One of the bigger news stories locally this week has been the Labour government’s announcement that it is slashing the benefits budget in an effort to save five billion pounds a year by 2030.
Whilst the London government argues that these measures are now a necessity in the face of the mounting and unsustainable cost, they’ve still received a tremendous amount of criticism not only from their own backbenchers but from the devolved regions as well. In Scotland the SNP wasted no time in accusing Labour of having lied in last year’s General Election…
“John Swinney has said Anas Sarwar’s words “count for absolutely nothing” as he accused the UK Government of a return to austerity – something the Scottish Labour leader had promised would not happen.
Speaking to reporters in Grangemouth, the First Minister said Sir Keir Starmer’s Government wants to enact cuts that would punish “the most vulnerable in our society”.
UK Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced on Tuesday £5 billion worth of proposed welfare cuts, largely stemming from a big reduction in support for those off work due to disability and ill health.”
Swinney’s comments come alongside recent opinion polling for next year’s Scottish parliamentary election which make grim reading for Scottish Labour, whose support has dramatically plummeted since they gained the majority of Scottish parliamentary seats at last year’s general election. For Scottish nationalist parties, the strategic goal appears to be to convince the Scottish electorate that a Labour government in London, which is normally presented as the real answer to any misgivings Scottish voters may have when the Conservatives are in power, is no answer at all. The disability cuts, alongside the Winter fuel cuts announced last year (though Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar moved rapidly to assure voters that a Scottish Labour led Scottish government would protect the winter fuel payment in Scotland) seem to be more fuel for that argument. Sarwar is taking a more pugilistic approach to these latest cuts however…
“Mr Sarwar told The Scotsman: “I have heard shouts of austerity from many an SNP politician – I think actually they need to look in the dictionary. Austerity means when public spending is going down.”
“Even with these changes that are being announced, welfare spending is projected to go up across the UK and go up in Scotland. That is not austerity, it is the very opposite of austerity.”
Speaking to journalists in Rosyth on Tuesday, Mr Sarwar said welfare spending across the UK was projected to rise from around £50bn a year to £70bn, adding the government needed to act fast as this would “take money away from other vital public services”…
“Mr Sarwar said: “Labour is the party of work and there are far too many people, too many young people, not getting the opportunities they need across our country. That is why there are reforms to welfare. There is going to be prioritising work and making sure at the same time that those who need support get support.”
Battle lines in Scotland have clearly been drawn and with just over a year to go until the next Scottish Parliamentary elections the arguments may get very ugly.
Meanwhile, the cuts have generated reactions from across the political spectrum in Northern Irealnd. According to the BBC report the SDLP believes the issue highlights a fundamental flaw in the union itself…
“However, speaking on BBC NI’s The View programme, SDLP leader Claire Hanna said that it was disempowering for Northern Ireland “to be in the UK constitutional system where reforms like this this happen over our heads and that we have almost no say over”.
“But where we do have power is locally so no doubt we shouldn’t be relying on the UK government to sort this out,” Hanna said.
“But there’s a lot the executive could be doing – where’s the anti-poverty strategy that we’ve been talking about for absolutely years?
“Where are the measures to address properly waiting lists, particularly in mental health?
“These are the things that are obviously driving our high claimants.”
Sorcha Eastwood, speaking on behalf of the Alliance party, is quoted as saying
“People are looking for leadership, they are looking to know that actually some of us give a damn and will look out for them,” she said.
“We are still in the UK an incredibly rich country and we righty judge countries on how they look after the most vulnerable, how they take care of them.
“And if this is what’s on offer, I think it’s an absolutely disgusting refection on where we are in 2025.”
She added: “I think people in Northern Ireland want to see leadership, I think they want to see people banding together and saying the same thing which is that these cuts should be opposed.”
Conversely the DUP appear to be taking a more practical approach to the changes with
“Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart of the DUP told the programme: “For me it’s about supporting the genuine claimants and supporting those who really do need a compassionate and caring government.
“I want the government to reform the welfare system because there are people who are abusing it, those people shouldn’t be allowed to continue to abuse it.”
She said she thought her party colleague and communities minister Gordon Lyons “will take a very sensible approach with this”.
“I don’t believe any party around the executive table will expect the minister to find £150m [to mitigate the changes] behind the sofa,” she said.
“But I know we have a minister who wants to get people back into work who is actively working on strategies to get people back into work.”
The full impact of Labour’s proposed changes remains to be seen, assuming it actually comes to pass…
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