Hunt’s budget farce betrayed Scotland
Last week saw the Chancellor deliver the UK Government’s spring budget – and what a farce it is.
Unfortunately, this is not surprising, and I can only describe the Chancellor’s plans as a total betrayal of public services and the Scottish people.
The spring budget has resolutely failed to deliver the funding Scotland needs for public services, infrastructure and cost-of-living measures, and will provide less in Barnett consequentials from health than in-year health consequentials of 2023-24.
This is frankly shameful when we are already suffering a costof-living crisis and peoples’ lives have been impacted by needless austerity for too long.
Despite being let down by the
UK Government, I had held out some hope that the Chancellor would have eased pressures on services – not least by providing more funding for capital.
This would have helped support our NHS and the delivery of more affordable housing, but it would also have created jobs and economic growth, as well as helping secure a just transition to net zero.
Instead, Jeremy Hunt’s statement provides not a single penny more for capital funding and even before the spring budget was announced, the Institute for Government described its spending plans as a ‘fantasy’ with absolutely no detail on where cuts will fall.
As usual, the Tories will do all they can to secure votes in the upcoming General Election and that will mean they’ll scramble to make harmful cuts in a bid to cut taxes and once again protect their own and the richest in society.
What is awful is it will once again be working people, vulnerable families and vital public services that’ll pay the price of the Tories’ electioneering.
The Labour party are no better and it is clear they too are employing the same short-sighted election tactics by abandoning the foundations of their party policies in a jump to the right in a cynical attempt to bring the wealthiest and most right-wing voters on side.
All of this is at the expense of people living and working right here in our town who are simply trying to do their best while those down in Westminster – who are so out of touch with what our communities need – squander our money and leave us facing another decade of austerity unless something changes.
Unlike Keir Starmer, the SNP urged the Chancellor to deliver more money for the NHS, public services and capital investment and actually prioritise economic growth.
This, as usual, was ignored and we have been left with a budget that does not meet any of our needs.
What is becoming blatantly clear is that the next General Election will be a choice between the pro-growth SNP and the procuts Tories and Labour party.
However, unlike Rishi Sunak and Starmer, the SNP will always stand up for Scotland’s values, champion what our people need, and give the choice of a better future with independence.