Nicola Sturgeon moans that extra £320m given to Scotland in Jeremy Hunt’s Budget ‘does not go nearly far enough’… despite funding north of the border already being thousands of pounds higher than England
- Nicola Sturgeon welcomes ‘limited additional funding’ as a result of Budget
- But SNP leader says it ‘does not go nearly far enough’ in cost-of-living crisis
Nicola Sturgeon today moaned that the extra £320million given to Scotland as part of Jeremy Hunt’s Budget ‘does not go nearly far enough’.
The outgoing First Minister welcomed ‘limited additional funding’ given to the Scottish Government through Barnett consequentials from the Chancellor’s spending decisions in England.
But the SNP leader accused Mr Hunt of ‘another missed opportunity’ to help Scots through the cost-of-living crisis.
Ms Sturgeon’s attack on the Chancellor came despite figures showing public spending per person in Scotland is thousands of pounds a year higher than the UK average.
Speaking at her penultimate First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament before she stands down, Ms Sturgeon said: ‘While any limited additional money for the Scottish Government budget is welcome, it does not go nearly far enough.’
Nicola Sturgeon accused Jeremy Hunt of ‘another missed opportunity’ to help Scots through the cost-of-living crisis
The SNP leader’s attack on the Chancellor came despite figures showing public spending per person in Scotland is thousands of pounds a year higher than the UK average
The SNP leader added: ‘We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to deploy its full range of powers to support people, the public sector and businesses through the cost-of-living crisis.
‘The Chancellor’s Budget yesterday was, disappointingly, another missed opportunity to do that.
‘The decisions announced yesterday mean that this Government will continue to have a constrained ability to support vital services and provide fair pay rises.
‘This Government is doing everything it can within its limited powers to ensure people receive the help needed, but the UK Government could have done far more to ease the burden affecting so many.’
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also used FMQs to accuse the Conservative Government at Westminster of doing ‘little to address the cost-of-living crisis across the UK’.
He branded Mr Hunt’s Budget a package ‘that gave tax breaks to the wealthiest and did nothing to help those most in need’.
‘We need a meaningful windfall tax now, to scrap the non-dom status and invest in our communities across the country,’ he added. ‘That’s not possible with the Tory Government.’
Figures released last year, as part of the annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (Gers) report, revealed how public spending per person in Scotland was £1,963 a year higher than the UK average.
This was despite revenue per person in Scotland being £221 lower than the UK average.
Speaking this morning on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Hunt said his Budget would help people with the cost-of-living crisis.
He said: ‘We have a plan that is starting to work, and what is the biggest thing that is worrying people in Scotland at the moment is the rising cost of living, it is the fact that the weekly supermarket shop is becoming more expensive.
‘That is because we have inflation at more than 10 per cent, and the plan we are embarking on will see inflation go down to less than 3 per cent within a year.’
He added there would be cost-of-living support for people across the UK, including extending the energy price guarantee, stopping the rise in fuel duty, one-off payments for people on low incomes, and increasing benefits with inflation.
‘It amounts to over £3,000 of help per household on average across the UK,’ the Chancellor said.
‘It is a huge amount of support to help people through a very, very difficult period and that is what I think we should be doing as a Government.’
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