FRESH polls have shown the majority of Scots do not think Rishi Sunak did enough to tackle the cost-of-living crisis in his Spring Statement.
A snap poll by YouGov which quizzed more than 2,500 people found 75 per cent of Scots do not think the Chancellor announced policies which will help people struggling the most with rising prices.
Another questionnaire found 69 per cent of Scots felt the policies announced wouldn’t benefit them very much or at all.
As part of his mini-budget in the House of Commons, Sunak announced he would cut fuel duty by 5p and raised the threshold at which workers start paying National Insurance from £9600 to £12,570.
Almost three-quarters of Scots welcomed the decrease in fuel duty, according to a third poll.
But the SNP insists Sunak has “abandoned families”.
SNP Fair Work and Employment spokesperson, Chris Stephens, said: "Rishi Sunak's spring budget was a total flop.
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“It failed to get a grip on the Tory cost-of-living crisis and proved, yet again, that the Tory government is completely out of touch.
"Instead of reversing the Tory cuts and tax hikes that have hammered household incomes, the Chancellor has abandoned families to the biggest drop in living standards in decades.
"The majority of families will be thousands of pounds worse off as a result of damaging Tory policies. By raising National Insurance tax, cutting Universal Credit by £1040, and imposing a real-terms cut to pensions and benefits, the Chancellor has made the harmful and unnecessary political choice to push people further into hardship and poverty.”
New analysis from the Resolution Foundation has found absolute poverty in the UK is expected to rise by 1.3 million people in 2022/23.
The analysis shows typical working-age household incomes could fall by 4% in real-terms from April, a loss of £1,100, with the incomes of the poorest quarter of households set to fall by 6%.
Stephens added: "Under the Tories, the UK already has the worst poverty and inequality in north west Europe, and the highest in-work poverty this century. Mr Sunak has now made this problem even worse.
"While the SNP government is leading the way by doubling the Scottish Child Payment and uprating Scottish benefits by 6% - the Chancellor is cancelling out progress with Tory cuts.
"This pitiful budget underlines why Scotland needs to become an independent country, so we can keep Scotland safe from Tory cuts and deliver meaningful help with the full powers that Rishi Sunak has failed to use."
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