Holyrood erupted in laughter yesterday at James Kelly's attempt to answer a straightforward question about the Scottish budget.
Labour's finance spokesman was speaking in an opposition debate, called by his party despite the fact that the budget was only at draft stage and any vote would be irrelevant to the budget process.
Kelly used the platform to criticise the SNP's plans, calling on opposition parties to lay down "a vote of no confidence", but when asked was unable to put forward any alternative proposals.
What could cause Scotland more economic damage than Brexit? Scottish Labour's James Kelly. No budget, no tax proposals, no idea. pic.twitter.com/piWAkgbFiA
— Phantom Power (@PhantomPower14) January 17, 2018
He took an intervention from SNP MSP John Mason, who said: "The member has mentioned £700m. Could he spell out for us how he would raise this £700m. Would their be cuts elsewhere or tax rises?"
But it turns out Kelly didn't know yet. "Having seen what a mess the Cabinet Secretary made of his tax proposals, Labour will take adequate time in order to ..." he started.
By this point the SNP benches were howling with laughter.
He went on: "We will publish our tax proposals ahead of the stage one debate."
Quite why this debate was necessary, then, we're not sure.
The SNP's Ivan McKee said yesterday that Labour had given up on being a serious opposition with the "petty budget stunt".
McKee said: “As James Kelly fine well knows, the budget goes through a formal process of scrutiny from committees and the parliament as a whole – where Labour have ample opportunity to bring forward their own costed plans.
“Instead they’d rather indulge in grandstanding by voting with the Tories against a progressive budget with vital investment in our schools and hospitals and which gives public sector workers a pay rise.
“That is typical of Labour, who have learned nothing from a decade of opposition and are sliding further and further into irrelevance.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel