Vote Yes for ‘austerity plus’, warns Darling
SCOTS families will suffer from ‘austerity plus’ for decades if Alex Salmond succeeds in his bid to end the Union, Alistair Darling claimed yesterday.
In a speech in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, the Better Together chairman branded SNP leaders as ‘the purveyors of threats and doom-laden predictions which owe more to desperation than reality’.
And he insisted cuts worth £1,200 a year for every man, woman and child would have to be imposed on Scotland’s vital public services following a Yes vote.
‘What Alex Salmond is asking Scotland to vote for is “austerity plus” for decades to come,’ said Mr Darling. ‘In seven years as First Min- ister there has been not one policy which redistributes wealth from rich to poor – indeed the opposite is true.
‘But the certainty is that the currency chaos he would inflict would lead to more cuts and greater poverty.’ Mr Darling pointed to figures from the Institute of Fiscal Studies that suggested an independent Scotland could have to find £6 billion of cuts or tax rises to fill its funding black hole, which he said was equivalent to half the current NHS budget and more than Scotland currently spends on schools.