The SNP has said “the Chancellor must abandon her damaging plans to impose billions of pounds of austerity cuts to public services and household incomes – and, instead, use the UK budget today to deliver the meaningful investment needed to boost the NHS, put money back into people’s pockets, and deliver strong economic growth after years of Westminster cuts and decline” – ahead of the UK budget today.
Stephen Flynn MP said “voters in Scotland feel cheated and betrayed by a Labour Party that promised change – only to break its word, and impose deeper austerity cuts than the Tories, as soon as they got into power” and warned the Chancellor “must reverse these Labour Party cuts and deliver the step change that voters were promised”.
The SNP Westminster Leader has challenged the Labour government to deliver a five point package of investment, including:
- At least £16 billion a year extra for the NHS – and real-terms increases for all public services after years of Westminster austerity and underfunding.
- Reversing the cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment – and lowering bills by freezing fuel duty, introducing a statutory social tariff, and cutting the cost of household energy bills by £300 a year, as the Labour Party promised during the election.
- Scrapping the two child benefit cap – abolishing the bedroom tax, and matching the Scottish Child Payment UK-wide by raising the child element of Universal Credit by £26.70 per child per week to lift more than a million children out of poverty.
- Reversing the £800million cut to Scotland’s capital budget – and delivering an additional real-terms significant boost to capital funding to enable the Scottish Government to invest in affordable housing, hospitals, schools, transport and energy.
- Rejoining the EU single market – to boost economic growth and public finances.
Commenting, SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn MP said:
“The Chancellor must abandon her damaging plans to impose billions of pounds of austerity cuts to public services and household incomes – and, instead, use the UK budget today to deliver the meaningful investment needed to boost the NHS, put money back into people’s pockets, and deliver strong economic growth after years of Westminster cuts and decline.
“Voters in Scotland feel cheated and betrayed by a Labour Party that promised change – only to break its word, and impose deeper austerity cuts than the Tories, as soon as they got into power.
“Worse still, they have imposed cuts on the most vulnerable while raking in thousands of pounds of designer clothes, holidays and freebies for themselves.
“If Rachel Reeves wants to repair the damage done, she must reverse these Labour Party cuts and deliver the step change that voters were promised.
“That means real investment in our public services, including at least an additional £16billion a year for the NHS, which have been chronically underfunded by Westminster.
“It means reversing the cuts to the winter fuel payment and supporting household incomes by freezing fuel duty and cutting energy bills by £300, as voters were promised during the election.
“It means taking action to lift a million children out of poverty by scrapping the two child benefit cap, abolishing the bedroom tax and matching the SNP’s Scottish Child Payment UK-wide by raising the child element of Universal Credit by £26.70 per child per week.
“And, it means, reversing the £800million cut to the Scottish Government’s capital budget – and delivering an additional significant real-terms boost to enable Scotland to build more affordable housing, improve schools and hospitals, and deliver vital transport and energy infrastructure.
“The Labour government must also be honest with voters about the damage its own policies are doing to the economy and public finances.
“It’s not good enough to just blame the Tories, when the Labour Party is continuing some of their worst policies, including Brexit, which is costing the public purse billions of pounds every year.
“The Chancellor must finally admit the only route to strong economic growth is in the single market – and make the case for rejoining the EU.
“Voters in Scotland were promised an end to austerity cuts and meaningful change.
“The Labour government must now deliver – or they will never be forgiven in Scotland.”
