AMIDST all the clamour and hype of recent days at Westminster, we heard the Scottish Government at Holyrood getting on with the day job and presenting their Programme for Government.
This Programme for Government needed to recognise the critical economic situation thousands find themselves in, through no fault of their own. Families are living in fear: fear of what lies ahead, fear of can I keep the roof over my head, can I heat the house, can I afford to eat? Living daily with such insecurity simply must be addressed by government.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon announces rent freeze – how will it work and will it affect me?
So it was very welcome to hear included in the Programme for Government an immediate freeze on rents announced by the First Minister. This announcement includes a halt to any evictions till March 2023. Other announcements included an extension of free school meals to P6 and P7, and from November 2022 a 25% increase to the Scottish Child Payment to £25/week assisting more than 400,000 children and families.
More was announced which will positively impact on households: Carer’s Allowance Supplement increase, Council Tax reduction scheme and the doubling of the Fuel & Security Fund to £20 million. The cost-of-living crisis calls for extreme measures, it calls for government to take the lead, to act with urgency, so I was encouraged to hear the First Minister announce a “Budget Review Statement” demonstrating the urgency of the situation. Can we expect the new government at Westminster to do likewise and act with urgency?
Catriona C Clark
Falkirk
SO Douglas Ross – the Tory “leader” in Scotland (even when hiding from difficult questions) – demands that the SNP does something about the Tory-created cost-of-living crisis. His solution is to stop spending £20 million on an independence referendum and use that money instead.
Of course, he never mentioned the almost £70m the Scottish Government spends to offset the Tory Bedroom Tax or the £84m it’s spent so far on the Scottish Child Payment – all of which helps offset the inhuman and downright cruel Tory “welfare” policies.
Every year the Scottish Government pays out around £600m offsetting Tory cuts on the most vulnerable in our society, but no mention of this from the charlatan MP/MSP and football referee. He doesn’t want to draw attention to the cruel policies the Tories impose on the people of Scotland and would rather the £20m for the indyref is spent elsewhere.
READ MORE: John Swinney warns of budget threat in clashes with Douglas Ross
Sorry, Douglas, but that money is essential – it is the only thing giving the majority of Scots voters any hope for the future. We’ve just had another lightweight and useless Tory Prime Minister appointed – and straight away she’s looking at lining the pockets of those who put her in place.
More people will die under Tory policies – we need the hope of independence, when all the taxes raised in Scotland stay in Scotland, not a small share handed back via the crooked Barnett Formula, and where we don’t need to spend £600m to offset cruel Tory policies.
Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley
THE day kicks off at silly hour in Downing Street and most of day later the scrum is still in waiting on the arrival of a new Prime minister.
What a farce, money’s tight, and the weather’s less than pleasant.
The Queen’s on hols and two planes fly 1000 miles to maintain a pathetic tradition, except this is a break with tradition as the monarch is usually round the corner for such occasions and would normally sign one out and sign the next in.
Don’t let technology with text or email impinge on good old British tradition!
READ MORE: Liz Truss comes under fire for refusing to extend windfall tax at first PMQs
We had Johnson in the morning boasting his efforts with Ukraine against Putin, boasting over the tackling of Covid and a bellowing boast of the lowest unemployment this side of a long time ago – with no mention of Brexit and the drain of employees in health, transport, tourism, hospitality and agriculture and the impact on the cost of food.
In the evening Truss returns from her flying visit to Scotland and takes to the podium – again a swipe at Putin, gloating on performance on Covid but no mention of Brexit.
It has taken them 12 years, six since Brexit, to wreck the economy and stuff the overseas accounts of their billionaire chums, and the new PM claims to have all the answers and determination to put the UK economy on track.
I don’t believe for a minute she has or will do, and October 19 next year can’t come soon enough, offering the sole opportunity for our small nation to lead the way out of the bourach that the UK has become.
Tom Gray
Braco
WITH the appointment of Truss I cannot but help think of the good, miserable Scots saying: “things arnae sae bad, they cannae get worse!” Ah well, at least she can do us the favour and move more folk to indy!
Chris Ferguson
Edinburgh
JAW-DROPPING hypocrisy from Ian Blackford in wishing Johnson "All the best for the future." When I think of the things he’s said about him and the fact that this is a lying, cheating, thieving, delusional psychopath – how Blackford can say this beggars belief. This is the Blackford who suggested Margaret Ferrier be deprived of her pension, but wishes Johnson all the best for the future. What the hell is happening to the upper echelons of the party I’ve been a member of for more than 50 years?
Barry Stewart
Blantyre
LUKE Graham says Scots having free university encourages them to remain and not expand their cultural and educational horizons. That being the case, why did the Tories end Erasmus?
M Ross
Aviemore
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