“UK budget leaves the Highlands and Islands short-changed and families worse-off”, says MSP

SNP MSP Emma Roddick today slammed the UK Government budget, criticising it as “an act of class warfare on the side of the rich.”

The budget, described by the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies as “actually awful” for living standards, was panned by the Highlands and Islands MSP, citing its failures to tackle the cost of living crisis, the Brexit crisis and the climate crisis whilst the Tory Government prioritise cuts to the cost of champagne and giving tax breaks to bankers.

Commenting, the Highlands and Islands MSP said:

“What the Tory UK Government has outlined today is not a budget for recovery, but an act of class warfare on the side of the rich.

“The Chancellor of the Exchequer insists the Tories’ ‘plan is working’, but what too many of my constituents across the Highlands and Islands see every day is the cold harsh reality of living in a United Kingdom where they are hit by a triple whammy of an energy crisis, a shortage of workers and an inflation crisis. Is this the ‘better together’ we were promised in 2014?

“The UK Government budget is leaving families in the Highlands and Islands hundreds of pounds worse off next year due to Tory cuts and the soaring cost of pursuing a reckless hard Brexit.

“It is patently obvious that to protect the poorest and most vulnerable in our society, and to pursue a real recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Scotland must be an independent country, equipped with all the powers that right now are being mismanaged for us by a callous Tory UK Government.”