Ahead of the Queen’s Speech, the SNP has made clear that it will fight the Tories’ plans for £12bn in welfare cuts ‘every step of the way’ – and that promoting an alternative to continued cuts will be the party’s key priority at Westminster.
The Tory’s commitment to further welfare cuts comes as new statistics published last week show that around a third of the UK population experienced poverty in at least one year between 2010 and 2013 – higher than the EU average of 25 per cent.
During the General Election campaign, the SNP promoted an end to austerity with modest increases in public spending – and SNP MPs will use the party’s unprecedented mandate to put ending cuts at the heart of Westminster’s agenda.
Commenting, SNP Westminster Social Justice spokesperson Dr Eilidh Whiteford said:
“We are already well aware of what to expect from the Tory government in this Queen’s speech, with the continuation of the relentless assault on the poor and a further £12bn in cuts to social security – and the SNP will lead the fight against these cuts every step of the way.
“With Labour all over the place and each of their leadership candidates seemingly getting ready to race even further to the right, the SNP is the only real opposition to unfair Tory cuts in the House of Commons – and people in Scotland can be assured that we will fight George Osborne and David Cameron’s plans to impose more cuts on disadvantaged people at every turn.
“The UK Government’s continued commitment to the savage welfare cuts that are inflicting such hardship on so many people underlines why they can’t be allowed to take decisions on social security on Scotland’s behalf any more. The Scottish Parliament needs full powers over employment and social security to allow us to support and empower people – and SNP MPs will fight to have these powers delivered to Scotland.
“At the General Election, people in Scotland gave the SNP an unprecedented democratic mandate to put an end to the cuts agenda which is hurting people across our communities – and we will use this mandate to work with progressive allies both inside and outside of Westminster to lead the fight against Tory austerity and put forward a better plan to benefit people in Scotland and right across the UK.”
And every penny taken away from the unemployed, sick, disabled and vulnerable, is money removed from the Scottish economy. Sanctions, bedroom tax, and the benefits cap, are all removing huge amounts of money that would otherwise be spent in Scotland and mostly in local economies. I do wonder, then, where does that money go? What do westmonster do with it? They (the elite in Londons palaces, ie, westminster etc) are destroying lives, destroying communities and trying to destroy Scotland, utterly immoral, these people are driven by greed and selfishness, I hope they get their commupence very soon.