CUTS ARE A POLITICAL CHOICE THAT THREATEN PUBLIC SERVICES IN SCOTLAND
SNP MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Natalie Don, has called out the Labour Party on misleading the public and their broken promises to voters – after the Chancellor announced immediate cuts to public services, infrastructure and social security worth billions of pounds, despite promising no cuts during the election.
Ms Don has warned that the cuts are "a political choice that will damage public services and economic growth".
The announcement that the Labour government will slash spending on hospitals, road and rail projects, the Winter Fuel Allowance and plans to make further cuts at the UK budget – comes despite Rachel Reeves promising during the election: “I don’t want to make any cuts to public spending... There’s not going to be a return to austerity under a Labour government" and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar claiming: “I don’t accept there will be spending cuts" and "read my lips: no austerity under a Labour government".
Throughout the election, the SNP repeatedly warned that the Labour Party’s decision to copy damaging Tory spending plans and fiscal rules would mean around £18billion of cuts or tax rises.
Senior Labour figures including Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, Ian Murray and Anas Sarwar all denied this.
LABOUR HAS "BROKEN ITS PROMISE TO VOTERS" BY IMPOSING CUTS
These cuts are a political choice that will damage public services and economic growth.
Commenting, Natalie Don MSP said:
"Throughout the election, the SNP repeatedly warned the Labour Party's damaging decision to copy Tory fiscal rules and spending plans would mean around £18billion of cuts or tax rises. Labour flatly denied this and promised there would be no cuts – but now they have been forced to admit it was true and the cuts will be even deeper than expected.
"The Labour Party misled the public and has broken its promise to voters. The cuts announced today are a political choice that will damage public services and economic growth – and, more worryingly, it's now clear the Labour government will continue to cut and squeeze the budgets of public services, at a time when they desperately need investment.
"Renfrewshire and Scotland as a whole has suffered the consequences of fourteen years of Westminster cuts - and now Labour is piling more cuts on top and extending austerity.
“Public services have been starved of cash and can't take any more. People in Renfrewshire voted for “change” – they didn't vote for a Labour government to cut hospitals, roads and railways, they didn't vote to push children into poverty – and they didn't vote for another decade of Westminster austerity.
"You can't improve public services by cutting them – and you can't grow the economy, or build a country fit for the future, by taking investment away from infrastructure projects.
"The SNP will continue do everything it can to stand up for Scotland and hold the Labour government to account for the damage it will do to Scotland's public services by cutting off investment."