Boris Johnson is failing to deliver a fair recovery – with planned Tory cuts threatening to send levels of poverty and inequality “soaring through the roof.”
Ian Blackford MP said it was increasingly clear that the Tory government has no plan for a fair recovery, and intends to “cement poverty and inequality” with another round of austerity cuts.
The SNP Westminster Leader said independence is the only way to keep Scotland safe from Tory cuts, and build a strong, fair and equal recovery of the kind that people in Scotland want.
It comes in a week where an IPPR report revealed the poverty rate among working households in the UK has reached a record high this century – with an increase in relative poverty from 13% of working households in 1996 to 17.4% in March 2020.
The report revealed the situation has steadily deteriorated since the Tories came to power in 2010, with one in six working households now living in poverty.
Separately, in evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee, the Children’s Commissioner for Scotland warned Tory plans to cut Universal Credit by £20 a week in September would be “catastrophic” for many families and would “effectively knock out the benefits that the Scottish Child Payment brings into families.”
Commenting, SNP Westminster Leader Ian Blackford MP said:
“It’s clear that Boris Johnson has absolutely no intention of building a fair recovery from Covid – and is instead plotting a return to Tory austerity cuts that will cement poverty and inequality.
“The only way to keep Scotland safe from Tory cuts is to become an independent country – with the full powers to build the strong, fair and equal recovery that people in Scotland want to see.
“Tory plans to slash universal credit, impose a public sector pay freeze, and cut public spending amount to austerity 2.0 and could send levels of poverty and inequality soaring through the roof.
“Coronavirus has exposed the deep inequalities under the broken Westminster system – with in work poverty now at the highest levels this century.
“The Tories are failing to deliver a fair recovery – and are undermining the progress being made in Scotland, by cancelling out the benefits of the Scottish Child Payment, with cuts to household incomes.
“Scotland will remain vulnerable for as long as we are tied to Westminster.
“It is essential that, once this crisis has passed, people in Scotland have the right to choose independence so we can secure our recovery and build a fairer society.”
