Labour has told the SNPto ditch its claims of a return to austerity after the UK Government massively increased public spending.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday announced a rise of £70 bn annually – including £3.4bn for the Scottish Government – after she hiked a range of taxes to pay for improvements to public services like the NHS.
But the huge rise was still not enough for several SNP figures who accused the UK Government of continuing an austerity agenda. Nationalist MP Chris Law blasted the Budget as “Austerity 2.0” and claimed “Labour’s Budget is in big trouble for households”.
SNP Finance Secretary Shona Robison yesterday welcomed the extra funding for Scotland as a “step in the right direction” yesterday – but today claimed today “austerity will continue for those impacted by the two-child cap, and also the loss of the winter fuel payment”.
Labour said the claims showed “the SNP is clearly split and in utter disarray.” They added that the Nationalists should “stop making excuses and use this record funding… to actually help people in Scotland.”
Labour MP for Dunfermline and Dollar Graeme Downie said: “The SNP is clearly split and in utter disarray. They know this Labour Budget is delivering a record amount of funding for Scotland, a total of £47.7bn, giving a pay rise to 200,000 Scots and protecting families through measures such as freezing fuel duty.
” I know SNP MPs and MSPs don’t like speaking to each other but given there are only nine of them left, perhaps Chris Law could give his colleagues at Holyrood and tell them to stop making excuses and use this record funding delivered by a UK Labour government to actually help people in Scotland.”
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