A SCOTTISH Government minster has denied that their decision to reintroduce a universal winter heating support scheme for pensioners was like a scene from The Thick of It.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has rejected a “behind-the-scenes” report in The Sunday Times which compared SNP ministers’ efforts to out-manoeuvre their opponents before Wednesday's Scottish Budget to the political satire.
It comes after the SNP unveiled plans for a Scottish replacement to the Winter Fuel Payment scheme, axed by Labour, which restores the universal benefit for pensioners to help heat their homes.
The Sunday Times reported the SNP were moved to action after Scottish Labour unveiled a plan to reintroduce the benefit in Scotland.
One source told the paper their "feverish" efforts to gain the advantage on the opposition were “proper The Thick of It stuff,” in reference to the cynical scheming portrayed in the BBC’s send-up of the New Labour era.
Speaking on the Sunday Show, host Martin Geissler (above) said: “You guys were all running around with the back of an envelope, furiously doing the sums and working out how you could announce something before next Wednesday. Does that chime with you, is that what you saw?”
Somerville said she was a “great fan of The Thick of It” but added: “Funnily enough, no.”
She highlighted that the First Minister “many weeks ago” had said he was “actively considering” how the Scottish Government would respond to Labour’s decision to scrap the payment.
Scottish Labour previously defended the cut then appeared to be forced into changing tack as public opinion moved against them, with the party blaming the policy for by-election defeats in the wake of the July poll.
Somerville added: “What we saw was the Scottish Government bringing forward something through the Scottish Parliament to reinstate the Winter Fuel Payment and Labour voting against it.
“Then, your viewers will remember, a couple of weeks ago, when they had that first really, really cold snap and Anas Sarwar seemed to suggest needed a press release that day, then they needed the policy afterwards.”
The minister said that she felt “we’re through the looking glass” after finding herself mitigating Labour policies, saying she had been “used to having to mitigate against a Tory government”.
She added: “We wanted the UK Government to actually step in, recognise their mistakes and fix this at source.”
