Scots and Welsh leaders hit out at ‘grubby’deal
SCOTTISH and Welsh leaders have reacted furiously to a deal struck between the UK Government and the Democratic Unionist Party.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “Any sense of fairness sacrificed on the altar of grubby DUP deal to let PM cling to power, & Scots Tories influence in No10 shown to be zero”.
While Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: “If the price of propping up this miserable Tory government is hundreds of millions of pounds for Northern Ireland, it is vital that all nations and regions of the UK also get extra funding to end austerity.
“If Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has any influence in Downing Street at all, she will be demanding extra cash to reverse the spending cuts her government has inflicted on Scotland – aided and abetted by the SNP, which has simply turned Holyrood into a conveyor belt for Tory cuts.”
In response, Ms Davidson said: “The Barnett formula ensures that if funding for public services goes up in England, it does across the devolved nations, if they are responsible for delivering these services. That system remains in place.
“But the UK Government has always been able to spend outside Barnett – like the city deals, which invested £500million directly in Glasgow, £125m in Aberdeen and £53m in Inverness.
“Or like the £5m for the V&A Dundee, the £5m for the Glasgow School of Art or £5m on regenerating Helensburgh’s waterfront.
“With its distinct politics, Northern Ireland has received this sort of special funding package before – the last one in 2015.
“It’s absurd for the SNP to criticise UK Government spending on top of Barnett in Northern Ireland when the exact same thing happens in Scotland.”
Meanwhile, Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones described the agreement – which includes £1billion in new funding for Northern Ireland – as “unacceptable” and a “straight bung” to prop up a “faltering” Conservative minority government while SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford MP slammed the deal as “grubby”.
Downing Street has said that as the allocation is being made as part of the block grant to Northern Ireland, there will be no knock-on funding boost for other parts of the UK through the Barnett formula, the mechanism used to distribute Treasury funds to the devolved nations.