Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has lambasted the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Spring Statement, noting recent polling that suggests over 80% of people in Scotland are worried about the cost of living crisis.
Commenting, Roddick said:
“The Tories can talk about responsible government all they like but the truth is that they are hiking National Insurance contributions while cutting income tax, shifting more of the burden off the wide shoulders of the rich and onto the backs of the poor.
“The cost of living crisis they have inflicted on us with more than a decade of austerity and cuts isn’t enough for Rishi Sunak – he wants to make vulnerable households pay for it while the friends of the Tory Party profit.
“At the same time as the Scottish Government increases the Scottish Child Payment, the UK Government undermines us with a horrendous cut to Universal Credit while it pats itself on the back for cutting tax. This is precisely the sort of thing that Better Together once assured Scottish households ‘the most powerful devolved parliament in the world’ was meant to have the power to prevent, and precisely the sort of thing that only independence can protect us from.”
Emma Roddick MSP 