The SNP has said a “new era of austerity under the Labour Party isn’t the ‘change’ people voted for” – in response to the Chancellor’s emergency budget which cut public spending by £14 billion .
Stephen Flynn MP warned the Chancellor was “doubling down on failure by imposing devastating cuts and damaging tax hikes” instead of “addressing the root causes of Brexit Britain’s broken economy” warning “you can’t cut your way to growth”.
Mr Flynn also challenged Labour that ‘if the world has truly changed then it is time to stop the economic madness of Brexit and time to rip up the straitjacket of Tory fiscal rules.’
It comes as UK economic growth forecasts were downgraded by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and the Chancellor ploughed ahead with billions of pounds worth of cuts to families and public services, and continued plans for the National Insurance tax hike, despite the damage it is doing to small businesses, jobs, and economic growth.
Commenting, SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn MP said:
“The Chancellor says ‘the world has changed’ but the thing that has really changed is the Labour Party.
“They promised ‘change’ but the Labour Party are today imposing a new era of austerity cuts.
“They promised to protect people but are today punching down on the poorest.
“They promised to be different from the Tories but are today repeating all the same mistakes of the past.
“A new era of austerity under the Labour Party isn’t the ‘change’ that people voted for.
“If the world has truly changed then it is time to stop the economic madness of Brexit and time to rip up the straitjacket of Tory fiscal rules.
“People in Scotland won’t forgive the Labour government for ploughing ahead with billions of pounds of cuts to public services, punching down on the poorest, and making life harder for working families instead of addressing the root causes of Brexit Britain’s broken economy.
“The Labour Party has made the wrong political choice, and it is doubling down on failure, by imposing devastating cuts and damaging tax hikes.
“You can’t cut your way to growth – and taking money away from working families and the vulnerable won’t improve living standards.
“Instead of making things even worse, the Labour government should be re-joining the EU single market – the single biggest step to deliver growth, urgently boosting green energy investment in Scotland, and reversing the economic damage caused by its national insurance tax hike.
“This isn’t the change that voters were promised – and it shows why Scotland needs a strong SNP government to protect families and secure a pathway to independence.”
