{"id":527324,"date":"2026-04-12T19:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T19:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/527324\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T19:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T19:13:11","slug":"scottish-election-2026-leaders-debate-clashes-over-energy-spending-immigration-and-the-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/527324\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish election 2026: Leaders debate clashes over energy, spending, immigration and the NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/core\/website\/assets\/static\/news\/incident-types\/light-mode\/analysis.77b314ef10.svg\" alt=\"Analysis\" height=\"2.5rem\" width=\"9.8125rem\" draggable=\"false\" class=\"ssrcss-h608ny-ContributorImageComponent e2hr5uu0\"\/>Tax, growth and welfare take centre stagepublished at 20:06 BST<\/p>\n<p>20:06 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-qs9kpv-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0e87c515-1189-4d1f-b5be-05517a80aefb.jpg.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>James Cook<br \/>Scotland editor<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The leaders on stage in Paisley Town Hall\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e8d3b43d-13bb-4162-991a-ec5759160a3c.jpg.webp.webp\"  width=\"2498\" height=\"1405\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Looking down on the stage from the balcony of Paisley Town Hall,<br \/>\nthe most striking feature is the absence of women.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The men in suits who are setting out their stalls are doing<br \/>\nso in a country which is, in many ways, ill at ease.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Many voters tell pollsters they are worried about making ends meet<br \/>\nand about the state of public services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">That has been reflected by the audience, with one questioner<br \/>\nsaying she might not even vote and another expressing concern about the<br \/>\ncost of living.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This year there is a new dimension to these discussions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Over the years Holyrood has taken on, and increasingly has used,<br \/>\nextra income tax and social security powers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Scottish parliamentary election debates used to be dominated by<br \/>\ndiscussion about schools and hospitals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">These still feature prominently, but this debate has highlighted<br \/>\nhow tax, growth and welfare are now front and centre too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tax, growth and welfare take centre stagepublished at 20:06 BST 20:06 BST James CookScotland editor Looking down on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-527324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}