THE Chancellor has been urged to apologise to Scots after announcing huge cuts to public spending.
On Monday, Rachel Reeves told the Commons that the Labour Government will be publishing a “detailed audit” and accused the previous Conservative government of a “cover up”, including hiding £35 billion worth of spending - of which a projected £22bn was not budgeted for.
The Chancellor blamed the cuts partly on the Conservative Party’s handling of the asylum system as she announced the Rwanda Scheme would be scrapped, alongside the axing of the Winter Fuel Payment for those not in receipt of benefits.
SNP MP Seamus Logan called on the Chancellor to “apologise” to Scots after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar previously told John Swinney in a TV debate during the election: "Read my lips. No austerity under Labour."
The First Minister was challenging Sarwar on the £18bn of cuts predicted by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), which accused both Labour and the Tories of being in a "conspiracy of silence" over the need for cuts.
Logan (below) said: “During the recent election campaign, we in the SNP repeatedly warned about an £18 billion hole in the Labour Party’s spending plans.
“Now that you’ve confirmed that today, Chancellor, will you apologise to those voters in Scotland who supported the Labour Party leader in Scotland when he said ‘read my lips – no austerity’?
“And will you also reverse the 9% cut in Scotland’s capital allocation?”
Responding, Reeves said: “I’m not sure if the honourable gentleman was actually paying attention.
“The £22bn black hole is this year. The IFS was warning about a black hole over the lifetime of the parliament of £18bn.
“Those are two very different things, and both of them can be true.
“What we are showing today is an in-year gap of £22bn that the honourable gentleman didn’t know about, no one on this side of the house knew about, the OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] did not know about, and the country did not know about.
“This is new information that is being published today above and beyond what anyone knew when we were campaigning in the election.”
'Everybody and their granny knew'
SNP deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart later said “everybody and their granny” knew about the condition of public finances and Reeves’ decision to cut the winter fuel payment “seems and feels like Tory austerity”.
Wishart (below) told MPs: “Everybody and their granny knew that there would be a multibillion pound black hole, only the Chancellor seemed to be deaf and blind to the situation, but we knew she was going to be here explaining the sheer scale of it.”
He added: “Isn’t it the case that cutting winter fuel payments to all pensioners seems and feels like Tory austerity? And what discussions has she had with the Scottish Government? Because she will know obviously that this is a devolved responsibility.”
Reeves replied: “The chief secretary briefed the Scottish Government today on these decisions. These are decisions that are necessary and it is not in the interests of the Scottish people to have unfunded commitments and put our public finances and our reputation for economic stability at risk.
“These are not easy decisions. These are difficult decisions. But the fault of these decisions lies with the previous government.
And to claim that this is austerity today, when we have just given a pay rise to more than two million public sector workers – [Wishart] doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
