Budget shock waves hit Holyrood

John Knox
Political reporter, BBC Scotland

There's been a serious outbreak of voodoo economics at Holyrood this week.

The Chancellor's 'tax cut' sparked fierce debate at Holyrood

All parties seem to be pulling tax cuts from their black hats at the same time as promising increased public spending.

They've borrowed the trick from the Chancellor who on Wednesday gave the Scottish Executive an extra £1.8bn to spend over the next three years.

He also handed Labour its first big idea of the election campaign, a 2p cut in the standard rate of income tax.

By question time on Thursday, the First Minister Jack McConnell was contrasting Labour's "tax cut" with the SNP's 3p increase in income tax to replace the council tax. "We've been suspecting for months that Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon would make some big mistakes in this election campaign but we didn't expect anything quite as big as this," crowed Mr McConnell.

"Scotland will reject their poll tax, and will make sure that our taxation system remains fair."

Lowest paid

But the lady in the red jacket wasn't for turning.

Ms Sturgeon hit back, by pointing out that the Chancellor was scrapping the 10p starting rate of income tax which he himself had introduced.

"Gordon Brown has doubled the rate of tax for the lowest paid in our society. It's hard to believe that came from a Labour Chancellor." Ms Sturgeon continued: "The SNP will abolish the unfair council tax.

"Nine out of ten people will be better off. Most pensioners will pay nothing. In other words it's a tax cut from the SNP, not a tax con-trick from Labour."

Annabel Goldie in a tunnel to talk about crime

The Conservatives kept pretty quiet about tax this week but they were strong on public spending.

Annabel Goldie told the other parties that only the Conservatives had the "courage to announce a £1bn assault on crime and drugs over the next four years, the biggest programme on this issue ever seen in Scotland".

On Thursday morning, Miss Goldie took an astonished press corps down into an old railway tunnel in Edinburgh to formally launch the new policy.

While we blinked at the graffiti, litter and discarded needles, she told us: " Too many communities across Scotland have to put up with anti-social behaviour, drug addiction and violence."

She promised the Conservatives would put an extra 1,500 police officers on the beat, invest £100m a year in drug rehabilitation and build an extra prison.

Flowing tirade

The big debate of the week was on the state of the Union.

It was a chance for all parties to warm up for the election.

Margaret Curran, the minister for parliament, delivered a fast flowing tirade against the SNP.

"We came here to change lives not perpetually change the constitution," she declared.

The SNP's Alasdair Morgan struck back with a witty speech about how it was time to move on from devolution.

Jim Wallace made his last parliamentary speech

There was a definite end of term atmosphere. The Liberal Democrat Jim Wallace made his last parliamentary speech after a career of 24 years.

He warned against Scotland developing a "dependency culture".

The veteran independent MSP Dennis Canavan was due to speak for the last time, instead he was mourning the third of his sons to die.

Mark, aged 41, died in Australia after a long battle against motor neurone disease.

The Conservative Lord James Douglas Hamilton made his last speech during a debate on education.

He's retiring after 33 years in politics. His departing shot was against too much paperwork being thrust upon teachers, distracting them from getting on with the job.

Unanimous support

On Wednesday afternoon, parliament made two quick decisions.

By 64 votes to 47, MSPs turned down John Swinney's proposal to extend the boundaries of the Cairngorms National Park to include Blair Atholl and Glenshee.

Then, there was unanimous support for a change in the law to make it easier for the families of shipyard workers suffering from the lung cancer mesothelioma to claim compensation.

The petitions committee finished the term by reviewing progress on no fewer than 42 outstanding petitions.

Most of them were "closed" with no further action possible in this parliament. But two significant ones are to be continued.

Cheap alcohol

MSPs called for more research into so-called "flat head baby syndrome" or plagiocephaly.

The executive, on the very day of the committee meeting, published a leaflet on the condition, containing advice for parents against leaving their babies lying for too long in one position, in car seats for example.

The committee also wants to take forward its 1000th petition, from the pupils of All Saints' Secondary School in Glasgow, complaining about the availability of cheap alcohol.

A new petition arrived this week from another school in Glasgow, Lourdes Secondary.

It is protesting at another dawn raid and impending deportation of 12 year old Grace Waku.

Lourdes Secondary School petitioned parliament over a dawn raid

Her family fled from the Congo and for the last six years have been living in Scotland awaiting the outcome of their asylum application.

At question time, the first minister said he could not intervene in individual cases but he confirmed that Scottish ministers have written to the Home Office in London demanding that the immigration service take the interests of children more into account when they decide on deportation.

"Some families have been in this country so long that their young boys and girls are now effectively Scottish in character and culture," said Mr McConnell. This week, the Garden Lobby at Holyrood has been enlivened by a display of 30 or so paper mache models made by members of the Children's Parliament.

The 9 to 13-year-olds were asked to make models of what they want to be in 20 year's time.

There were lots of footballers, singers, actors, vets, zoo keepers, aircraft pilots but there was also a teacher, a joiner, a psychologist, an astronomer...no politician but one "knight in shining armour."

Outer space

The Children's Parliament is being followed by a meeting of the Youth Parliament this weekend. I wonder if their dream jobs are any different.

Finally, I had the great privilege of shaking hands with a man who's been in outer space.

No, it wasn't a politician or even a knight in shining armour.

It was astronaut Nicholas Patrick, back from a five million mile journey to the International Space Station on board the US space shuttle Discovery.

For 12 days last December he carried with him the saltire which normally flies on the flagpole outside the Scottish Parliament.

The idea was to advertise the Space School, run by Careers Scotland, to interest pupils in science and technology.

Now I know what I want to be when I grow up.