have long argued that young folk living in our island communities should have the same opportunities as those on the Scottish mainland and have repeatedly raised the benefits of this proposal with Ministers. I am confident that it will allow Orkney’s young folk to make the most of exciting new educational, professional, and social opportunities that may have previously been restricted to them.
Elsewhere, the Scottish Budget an enormous step forward in achieving the Scottish Government’s mission of eradicating child poverty in Orkney as progress begins in ending Labour’s two-child cap.
The two-child cap was introduced by the Tories as part of their programme of austerity and has been subsequently adopted by Labour as one of their policies, despite their previous promises to scrap it.
Across Scotland the cap impacts 83,000 children and 26,000 households – and that includes 80 families in Orkney alone. By ending it the SNP government will lift 15,000 children out of poverty.
The two-child cap is an abhorrent policy that has harmed 80 Orkney households. With 83,000 children across Scotland impacted, it is right that this SNP Government has made the decision to end the cap once and for all – lifting 15,000 children out of poverty and making progress on the key mission of this government: to eradicate child poverty once and for all.
We only need to look at some of the reactions from across Scotland to see how popular this move would be, and why the budget now needs cross-party support.
For instance, the Child Poverty Action Group stated: “The Scottish Government has made the right decision on the two-child limit, but Westminster must now step up and scrap it UK-wide.”
Add to this the boost to Scotland’s affordable housing supply, investing £768 million in our housing programme, enabling house providers to deliver at least 8000 homes, and the £800 million more going into social security benefits in 2025-26, putting money directly into folks’ pockets and ensuring benefits rise with inflation.
Shelter Scotland welcomed the reversal of the cuts to housing and investment in local services and said: ‘Building more social homes is the only solution that can end the Housing Emergency.’
This is a budget that focuses on delivering on people’s priorities, and which lays the foundations for Scotland’s long-terms success. We need to deliver on it as a Parliament.
This is a regular column by SNP MSP Emma Roddick. All Highlands and Islands MSPs have been offered the same space in The Orkney News to share their personal views.