A litany of figures amounting to over £10 billion expose how Tory Westminster governments have form in short-changing Scotland with statistics showing it is still going on with outstanding debts to be paid and Scotland also having to pay for being short-changed by the Tories’ Brexit obsession.
Amongst the list of items there is:
£421 million in underfunding City Deals
£1.3 billion in promised but undelivered funding from the UK leaving the EU
£290 million in Barnett consequentials for the Council Tax rebate
£125 million in VAT paid by Scottish police & fire services
£103.4 million in health funding shortfalls
£3.04 billion as Scotland’s share of the Brexit ‘divorce’ bill
£1.4 billion to be spent in mitigating benefits cuts by the Westminster government
£1 billion as the promised Tory figure for the cost of a carbon capture facility which had previously been confirmed for location in Scotland
£2.6 billion lost over the next five years through the scrapping of their manifesto promise to maintain the triple lock pension
In total £10.3 billion or over £2,000 per person in Scotland or nearly £4,400 per household.
Commenting SNP MSP Gillian Martin said:
“Whether it’s Brexit present, Brexit future, City Deals, welfare, police, fire services, pensions or the NHS, there is one constant – the Tories will short change Scotland.
“It’s the same lesson again and again: Westminster control means cuts not cash.
“One of the latest has been their supposed ‘Levelling Up’ funding.
“Boris Johnson and Michael Gove led a Brexit campaign that promised £1.5 billion a year for Scottish devolved services when the UK left the EU. Instead all we have heard announced is £172 million.
“To put that in context, for every £1 they promised they’ve given 11 pence – Scotland has been short-changed by 89%.
“It’s a history of behaviour that goes back decades as secret 30-year papers revealed in 2016 that the then Tory government has cut state aid funding in Scotland to help their seats in the south of England.
“Six City Deals across Scotland still remain short-changed by the Westminster government to the tune of £421 million. That’s £439 per household in those areas.
“And to top that all of Scotland is expected to pay for the ‘privilege’ of leaving the EU when it voted against leaving the EU and was promised in 2014 that a ‘No’ vote would guarantee Scotland remained in the EU.
“If that isn’t being short-changed what is?
“With the Tory made cost of living crisis these figures make it increasingly clear that people in Scotland simply cannot afford Westminster control.
“The challenge for the Tories in Scotland is to support Scotland instead of excusing the behaviour of a Tory Westminster government that has imposed unwanted policies on Scotland and fallen short in funding local communities.
“In a few short weeks people in every community across Scotland can vote SNP on May 5 to send Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak a message that they won’t tolerate being short changed by a Tory Westminster government they reject.”
