Managing Scotland’s Finances

That the Parliament notes that, despite the Scottish Government having the highest ever Scottish budget and £1.5 billion in reserves when it came to power, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth’s wrong choices, which include the waste of money on the discredited Scottish Futures Trust, the cancellation of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, the cutting of key economic budgets such as enterprise, regeneration and tourism and the dramatic rise in rates for some businesses, have contributed to Scotland’s unemployment rate rising above that of the United Kingdom; considers that the loss of more than 40,000 construction workers, almost 3,000 teachers, 1,000 classroom assistants, 1,500 nurses and 2,500 other NHS posts represents real people carrying out real services; notes that the number of young Scots who are not in work or education or training programmes has increased from 31,000 to 36,000 in the last year; condemns the UK Government for cutting back on support for young people when it is most needed; warns that the mistakes of the Thatcher years are being repeated, and calls on members to do everything in their power to prevent another generation of young people from being denied the opportunity of work or training.