Why don’t you spend indy cash on pay rise for workers, Nicola?
Critics challenge SNP to focus on cost of living crisis
NICOLA STURGEON came under fire last night for refusing to redirect taxpayers’ money to help pay the salaries of public sector workers, instead of splurging on a divisive independence campaign.
After strike action saw rubbish pile up in cities across Scotland, the First Minister finally stepped in on Friday to help broker a deal between unions and local councils.
But the SNP-led government must now find £200 million to fund the huge pay increase offered to council staff.
There are concerns the money will have to be diverted from frontline services such as the NHS.
Ms Sturgeon has admitted there will have to be cuts but has been vague over the details.
However, the Scottish Government has ruled out channelling any of the £20 million of taxpayers’ money they are using for a second referendum to help pay the bill.
A spokesman said: ‘The Scottish Government has a mandate to hold a referendum on independence and is committed to doing so within the first half of this parliament.’
Last night, Tory MSP Craig Hoy slammed the failure of the SNP to focus on dealing with the cost of living crisis.
He said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon has conceded her belated efforts to avert strike action will, in her own words, mean “the Scottish Government has to take money from other parts of our budget to fund this”.
‘Rather than abandoning plans for an expensive Supreme Court case on independence or scrapping the £20 million earmarked for an unwanted referendum, the SNP will force through more swingeing cuts to frontline services.
‘Wasting money on dividing Scotland over the constitution when many Scots are struggling as a result of the cost of living crisis is reckless beyond belief.’
As well as ringfencing the referendum cash, the Scottish Government has set aside a budget of more than £9 million to run foreign offices overseas – which critics say are illegal given Scotland voted to remain part of the Union in the 2014 independence referendum.
Ms Sturgeon’s belated intervention in the pay dispute on Friday came after she spent the summer indulging in self-promotion both at home and abroad.
The SNP leader was criticised for heading to Denmark’s capital Copenhagen for a three-day junket to open a Scottish Government Nordic office last month as the bin strike left Edinburgh’s streets covered in mountains of rubbish.
On her return, rather than try to resolve the ongoing dispute, she attended the Edinburgh Book Festival – her fifth appearance at a festival event during a summer plagued by strike action.
Willie Rennie, the economy spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats said: ‘The Scottish Government should be making every penny count to tackle the cost of living crisis.
‘A belated council pay deal is now on the table but it will need to be paid for.
‘Not a single pound more should be spent on trying to break up the UK while people are struggling to pay their energy bills and put food on the table.’