SNP and Labour spending row as Nationalists claim £100bn 'wasted' since general election
The SNP and Labour are in a spending row after the Nationalists claimed that the UK Government has wasted £100 billion since the general election.
New SNP research says Labour has wasted the billions in lost revenues from tax evasion, Brexit, Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes, nuclear power stations and High Speed Rail 2 (HS2).
But Labour hit back, saying "these back of a fag packet numbers are nonsense" and blasting the SNP for having "squandered that money and wasted millions on ferries which have never sailed and a prison which is ten times over budget".
It comes after figures released earlier this week showed that £91.4bn in tax receipts was raised in Scotland last year, with £117.6 billion forked out in public spending.
This means the Scotland spends £26bn - 11.6 per cent - more than it brings in via tax. The UK as a whole spends 5.1 per cent more than it brings in.
SNP Scotland Office spokesperson Stephen Gethins said: 'The eye watering £100 billion figure is a combination of economic self-harm and incompetence – Westminster has truly become a Wastemonster. This £100 billion of Westminster waste exposes the raw reality of a Britain that is bust and broken – a Brexit Britain that Scotland is paying a heavier and heavier price for.
'From the crippling costs of being isolated outside the European Union, to the ongoing price of Labour's botched PFIs, to a Westminster system that treats economic development outside the South-East of England as an afterthought – Scotland's potential and our prosperity will always be wasted by Westminster.
'For years, Westminster politicians have lectured those of us in Scotland about sound financial management – this research gives £100 billion reasons why they are in no position to lecture our country on economic competence."
The bulk of the alleged waste came from Brexit and tax avoidance.
The Nationalists said that £46.8bn had been wasted on the tax gap - which is the difference between expected and actual tax collected by HMRC.
The party also cited a recent reported from the Centre of European Reform think tank which said the lost tax revenue because of Brexit was £40bn.
Labour MP for Central Ayrshire Alan Gemmell said: "In a week when the SNP's plans for £14bn of cuts to Scottish public services have been laid bare, these back of a fag packet numbers from John Swinney are nonsense. The Labour UK Government has provided more funding for Scotland than at any point in the history of devolution, £9.1bn extra over the next three years.
"The SNP have squandered that money and wasted millions on ferries which have never sailed and a prison which is ten times over budget. Their incompetence has left 1 in 6 Scots on an NHS waiting list and 10,000 children in temporary accommodation."
The cost of the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa ferries rose to £460m earlier this year - more than four times the £97m contract.
The new Barlinnie jail in Glasgow is set to cost £1bn, despite original estimates saying it would only be £100m.
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