THE Labour Government has launched “cynical attacks on the poor” to cover for its failure to grow the UK economy, the SNP have said after Rachel Reeves announced plans to cut sickness benefits.
Writing in the Sun on Sunday, the Chancellor said that paper’s readers would “agree, as a country we cannot keep footing the bill for the spiralling numbers of people out of work”.
She went on: “The UK is the only major advanced country whose employment rate has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
“We’ve got 2.8 million people not working due to bad health. 420,000 more households are predicted to claim Universal Credit health benefits by the end of the decade. Nearly one in eight of young people across the country are not in education, employment, or training.
“Where the Conservatives failed to act – this Labour government will. Next week I will tell the country that when it comes to our welfare system, I will not hesitate to act, as we have done to restore the public finances.
“That includes looking closely at the rising cost of health and disability benefits.
“This is an urgent problem. It can’t be ignored. We can’t walk around it, as the Tories did. We’ve got to grip it, once and for all. That’s why we’re setting out our detailed plans before Easter. That is the least the public deserves.”
Responding, the SNP said the Labour Government had “all the wrong priorities".
Kirsty Blackman, the SNP’s work and pensions spokesperson at Westminster, said: "This cynical ploy is another botched attempt to distract from the Labour Government's appalling record on the economy and public finances.
"Just this week, Sainsburys announced 3000 jobs will be cut and surveys revealed UK unemployment is rising, the number of payrolled employees is falling, and businesses are cutting jobs at the fastest rate since the 2009 financial crash.
"Yet, instead of fixing the mess it created, the Labour Government has all the wrong priorities.
“The fact that the Chancellor is imposing more punitive austerity cuts to poor, sick and disabled people, at the same time that the Labour Government is choosing to protect the wealth of non-dom tax millionaires, shows the Labour Party is out of touch with families in Scotland.
"The Labour Party has hammered pensioners with cuts to the winter fuel allowance, it has pushed thousands of Scottish children into poverty with the two child benefit cap, and now it is going after disabled people – all while letting Davos non-dom tax millionaires off the hook.
"If the Labour Party really wants to get people into work, it should start creating jobs instead of destroying them with damaging policies like the National Insurance tax hike. The fact is, the Labour Government hasn't got a clue how to fix the broken UK economy – so instead it's pursuing cynical attacks on the poor to cover for its abysmal record of failure."
The reference to “non-dom tax millionaires” relate to Reeves U-turn on Labour’s proposed tax regime for non-UK residents.
The Chancellor said she would be tabling an amendment to the plans for taxing non-domiciled residents after “listening to the concerns” they raised.
The changes will increase the temporary repatriation facility, which allows non-doms to bring money into the UK without paying significant taxes on it.
It comes after analysts said the additional taxes had prompted an exodus of millionaires.
The Chancellor said taxes on non-doms were increased to raise funds for public services, in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos with the Wall Street Journal.
