Mark Griffin
Scottish Labour · Scotland
“Driving down child poverty is a key priority of the Government and of the Parliament as a whole, but reviewing the targets that the Government is failing to hit does not seem to align with the rhetoric. The Scottish Government’s impact assessment of the child poverty delivery plan is that it will not meet the targets.”
“The minister set out the damage that is taking place in this country as a result of leaving a political and economic union, and there is nothing in his statement that I can disagree with. In his conclusion, he asked what we are prepared to do about it.”
“As I have said to others, I have engaged with and will happily continue to engage with Nick Thomas-Symonds, but if we consider that the potential benefits are 20 times less than the loss that we are sustaining, we see the impact.”
“We are content that there is a credible path to do so, despite everything that is happening in the rest of the UK and internationally. I go back to what I have announced, which is a review of the type of targets.”
“Our targets have driven our focus and delivery, but it is important to reflect on the investment that the Government is making in areas that do not impact directly on those targets.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities regarding the pay negotiations for 2026-27.”
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Every one of 217 lines we hold for Mark Griffin, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 5 of 5.
“It is a hugely unpopular tax, but councillors are making decisions to increase it because the alternative is absolutely unpalatable. The cuts that they would need to make to services would go beyond what they are willing to consider, so they are making unpopular decisions on council tax to cover for those cuts. However, there is a real risk in the fact that, because of successive years of SNP cuts, councils are now making impossible choices and increasing council tax to try to prevent their residents from having to pay more money for worse services as a result of Government choices. 15:15”
“Ross Greer: Does the member agree with me and with Alexander Stewart that it is farcical that most people are paying the wrong rate of council tax and that, whatever we agree to do next, revaluation must be the first step in that process in order to give us the data set that is required to make decisions? Mark Griffin: It is absolutely ridiculous that we have a valuation system that was set up when I was in primary 1. I am not sure whether Ross Greer had even been born when that valuation exercise was undertaken. The Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee is looking at a revaluation exercise being a first step in reform of the council tax system, and I think that there is broad consensus across the political spectrum on that. We are seeing councils across the country putting up council tax.”
“There is an absolute abundance of evidence to show that local services have suffered hugely in those 18 years. The services that are provided now are practically unrecognisable when compared with those that were provided in 2007. Swimming pools and community spaces such as the Beach leisure centre in Aberdeen or Perth leisure pool, which were used by thousands of people a decade ago, are now closed or threatened with closure. More than 20 public libraries are threatened with closure because of significant funding pressures, with the worst- affected areas covering much of rural Scotland.”
“Will he clarify, for the record, that it absolutely is not, but that it is spread over two years, that it includes revenue and capital and that the real-terms increase between this year and next is only 1 per cent? Mark Griffin: The UK Government has provided the Scottish Government with more than £5 billion extra. Only this SNP Government could complain about an extra £5 billion and somehow portray that as being negative. We often hear in this chamber about voting positions: the SNP voted against that £5 billion increase for the budget of this Parliament and Government, but we never hear anything about that. I welcome the record funding settlement from the UK Government, but it is impossible to fully reverse the impact of years of SNP mismanagement, billions of pounds in cuts and years of stripping back of council finances.”
“Local government has also been given just £777 million of capital to support £55 billion-worth of assets. There are clearly gaping holes in our public estate, which will persist under the settlement. All that is no one’s fault but the SNP Government’s. Its decisions in successive years have stripped local authorities of their financial resources, but the Government keeps using spin and sleight of hand to try to convince Scotland that others have caused the problems. The truth is that the SNP has been given a record funding agreement by the UK Government, with £5 billion more for this financial year but, because of their choices, that money— Ivan McKee: Will the member take an intervention? Mark Griffin: Yes, I will. Ivan McKee: The member said that there is £5 billion for this financial year.”
“The Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2025 is a step in the right direction, but we should look more closely at the claim that it represents a success for the Government. It provides a modest, real-terms increase in the budget for local authorities, but that increase must be taken in context. The 2024-25 council tax freeze alone resulted in a shortfall of £417 million, according to COSLA, and that does not include shortfalls caused by unfunded freezes in previous years. COSLA has also estimated a £392 million projected budget gap for Scottish local authorities in 2025-26, rising to a cumulative gap of £780 million by 2026-27. Within those figures, the funding gap that is most striking and alarming is the one in health and social care partnerships, which has increased by 187 per cent since 2022-23.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what the current average waiting times are for a neurodevelopmental assessment and a speech and language therapy assessment for children and young people in NHS Lanarkshire and in Scotland as a whole. (S6O-04325)”
“To add insult to injury, the theatre also failed to receive any support from the newly created development stream, with Creative Scotland deciding that Cumbernauld theatre is not of strategic importance, despite its fantastic new facilities and despite the fact that Creative Scotland itself has praised those facilities and the work done by the theatre for decades. Does the First Minister agree with Creative Scotland that Cumbernauld theatre is not of strategic importance? Will his Government urgently review that devastating funding decision?”
“On 30 January, Cumbernauld theatre staff, the theatre’s supporters and the wider community were relieved when it was announced that all organisations currently funded by Creative Scotland would secure significant additional multiyear funding. However, that relief turned to heartbreak when they were told that that would not be the case for the theatre, that they had missed out on core funding and that the theatre was the only arts organisation that had been funded previously but was now losing support. I am told that that is due to a technical issue—the supporting evidence that they provided was too extensive.”
“Mark Griffin: The point that I am trying to make is that the UK Government has provided this Parliament—this budget—with £5.2 billion in extra funding. Instead of making transformative change to lift kids out of poverty and put them into the houses that they need, the Scottish Government is simply fixing the problems that it has made over the past 18 years. Restoring—not even fully restoring—the cuts that were made in last year’s budget and the budget before that does not go anywhere near the ambition that we have for this country.”
“to be built this coming year”, and the cabinet secretary said in her speech that the budget will build more affordable homes. However, that is the lowest number of new affordable homes in any year since 2016-17, excluding the pandemic. For the past three years, even amid the most brutal cuts to the affordable housing supply budget, between 9,500 and 10,400 new affordable homes were completed each year. I can only assume that the attempt to present failure as success means that the Government is quietly giving up on its pledge to build 110,000 homes by 2032. Stuart McMillan: If Mr Griffin wants even more resource to go into the housing budget, which budget would he take it from? Would it come from health or from local government?”
“As Shelter Scotland’s director, Alison Watson, said, “No child should be living in poverty and the only way to eradicate child poverty is to end child homelessness.” During the SNP’s time in Government, far from ending child homelessness, it has seen the number of kids in temporary homes almost double, increasing by 85 per cent between 2007 until 2024. Although I welcome the partial reinstatement of those desperately needed funds, it is important to set out what the Government’s disastrous approach has done to the supply of affordable housing in Scotland, because we are just not building enough homes. Astonishingly, the SNP’s latest affordable housing pledge actually promises a drop in the number of affordable homes to be built. The Government has said that this year’s affordable homes budget will enable “over 8000 new properties ...”
“That is a good decision—or, I should say, part of a good decision, because what the Government has not said is that it actually cut the affordable housing supply budget twice. It cut it last year and the year before that, and the full cut over the two years has not been restored. The Government’s approach to affordable housing is one of the clearest indicators of what Audit Scotland has called “short-term” thinking that balances budgets “but risks disrupting services ... and restricting progress towards ... long-term outcomes”. With the chaos that was unleashed by this Government’s housing budget cuts, more than 500 more children have woken up in temporary homes.”
“In last week’s debate, I was struck by an SNP member’s comment that “this is a good and clever budget”.—[Official Report, 30 January 2025; c 102.] I believe that a good budget provides the financial backing to deliver the Government’s priorities. John Swinney has said repeatedly that the Government’s priority is to tackle child poverty, but to my mind, it is impossible to do that without making sure that every child has a warm, secure and affordable house to live in and without relying on the services and support that are provided by local government across Scotland. Shona Robison: Will the member give way? Mark Griffin: I have just started my speech and I want to make some progress. I will maybe come back to the cabinet secretary. I welcome the Government’s decision to reverse last year’s cut to the affordable housing programme.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the uplift in the Scottish Prison Service budget for 2025-26 will be spent on improving the prison estate. (S6O-04261)”
“To ask the Scottish Government what policies it is considering to better support the health of premature babies on neonatal units, including the development of a specialised baby box. (S6O- 04231)”
“To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the net zero secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding whether unused funds from energy efficiency area-based grant schemes could be reallocated, including to reduce fuel poverty in the coming financial year. (S6O-04216)”