Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under pressure to deliver a mini-budget that tackles the galloping cost-of-living crisis.
If previous statements are anything to go by, Sunak’s speech will be a massive disappointment.
From the Universal Credit cut to the National Insurance rise, the Tories have made this grim situation even worse.
What Scots need is for governments and public bodies to put the cost-of-living crisis at the heart of everything they do.
Without radical action, millions of people could slip into poverty and see their living standards fall.
Local authorities, so often the last line of defence for people on low incomes, have a key role to play.
Inverclyde Council, for instance, is using its budget to give people on modest means a £350 payment.
Another good idea, put forward by Green MSP Ross Greer, is for councils to wipe out the £1million school meal debt incurred by families.
The headline figure is not massive but debt causes anxiety and it impacts on the vulnerable.
Parents are already struggling to pay rising bills without having the added stress of being pursued for these arrears.
A valid criticism of the Greens’ plan is that they, alongside the SNP, have delivered a stingy budget for councils.
They are effectively asking local authorities to wipe out debt after squeezing them even further.
But Greer has a valid point and councils should be able to find the cash to pay off the debt.
Let P&O flounder
The Scottish Government is right to call out P&O over the shameful way it has treated staff on its ferry services.
Transport secretary Jenny Gilruth warned the firm it could not expect support from Holyrood in the future after it sacked 800 seafarers last week.
P&O is one of two operators that work the lifeline route between Cairnryan and Larne.
But the RMT union has warned that agency workers recruited from overseas to replace the sacked staff could earn just £1.81 an hour.
The Scottish Government has warned P&O in the strongest possible terms that it cannot condone such actions.
It’s a complex area with responsibility for maritime and port issues split between Holyrood and Westminster.
Regardless, it cannot be repeated too many times that P&O cannot be allowed to get away with such an atrocious attack on its own workforce.
Public money should not be handed to such a devious company.
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