New Tory Poll Tax will penalise millions of Scottish families.
The SNP has said “Scotland is being shafted” by Tory plans to impose a National Insurance hike on millions of Scottish families to fix Westminster’s social care crisis in England.
In a letter to Boris Johnson ahead of his parliamentary statement today, Ian Blackford MP (pictured), Alison Thewliss MP and David Linden MP warned the Prime Minister against breaking the Tory manifesto pledge to keep National Insurance at current levels – arguing that it would be the equivalent of imposing a new Tory poll tax on Scotland that would penalise Scottish families by landing them with the bill to fix a crisis in England.
The SNP Westminster Leader, SNP Shadow Chancellor and SNP Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary also raised the wider unfair and regressive nature of the Tory National Insurance increase, which would add to the intergenerational unfairness faced by young people and the pain faced by low incomes families, alongside Tory cuts to Universal credit and the premature termination of the furlough scheme.
Commenting, SNP Westminster Leader Ian Blackford MP said:
“Boris Johnson must ditch his damaging Tory tax hike, which would unfairly penalise Scottish families by forcing them to pay the bill for the Westminster social care crisis in England.
“Yet again, Scotland is being shafted with a new Tory poll tax being imposed against our will.
“Scottish families are already being hit hard by the £1040 Tory cuts to Universal Credit and the long-term economic damage of Brexit – they must not be forced to pay hundreds of pounds more each year for Tory failure.
“The Tories came to regret imposing the poll tax.
“If Boris Johnson breaks yet another manifesto pledge, the Tories will descend even further into irrelevance in Scotland.”
SNP Shadow Chancellor Alison Thewliss MP added:
“Scottish families have already been hammered by a decade of Tory austerity cuts, and the UK now has the worst levels of poverty in north west Europe.
“If Boris Johnson goes ahead with this Tory tax hike, it will cement inequality and push families even further into hardship and crisis.
“It’s increasingly clear there is no chance of a fair covid recovery at Westminster.
“The only way to keep Scotland safe from Tory cuts and tax hikes is to become an independent country, with the full powers needed to build a strong, fair and equal recovery.”
