The SNP has challenged the Chancellor to “scrap her devastating plans to impose billions of pounds worth of Labour Party austerity cuts to families and public services” ahead of the emergency budget today.
Dave Doogan MP warned “families must not be forced to pay the price for the Labour Party’s failure on the economy – and any return to austerity cuts would blow apart the promises made to voters at the election”.
The SNP Economy spokesperson said the Chancellor was “making the wrong political choices by cutting public services, and slashing support for families, instead of ditching her damaging Tory spending rules and tackling the root causes of Brexit Britain’s broken economy”.
During the election, the Labour Party repeatedly denied warnings from the SNP that they would impose billions of pounds worth of cuts as a result of their conservative fiscal rules.
In response to warnings from Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney during the BBC Scotland Leaders’ debate, Scottish Labour Party leader Anas Sarwar infamously pledged “Read my lips: No austerity under Labour”.
Yet, since the election it has cut the winter fuel payment, announced £5billion of cuts to disabled people, blocked compensation for WASPI women, pushed children into poverty with welfare cuts, and it is reportedly planning further cuts of up to 11% for public services at the spending review.
Earlier this week, a UK government source told the Guardian:
“I don’t know how much longer we can go on pretending this is not austerity, when the reality is we’re making cuts to vital public services such as police and prisons.”
Meanwhile, the IFS said the Labour government’s plans would “represent the steepest cuts since 2019” and warned “It is difficult to see how this could be delivered without some adverse impacts on public services and those who rely on them.”
Rebel Labour MPs have also spoken out against the cuts.
Brian Leishman MP warned the Labour government is in a “race to the bottom of relentless cuts and austerity”, Monica Lennon MSP warned it “is going in the wrong direction”, and Scottish Labour Party Public Health spokesperson Carol Mochan MSP warned “austerity has never been a sustainable path to growth, we cannot balance the books on the backs of people who require benefits just to have a passable standard of living.”
Meanwhile, former Labour MSP Neil Findlay has quit the party over the cuts, warning “I can no longer remain a member of a party that lied to the British people at the last election and which regularly betrays the people who voted for it.”
In stark contrast, the German government has taken a different path.
Last week, Germany amended their constitutionally-enshrined fiscal rules to enable a massive boost to defence spending, while also creating a €500 billion fund to finance infrastructure projects.
This followed the EU easing its fiscal rules to allow member states to increase defence spending without requiring massive cuts.
Commenting, SNP Economy spokesperson Dave Doogan MP said:
“The Chancellor must scrap her devastating plans to impose billions of pounds worth of Labour Party austerity cuts to families and public services before it is too late.
“Families must not be forced to pay the price for the Labour Party’s failure on the economy – and any return to austerity cuts would blow apart the promises made to voters at the election.
“The Labour Party promised there would be no cuts and that economic growth and living standards would improve – but it has broken all three of those promises.
“On Keir Starmer’s watch, the UK economy is tanking, economic growth has been slashed in half, unemployment is rising and the cost of living is soaring.
“UK poverty and inequality are at a record high – and the evidence shows all families will be worse off by 2030 under this Labour government.
“That is an appalling record of failure.
“The Chancellor is making the wrong political choices by cutting public services, and slashing support for families, instead of ditching her damaging Tory spending rules and tackling the root causes of Brexit Britain’s broken economy, including the failure to rejoin the EU single market.
“The world has changed but the Chancellor hasn’t.
“Her broken Tory fiscal rules are a failed relic of the past, her National Insurance tax hike is destroying jobs and growth, and her Brexit policies are wiping billions of pounds from public finances every year.
“People in Scotland will never forgive the Labour Party if it punches down on the poor, and imposes a new era of cuts, instead of delivering the investment the economy needs.”
