The SNP’s comments come as new figures suggest almost half of families in Scotland could be left struggling if plans to cut working tax credits go ahead
The SNP has declared that the first Tory only budget in almost 20 years will amount to a ‘sermon from an austerity cult’.
Following a weekend in which the chancellor outlined a host of areas he intended to cut around welfare and the BBC, the SNP’s deputy leader and treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie has made clear that the SNP plans to use its mandate to fight the government’s plans.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s statement, Hosie declared:
“George Osborne will set out his plans on Wednesday to cut further and deeper than he needs to in the first blue blooded Tory budget for twenty years.
“We know the scale of spending cuts coming our way as the chancellor set them out in his budget in March – and we know that the cuts he is planning significantly exceed what is actually required to meet his own fiscal targets.”
He continued:
“Working to deliver an economy in balance rather than surplus would provide the flexibility to deliver up to £93 billion of cumulative additional investment over the next four years.
“Our concern is that the Chancellor will not use this flexibility wisely and will repeat the mistakes of the last parliament adding to the terrible damage the Tories have inflicted over the last five years.
“This will be a budget less about boosting productivity and growth – more a sermon from an austerity cult – cutting where it is not necessary and weakening further the chance of a sustained recovery.”
Referring to the SNP’s mandate at the UK General Election, Hosie concluded:
‘’The SNP won an unprecedented mandate from the people of Scotland to reject Westminster’s austerity agenda and to get the economic levers the Scottish parliament requires.
“This week will see the SNP continue to reject the unnecessary cuts and austerity so damaging to communities and families across the country.’’
The SNP’s comments come as new figures suggest that almost half of all families in Scotland could be left struggling if plans to cut working tax credits go ahead.
Barnardo’s Scotland has calculated that 49.1 per cent of families in Scotland currently use working tax credits to top up low incomes, which, they note, help them ‘buy essentials such as food and clothing for their family’.
Launching the charity’s new campaign calling on the UK government to keep the ‘lifeline’ benefit, Mark Ballard, Head of Policy for Barnardo’s Scotland said:
“The UK government has promised to improve support for working families so that parents do not have to choose between feeding their families and heating their homes.
“Unfortunately, the reality is increasing numbers of working parents are struggling to stay above the breadline, and any proposed cuts to the benefits they rely on will only make things worse. Low paid parents with dependent children rely on tax credits to make up the difference between what they earn and what they need to get by.”
Ed Jacobs is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter
23 Responses to “SNP attack Tory budget as ‘sermon from an austerity cult’”
Selohesra
The SNP did indeed win an unprecedented mandate in Scotland – however as they received fewer votes than UKIP I don’t think they hold much sway over UK. Perhaps they should consider standing in English constituencies in 2020
Stephen Bee
Rather have SNP attacking The Tories than UKIP (Tories by any other name)
Torybushhug
The lefts state client landscape inculcates this sense of the Gov’t being the provider to the citizens life. The citizen is consigned to the roll of passenger. Go onto moneysavingexpert site and see poster after poster discussing ways of maximising their entailment such that a couple employed making £8k each, end up on a net income of £29600 per year, and many examples of people saying how to get your child defined as having special needs so the parents can get carers allowance and much more besides. Their whole focus is on dependency and entitlement, not planning and betterment through delayed gratification.
What fascinates me is how the Tories are rolling back this dependency and entitlement landscape and cutting taxes, so a whole new society is being conditioned much more to the Protestant self responsibility model.
This is boxing Labour into a corner because in another 5 years people will be much more used to self responsibility and lower taxes. Are Labour going to then be able to argue we need to go back to high taxes and making people into drone state client’s? I don’t think so. People will look back on the squalid mass dependency / feccckless society with horror.
Helen T
But remember the SNP only won 56 seats because of 1st past the post. 50% of Scots did not vote for them and do not agree with their posturing. And Independence for Scotland would harm Scottish families far more (not that I am a fan of the Tories or their policies, but it is only the disingenuous that believe the SNP care about those at the bottom of the heap!
Torybushhug
‘’The SNP won an unprecedented mandate from the people of Scotland to reject Westminster’s austerity agenda”
The Tories have a mandate to eradicate the horrendous mass dependency culcharr. Polls all show welfare reform is very popular indeed. Tories and UKIP got the largest vote share.
+ Poorest paying ever less tax as the threshold goes up
+ Wages rising faster than inflation
+ More jobs created than in the rest of EU put together
There’s more to life than benefits. Under your model mass dependency and !!!!lessness spreads like wildfire. The good people of Britain know this would be a terminal decline.