The SNP say the Scottish Tories have hit “a new low” after a Tory MSP told the Scottish Government they should be “grateful” and “thankful” to the DWP, which presided over a decade of cuts and sanctions to people across Scotland.
In the Holyrood chamber Minister for Social Security Ben Macpherson lodged a legislative consent motion relating to the UK Government’s Social Security (Additional Payments) Bill.
However, Tory Social Security spokesperson Jeremy Balfour chose the moment to advise the Scottish Government to be “grateful” to the Tory Westminster government, whose toxic austerity policies helped create the cost of living crisis – which the SNP Scottish Government has spent more than £3billion mitigating.
Commenting, SNP MSP Rona Mackay said:
“Telling the Scottish Government to be grateful for austerity cuts and the misery they have inflicted is a new low even for the Tories.
“The SNP is currently spending £3billion mitigating the cost of living crisis – a crisis that has been created as a result of more than a decade of toxic Tory austerity.
“If the Tories are deluded enough to believe their own excuses then they have lost the plot entirely. It’s clear that Westminster is actively undermining Scotland’s efforts to support people.
“The Tories are making a bad situation immeasurably worse.
“And, as the recently published Scottish Government paper on the new case for indication pointed out in stark detail, the UK is performing appallingly in comparison to our European neighbours.
“Westminster control is holding Scotland back and it is only with the full powers of independence can we create a fairer Scotland that supports those who need it most.”
