At last, a target Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf should have no trouble meeting. Waiting lists? The attainment gap? Dualling the A9? Of course not.
Humza Yousaf says his forthcoming government reset can be expected to ‘p**s people off’. When it comes to annoying people the First Minister is a veritable virtuoso. He has certainly irritated many in the SNP with his insistence on perpetuating the controversial alliance with the Scottish Green party.
Mr Yousaf clearly knows what side he’s on; unfortunately, Scottish voters are increasingly on the other side
Yousaf is quite serious though. Yesterday he told the Holyrood Sources podcast that, as a ‘conviction’ politician, it is his righteous duty to curry unfavour with many voters, first of all by increasing their taxes in the autumn budget. A new intermediate tax band on higher earners is forecast. Scotland is already paying the highest taxes of any region in the UK on most measures.
The First Minister says that ‘most politicians end up being people pleasers’. But as a leader ‘you can’t sit on the fence, you can’t be mealy-mouthed, you have to pick a side…and frankly that’s going to p**s off some people’. Yousaf clearly knows what side he’s on; unfortunately, Scottish voters are increasingly on the other side, according to recent polls.
The next target of the alienation strategy is to be motorists. Yousaf condemned both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer for opposing policies like the Ultra Low Emission Zone in Greater London. Expect more of the same in Scotland.
Glaswegians, those who can’t afford new cars, are already being pissed off at a rate of 150 drivers a day thanks to Glasgow’s LEZ, infringement of which carries a £60 fine. But Mr Yousaf has made clear that the war on the car is only beginning. We can expect tougher emission controls nationwide, universal 20mph limits, low traffic neighbourhoods and workplace parking levies. Mind you, these measures sometimes piss off the wrong people.
Proposals to charge workers £500 a year to use office parking places in Edinburgh last year caused outrage amongst many public sector employees like teachers and NHS workers. Scottish Labour’s transport spokesman, Neil Bibby, called the ‘SNP commuter tax’ a ‘shameless assault on worker’s pay packets’.
This is the problem with the war on the motorist. There are around 3 million vehicles on Scotland’s roads and that’s a lot of votes to lose. Electric car users are some of the most pee’d off since they can’t find anywhere to recharge their expensive Teslas. Poorer motorists can’t afford electric vehicles and flat dwellers can’t use them either. But Humza is adamant that they’ll have to get used to life after internal combustion. Sales of petrol and diesel cars are supposed to be banned in less than seven years time.
Gas boilers are due to be phased out even earlier. This will also potentially annoy around 2 million householders who are supposed to buy expensive heat pumps – which even the suppliers say won’t work in Scotland.
Humza Yousaf is militantly unapologetic about these green policies. He insists they are central to his vision. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a summer,’ he told the podcasters, ‘where every single week you’ve seen, with such visibility, the impact of the climate emergency.’ Drenched Glaswegians suffering a typical Scottish summer could be forgiven for thinking he’s a bit short-sighted. But of course they know what he means: the planet is burning. Something must be done.
Some prominent authors are saving the world by threatening to boycott the Edinburgh Book Festival sponsored, as it is, by Baillie Gifford. The investment firm has 2 per cent of its funds invested in fossil fuel-related activities, but also has invested in the renewable sector. Right on, says Humza. Everyone should do their bit for the climate emergency.
Mind you, the Scottish government has just applauded much-increased oil revenues from the North Sea in the latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures. ‘Scotland’s finance are improving at a faster rate than the UK’s’, cried the wellbeing economy secretary, Neil Gray, noting that oil revenues have increased by £7 billion. This reflects the value of our ‘vibrant energy sector’ he said.
Festival Luvvies must surely now boycott all cultural events sponsored by the Scottish government after this shameless celebration of Scotland’s planet-destroying fossil fuels. The Edinburgh Festival overall gets more than £11 million from the state. Authors, actors and producers should have nothing more to do with it. Mind you, one suspects few Scots would be pissed off at having to live without their ignorant, self-regarding moralism.
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