Sour taste of £1billion sweetener
MORE than a fortnight after the election, Theresa May’s grubby deal with the DUP to prop up her minority government has finally been agreed.
The length of time it has taken proves just how little authority the Prime Minister has left following her catastrophic election campaign.
As a result of the deal with the DUP, led by Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland will receive £1billion of extra cash in return for the support of the party’s 10 MPs.
There is now an immediate urgency for the Prime Minister to provide a guarantee that Scotland – and Wales and the regions of England – will receive extra cash 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 have inflicted on Scotland – aided and abetted by the SNP, who have simply turned Holyrood into a conveyer belt for Tory cuts.
By attempting to secure her future by throwing money at one part of the UK, the Prime Minister’s deal risks weakening the bonds that unite the UK – and shows how empty her rhetoric is about the future of the Union.
Only Labour have a plan to invest in our public services, and Jeremy Corbyn’s government-in-waiting in Westminster would provide a multi-billion-pound boost for Scotland’s NHS and schools through the Barnett Formula.
Our UK manifesto was clear – it included an additional £3billion coming to Scotland from UK-wide spending decisions.