Monday September 21st 2026
Colin Beattie MSP for Midlothian North
Colin Beattie MSP, Midlothian North, writes his monthly column for Midlothian View.
After a busy summer recess, I am now back in the Parliament and looking forward to representing the constituency interests. This session got off to a quick start with the Programme for Government announcement, detailing the governments plans for the next 5 years. The programme is focused on delivering on your priorities and I was proud to support it.
The cost-of-living crisis is continuing to add more pressure to family budgets; the Scottish Government is aware of this and are introducing further measures to ease the burden. Childcare support will be expanded further with families offered support for 52 weeks of the year for children from 9 months old to the end of primary school.
A £2 nationwide bus fare cap will be introduced. I was disappointed that Midlothian was not included in the pilot programme and I will continue to make representations at parliament in the hope this will be extended. On top of these new measure, the government is committed to ensuring existing benefits such as free tuition, free prescriptions and free bus travel for under 22s is protected. This will guarantee that Scotland continues to have the most generous cost-of-living support package in the UK.
I was also pleased to see the commitment to strengthening and reforming our public services. Whilst it is early days in this process I look forward to holding the Scottish Government to account to ensure that the proposed reforms deliver the vital improvements our communities need.
There are many more commitments in this latest programme for government that I can’t fit into this piece. However, I hope you are assured that the Scottish Government will continue ensure communities across Midlothian are supported by stronger public services and a thriving economy.
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