The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
SNP finance chief calls for long-term remedies to cost-of-living crisis
Scotland’s Finance Secretary has “cautiously welcomed” the chancellor’s £15 billion support package to ease the cost-of-living crisis, but warned a longterm solution is still needed.
Rishi Sunak announced that millions of households would receive a £400 energy bill discount – doubling the previous pledge and dropping the requirement for the money to be repaid – as well as a £5bn windfall tax to be levied on oil and gas giants.
In a statement yesterday, Kate Forbes said that households would be “relieved” at the support, which also includes a oneoff £650 payment for eight million of the poorest families, a £300 winter payment for pensioners and £150 for people in receipt of disability benefits.
“Many households will be relieved to see the support belatedly announced today, but we still need a long-term solution to the cost-ofliving crisis and reassurance that the UK Government is going to tackle long-term inequalities rather than provide one-off bursts of crisis support,” she said.
Ms Forbes added: “Rather than listen to our plea for a comprehensive funding package that fully addresses the unprecedented rise in the cost of living and uses the full £30bn of fiscal headroom, this piecemeal approach makes it highly likely that more support will be needed later when energy prices rise significantly in the autumn.
“There is also a severe lack of support for businesses – many of them are still struggling to recover from the pandemic and now face crippling increases in energy costs and the damaging impacts of Brexit on supply chains and the labour market.”
Ms Forbes said the oil and gas levy was “a start” but meant that Scottish industry would be “carrying the weight of UK-wide interventions”.
Meanwhile, Deirdre Michie, the chief executive of oil and gas body Offshore Energies UK, hit out at the windfall tax.
“This is a disappointing and worrying development for industry, the shockwaves of which will be felt in offshore energy jobs and communities, and by consumers, for years to come,” she said. Ryan Crighton, the policy director at Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said the tax would “deter investment” in the North Sea.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “We understand that all households in Scotland will be concerned about the rise in energy costs this autumn, so every household is set to get £400 off their energy bills from October, with no repayments necessary.”