After years of questionable economic policies the leader of the Scottish government has made a bold move. But it likely won’t be enough to help the country prosper.
Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf split with the Green Party after deciding to ditch some policies that were hurting the country, according to a recent BBC report. Notably, he decided to scrap the existing climate targets.
The climate target was to cut carbon emissions by 75% by 2030, now less than six years away. Not only would achieving such a target be close to impossible, but it would also likely cost the country more than it could afford and likely crush the economy, which is already ailing.
Scotland isn’t the first country to want to push the target dates back. Notably the European Union is reconsidering the goal of eliminating sales of new gasoline and diesel powered vehicles in 2035. The outcome is still pending until 2026 but could give countries longer to phase out internal combustion engines and/or embrace other sustainable technologies, according to a recent report from Politico.
While Yousaf’s decision to ditch his party’s alliance with the Scottish Green’s makes sense — Scotland can hardly afford to eliminate carbon emissions as dramatically as previously desired — it won’t do enough to save the currently ruling Scottish National Party (SNP.)
There are multiple issues.
The first is that the Green Party is now pushing for a no confidence vote in the Scottish Parliament. If the members of the Scottish Parliament don’t show confidence in Yousaf then he will be expected to resign. Given his performance since taking over from scandal-ridden former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (and husband), it doesn’t look good for Yousaf.
There’s more.
Scotlands recent economic policies and desires are all-but guaranteed to keep destroying the financial well being of the country.
Note the parliament introduced rent control across the country. The goal was to make housing more affordable. However, wherever this policy has been used across the world, regardless of the year, it has done the opposite by reducing the number of available rental properties. No landlord wants to get stuck with tenants at a fixed rental rate when costs may suddenly rise —and they did rise recently due to the surge in energy prices.
The SNP are said it desired to have its own currency following a split from the United Kingdom. As written previously, Scotland has no central bank to run such a currency and as such would have to create one with credibility, which is a tall order. There are just a few central banks that have that gravitas and they include the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan.
Other dumb ideas from Holyrood, the seat of Scotland’s government, is having a higher income tax rate than its neighbor England. And also regulating businesses to within an inch of their life. Regulations always favor big businesses with armies of well-paid lawyers. The result of Scotlands regulations on holiday rentals has already devastated the tourism industry, largely made up of small business owners, and will likely in due course help big business move into the vacuum.
There are other economic insanities, but needless to say, Yousaf is unlikely to get out of this mess with his current job.
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