Stephen flynn Independence is only way to free ourselves
Leader of The snp in The house of Commons
They’ve been in chaos mode, again, so don’t worry if you aren’t totally aware of the latest damage proposed by the recent Tory budget.
The top line is it has baked in £18billion of cuts to public services. At the same time the richest in society have been given a tax break. Shock. Talking of shocks, that’s the shocking price Scotland will pay for Westminster control, after the Tories passed another painful austerity budget.
Faced with the chance to invest in our NHS and improve frontline services, the Tories have chosen to cut them to the bone.
You won’t be surprised to hear the SNP voted against this savage budget at every opportunity but shamefully Sir Keir Starmer ordered Labour MPs to abstain.
It’s clear whoever is the next PM, Westminster is intent on imposing another decade of cuts – and it will be families in Scotland who lose out. The Institute for Fiscal Studies slammed the Tories and Labour for a “conspiracy of silence” over where their axe will fall. I call it a conspiracy of cowardice. The Tories and Labour are all too afraid to be honest with the public about their plans. In a Sky News interview, Starmer
refused to answer when
It’s looming ever closer. A footballing spectre I really don’t need. A play-off between my team Dundee United and Aberdeen, where I live. United and Raith seem determined not to win the Championship and whoever finishes second could face a nightmare trip to Dingwall or Pittodrie. Both County’s Roy MacGregor and Aberdeen’s Dave Cormack are the sort of chairmen most fans want. Results haven’t matched their investments and enthusiasm, and the Dons in particular had been on a terrible run. If the play-off I fear becomes reality, it’s safe to say I’ll be in hiding until it’s over.
Sophie Ridge asked him: “I want you to be honest with people. Are you going to become the austerity prime minister?”
Yet, while a left-wing Labour MP had the guts to warn Starmer his party “will end up being the midwives of austerity 2.0, which will be a disaster for the country”, the Labour Party branch office in Scotland has been silent – not a peep from Anas Sarwar.
That’s how the broken Westminster system works. When the cuts conveyor belt hits Scotland and the budget here is slashed, Sarwar is the first to complain about difficult choices that emerge. But when he could do something about it – by speaking out against his Westminster bosses and stopping the cuts at source – he goes into hiding.
That’s the choice voters here face. Do you want a spineless bunch of Labour MPs, too weak to stand up for Scotland? Apologists for a broken Westminster system, too timid to demand better? Scottish Labour MPs tangled up in word soup issuing the latest lines from Labour
HQ about why Scotland must pay the price for Brexit. Or do you want a strong team of SNP MPs with a clear set of values and Scotland’s interests at heart? The Tories have trashed the UK economy and will be kicked out not a moment too soon – but the UK needs a radical change of policy not just personnel. By backing the Tory budget, copying Tory financial rules, and supporting some of the most heinous Tory policies, Starmer has shown he’s incapable of delivering the change people in Scotland want and deserve. The change we badly need will only come with independence. Independence is the only way for Scotland to free itself from Westminster control.
It’s the only way to get rid of unelected Tory governments for good. It’s the only way to ensure Scotland’s values and interests are always at the heart of decision-making.
Until Scotland becomes independent, the SNP will be Scotland’s voice at Westminster – and the consensus between Starmer and the Tories shows why Scotland needs a strong SNP voice.