Ahead of the Queen\u2019s Speech, the SNP has made clear that it will fight the Tories\u2019 plans for \u00a312bn in welfare cuts \u2018every step of the way\u2019 \u2013 and that promoting an alternative to continued cuts will be the party\u2019s key priority at Westminster.<\/p>\n
The Tory\u2019s 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 \u2013 higher than the EU average of 25 per cent.<\/p>\n
During the General Election campaign, the SNP promoted an end to austerity with modest increases in public spending \u2013 and SNP MPs will use the party\u2019s unprecedented mandate to put ending cuts at the heart of Westminster\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n
Commenting, SNP Westminster Social Justice spokesperson Dr Eilidh Whiteford said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are already well aware of what to expect from the Tory government in this Queen\u2019s speech, with the continuation of the relentless assault on the poor and a further \u00a312bn in cuts to social security \u2013 and the SNP will lead the fight against these cuts every step of the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith 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 \u2013 and people in Scotland can be assured that we will fight George Osborne and David Cameron\u2019s plans to impose more cuts on disadvantaged people at every turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe UK Government\u2019s continued commitment to the savage welfare cuts that are inflicting such hardship on so many people underlines why they can\u2019t be allowed to take decisions on social security on Scotland\u2019s behalf any more. The Scottish Parliament needs full powers over employment and social security to allow us to support and empower people \u2013 and SNP MPs will fight to have these powers delivered to Scotland.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 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 \u2013 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahead of the Queen\u2019s Speech, the SNP has made clear that it will fight the Tories\u2019 plans for \u00a312bn in welfare cuts \u2018every step of the way\u2019 \u2013 and that promoting an alternative to continued cuts will be the party\u2019s key priority at Westminster. The Tory\u2019s 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 \u2013 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 publicRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[76,88,91,90,89,66],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":714,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions\/714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}