"IF this is better together then Scotland deserves better than this."
Mhairi Black has done it again.
Speaking in the House of Commons, the SNP MP took the fight to the UK Government, delivering an incredible speech on the Tory Budget.
READ MORE: Mhairi Black: Austerity isn't ending, there's more misery to come
Theresa May's MPs couldn't even bring themselves to make eye contact.
Black meticulously explains the truth lurking behind Tory claims on their approach to Universal Credit, the living wage and the two-child cap.
And she makes clear the ugly politics lying behind their publicly professed opinions.
If this is better together then Scotland deserves better than this. pic.twitter.com/FE7O9ojF7x
— Mhairi Black MP (@MhairiBlack) November 1, 2018
Black goes on to respond to the frequent calls for the Scottish Parliament to use its "shiny new powers" to fix horrific Tory policies.
The full video is well worth a watch, but we had to transcribe her fantastic summing up too.
Black says: "Take Universal Credit for an example. The Scottish Government actually listened to the experts who said fortnightly payments would be much more flexible for claimants. We used the little influence we have to at least try to make this system slightly better for people.
"Actually, few people are aware that the Scottish Government has to pay Westminster for the luxury of trying to protect people from the very worst of these policies.
"So I’m afraid I will take no lectures from the Conservative Party or from the Labour Party who fought tooth and nail to make sure that Scotland did not get the powers required to fix these problems.
"We were told that employment laws and pensions were too important to be devolved, that we were better together, so don’t dare turn around and say that Scottish people should fork out more money to plug holes in policies that they didn’t vote for in the first place
"Let’s be clear. This budget delivers austerity and simply gives it a different time. If this is better together, then the Scotland I want to live in is and deserves better than this."
The First Minister was impressed too.
Take a few minutes, if you can, to watch @MhairiBlack tell the Tories a few home truths about their budget. https://t.co/bDR3ZeiTfu
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) November 1, 2018
This is what standing up for Scotland's interests at Westminster looks like.
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