The next item of business is First Minister's questions.

I call Russell Finley.

We are blessed to live in a country which provides its people with the safety net of social security.

Any one of us or our loved ones might need a helping hand at some point in our lives.

But as politicians, we have a duty to remind ourselves that

it is paid for by taxpayers. Already one pound of every seven pounds spent by the SMP government

is spent on benefits. Does John Swinney think that is fair and affordable?

First Minister.

Yes, I do believe that it is fair and it is affordable. The Government successfully

passed a budget through Parliament, which had the support of members from different persuasions

across the Parliament, which puts

in place the resources to enable us to provide the type of support that we designed, which

we all designed in the social security legislation when that legislation was passed with

unanimity to ensure that people who required that support were treated with dignity, fairness and respect.

Russell Finley.

Sir John Swinney has just said that his benefit spending is fair and affordable. It is neither.

Hardworking Scots struggling with the cost of living are already forced to pay £1.8 billion more

each year in SNP income tax. That's £1.8 billion more than if they did the same job

for the same wage elsewhere in the United Kingdom. And that's the only reason that John Swinney can fund his benefit spending.

And it's going to get worse.

A new report from the Scottish Fiscal Commission says that one million Scots

will be in receipt of benefits by the end of the decade.

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