Scottish Parliament – May 7, 2025 – 1

S6M-17437.4: As an amendment to motion S6M-17437 in the name of Kate Forbes (Programme for Government: Building the Best Future for Scotland), leave out from first “the actions” to end and insert “that all good Scottish Government outcomes, including supporting household incomes, reducing poverty, creating wealth and funding public services, depend on delivering stronger economic growth;

regrets that, despite the overriding importance of stronger economic growth, the Programme for Government 2025-26 fails to contain the policies needed to deliver it, and instead signals the continuation of the UK’s harshest tax regime on households and businesses, and fails to commit to the actions needed to deliver a growth-promoting regulatory and planning environment, and calls on the Scottish Government to adopt the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party's common-sense proposals to grow the economy, including by reducing taxes on individuals and businesses and by improving the skills of the workforce.”

Original motion(S6M-17437): That the Parliament recognises the actions outlined in the Programme for Government 2025-26 to grow the Scottish economy and eradicate child poverty;

further recognises that these missions are inextricably linked, with a strong economy providing access to fair work opportunities and supporting investment in public services and ambitious climate and anti-poverty measures;

notes that, over the year ahead, the actions within the Programme for Government will build on Scotland’s economic strengths to address the additional challenges the country faces from economic volatility, capturing the economic opportunities ahead to drive improvements in living standards, reduce child poverty and build a strong foundation for the future, to weather the global economic uncertainty;

welcomes the Scottish Government’s continued focus on delivering action across the drivers of child poverty reduction, to increase earned incomes, reduce the costs of living and maximise incomes from social security and benefits in kind, and commits to working together to grow the economy, and deliver on the 2030 child poverty targets unanimously supported by the Scottish Parliament.