First Minister will use an address ahead of
St Andrew's Day to outline his vision for government – and his
determination to deliver government from the ground up.
The First Minister will set out the need for collaboration and
consensus-building to deliver solutions to some of the problems
facing communities in Scotland.
Speaking ahead of next week's Scottish Budget, the First Minister
will commit the Scottish Government to prioritising funding and
investment needed to build on his four priorities – eradicating
child poverty, growing the economy, investing in public services
and tackling the climate emergency.
The First Minister is expected to say:
“Scotland is best served when we collaborate, when we build
consensus and work together across sectors, across disciplines
and across cultures.
“The need to do so has never been more urgent. For the issues we
face now are complex, pervasive and entrenched – and they are
mounting.
“In these last seven years, we have seen global challenges
stacked upon global challenges. From Brexit and COVID-19, to
international conflicts, economic crises and climate disasters.
“On top of this, we have seen domestic problems, such as delayed
discharge and the availability of housing, become more and more
acute, due to rapidly increasing need in our society.
“Yet, too often – and particularly in politics – discussions and
the public discourse are dominated by surface solutions, because
they are the few that can gain consensus. The temptation then
arises to throw money and strategies at a problem, or simply to
find someone to blame for it, because the hard work of finding
true consensus, of peer reviewing ideas in good faith, can feel
unrealistic in our increasingly polarised reality.
“We must maintain enough hope and energy to work together, to
understand the root causes and the complexity of problems and to
find the right solutions.
“These solutions may not always be quick or easy – but that does
not make them any less necessary. This is the approach that
people should expect from a Swinney government.
“I want to bring people closer to their communities, which is
particularly important in a country like Scotland, where the
picture in the Central Belt or the Borders can be so different to
the Highlands or the Islands.
“Being closer to our communities also makes it easier for us to
bring those communities into policy-making: government from the
ground up.”
