FMQs: Scottish Greens urge First Minister to reverse rail fare hike
Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater has urged the First Minister to mark Climate Week by halting the return of peak rail fares.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Ms Slater underlined the unfair nature of peak fares, which punish workers and students who have no choice about when they travel.
The return of peak fares will see rail prices soaring. From the end of this week, someone travelling from the First Minister’s Perthshire constituency will pay £34.30 for a return ticket during peak hours, an increase of 58% on the current cost of £21.60.
In her first question to the First Minister, Ms Slater said: “This week is Climate Week. The Climate Change Committee tells us that we urgently need to decarbonise transport. Getting people out of cars and planes and onto buses, trains and their own feet or wheels.
“The Scottish Government’s pilot to abolish peak rail fares, which was championed by the Scottish Greens in government, ends this week, hiking up the prices of train fares for many workers and students who do not have any choice about when they travel.
“Is this the right message for the Scottish Government to be sending in Climate Week?”
Following a response from the First Minister, in which he did not reverse his decision, Ms Slater called for the SNP to support the introduction of a private jet tax to fund the permanent removal of peak fares.
Ms Slater said: “The First Minister is in luck as I have a suggestion. Oxfam has reported that £21.5 million a year could be raised through a tax on Private Jets, assuming it was embedded in the Air Departure Tax, legislation that this parliament passed 7 years ago and hasn’t acted on. That’s enough to abolish peak fares for good.
“We all understand the need to ensure an exemption to Air Departure Tax for our island communities. Will the First Minister work with the UK Government to urgently introduce this tax so commuters can once again have fairer prices on our trains?”
