SCOTTISH parties have slammed the Labour Government’s plans to slash benefits spending, branding the move "vile and out of touch" and accusing Keir Starmer of political posturing.
An article penned by the Prime Minister for The Mail on Sunday explains that the Labour Government intends to “crack down” on people "gaming the system" when claiming benefits in a bid to slash £137 billion in spending.
Starmer wrote: “In the coming months, Mail on Sunday readers will see even more sweeping changes. Because make no mistake, we will get to grips with the bulging benefits bill blighting our society.”
Speaking exclusively to The National, Scottish Greens social justice spokesperson Maggie Chapman (below) blasted the plans.
“Starmer's comments are vile and show just how out of touch the Labour Party is with the working class," she said;
“Thousands of families across Scotland are struggling to choose between heating and eating this winter due to 14 years of Tory economic mismanagement and a new wave of ghastly austerity under Labour.
“Bullying and diminishing the least well-off in society is not actually tackling poverty, it just entrenches the stigma. We urgently need to tackle the root cause of poverty in the UK, and that can’t be done without action to close the wealth gap between the ultra-rich and the working class.”
We previously told how charities rejected the Prime Minister’s proposed slashing of welfare.
Gordon Macdonald, SNP MSP for the Edinburgh Pentlands and a member of the Holyrood Social Justice and Social Security Committee, told The National: “The fact that the Prime Minister has used a pledge in the Mail on Sunday to deliver this message suggests he is more concerned with political posturing than he is with improving the UK’s welfare system.
He added: “Rather than demonising some of societies most vulnerable people, the UK Government should focus its efforts on investing in our people and public services to create a fairer society for everyone.”
Even the Scottish Conservatives have taken issue with the plans, with Shadow cabinet secretary for social security Liz Smith telling The National: “In Labour’s record £40bn tax-raising budget, there were no detailed plans for welfare reform.
“Instead, there was a broken promise on national insurance which will cost many jobs and make it much harder to get people back into work.”
This comes as Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall prepares to announce a set of measures to "get Britain working" on Tuesday, after it was forecasted that more than four million people in the UK will be claiming long-term sickness benefits by 2030.
