19 hours ago
Labour accused of ‘hammering' Scots during first year in office
The Labour Government has been accused of heaping financial misery on 'ordinary Scots' after a 'catastrophic' first year in office.
On the first anniversary of Sir Keir Starmer 's election win, the Scottish Conservatives said it had been marked by a string of 'broken promises and U-turns' that had hit hard-working Scots in the pocket.
The Scottish Tories said a decision to end universal winter fuel payments for pensioners was 'another broken election pledge and a betrayal of some of our most vulnerable people, one which the SNP shamefully copied in Scotland'.
The party pointed to a rise in employers' National Insurance contributions which it claimed had triggered job losses, as well as pay freezes for staff and higher prices for customers.
It said inheritance tax rises had 'devastated' farming communities and that Labour's 'hostility' to North Sea oil and gas projects had caused job losses in the north-east of Scotland and higher energy bills.
Rachael Hamilton, the Scottish Conservative deputy leader, said Scotland and the UK 'can't afford another four years of a Prime Minister who is hopelessly out of his depth'.
She added: 'Keir Starmer's first year in office has been a catastrophic series of broken promises and U-turns that people up and down the country are paying for. Labour's jobs tax and family farm tax have been utterly devastating for the careers, pay packets and bills of ordinary people.
'Their hostility to North Sea oil and gas is not just crushing livelihoods and communities across the north-east, it's leading to higher fuel bills for everyone by making us more reliant on foreign imports.
'Starmer has betrayed all those who voted for him by breaking his vow not to raise taxes – and he'll have to hike them again in the autumn after his humiliating surrender to Labour MPs on welfare reform.'
Labour won an overwhelming majority on July 4 last year, but Sir Keir's approval ratings have since fallen dramatically, while a number of surveys now put Reform UK ahead of the party in Scotland.
Ian Murray, the Scottish Secretary, said millions of Scots were better off since Labour came to power.
He pointed to rises to the minimum wage worth up to £1,400 a year to low-paid Scots, the introduction of the right to sick and parental leave from day one of a job, and the extension of fuel duty cuts for drivers.
Mr Murray said the UK Government had given Holyrood a record settlement of £50 billion, with at least £14 billion in extra funding by 2029 when compared to Tory spending plans.
He also took aim at the SNP, arguing that while NHS waiting lists have fallen in England, the Scottish health system 'remains under SNP mismanagement' with one in six Scots on an NHS waiting list and cancer waiting times 'at their worst ever level'.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP Westminster leader, pointed to Labour U-turns on the winter fuel payment and welfare cuts while criticising Sir Keir's record on the economy.
'Voters were promised a new direction but instead they got more of the same Westminster cuts and failure,' he said.
'When people look back on the Labour Party's year in office they will remember the cuts to disabled people and pensioners' winter fuel payments, the betrayal of Waspi women and children in poverty, rising energy bills and food prices, and a Prime Minister who took thousands of pounds of designer clothes and freebies while imposing austerity cuts on the rest of us.'
