DEREK Mackay will today accuse the Tories of inflicting a budget “triple whammy” on Scotland as he demands the Chancellor stands up to the right-wingers in his Cabinet and unlock investment in public sector pay and services.
The Scottish Finance Secretary will cite three key examples of how funding for public services in Scotland is being squeeze by the UK Government’s actions.
He will tell delegates at the SNP’s annual conference in Glasgow that the Tories austerity agenda is responsible for a 9.2 per cent real-terms cut to Scotland’s budget over the current decade and has forced the Scottish Government to pay for increasing costs to mitigate some of the most controversial UK Government welfare reforms, such as the so-called bedroom tax.
He will also note how decisions such as making Police Scotland pay VAT are “completely unjustifiably” withholding tens of millions of pounds from Scotland’s budget.
With the UK Budget due on November 22, Mackay will demand that Philip Hammond ignore the hard right members of his Cabinet and “do the right thing” for public sector pay and for public services.
Mackay is due to say: “Over ten years we have used the powers of the parliament to chart a different, more progressive course. But we are doing this in the face of unprecedented Tory austerity, being forced to pay ever-increasing amounts on mitigating cruel Tory policies, and in the face of completely unjustifiable Tory actions such as forcing Police Scotland to pay tens of millions of pounds in VAT,”
“When the Tories’ neck is on the line, they have no hesitation in finding £1 billion of taxpayers’ money for their grubby deal with the DUP, but they inflict a budget triple whammy on Scotland which is putting ever more pressure on our public services.”
He will add: “The Tory Cabinet is in absolute chaos, but the Chancellor must focus on his day job – he must ignore the austerity-obsessed right-wingers in his cabinet and do the right thing for public services by unlocking investment.”
Mackay will tell delegates the SNP Government will lift the public sector pay cap “come what may” – unlike the UK Government and Labour-run Welsh assembly but will warn the Scottish Government can only go so far unless the Chancellor lifts the cap across the UK.
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