Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 7 February 2023.
But you can go further than that, Minister, can't you, because you do have the ability to raise additional revenue through your tax-varying powers? Now, I understand the Government's position is that you don't want to touch the basic rate, but even if you simply matched the increases in the higher and additional rates that are being introduced in Scotland on 1 April—the 42p and the 47p—that would raise £76 million, enough to turn your one-off payment this year into a permanent pay raise. And if you were able to use alternative means of doing that, you could use that £76 million instead to raise care workers' wages to £12 an hour. Why don't you use the powers that you have at this time to do what is right by this group of workers? You describe yourself as a socialist Government; why don't you take this opportunity to act like one?