MSPs will have to ‘reckon’ with impact of UK Government cuts, says Robison
The Scottish Government’s Finance Secretary was speaking in response to the Chancellor’s spring statement last week.
Holyrood will need to “reckon” with the impact of UK Government benefit cuts on public finances, the Finance Secretary has said.
Last week, Rachel Reeves announced nearly £5 billion in benefit cuts by the end of the decade to restore a narrow buffer of fiscal headroom, with £1 billion to be invested in employment support to help people back to work.
The changes, which drew the ire of opposition politicians and charities, will hit three million families on incapacity benefits and see personal independence payments (Pip) be lower for 800,000 claimants.
Critics of the changes, and of many unpopular decisions in recent months, have accused the Labour Government of “austerity”, but UK ministers and figures in Scottish Labour have been quick to say that public spending is due to go up.
The Scottish Parliament holds substantial powers over benefits, administered through the devolved agency Social Security Scotland, meaning changes made south of the border to payments will impact the devolved budget.
According to the Fraser of Allander Institute, Scottish Government budgets will be cut by £200 million in 2028-29 and £435 million in 2029-30 as a result.
Speaking in Holyrood on Wednesday in a statement responding to the announcements, Finance Secretary Shona Robison said MSPs will have to start planning for the reductions.
“Let me be clear, the Scottish Government will absolutely strain every sinew to protect disabled people from this deplorable action from the Labour UK Government,” she said.
“But let me also be clear how difficult that will be given the scale of this.
“Equally, we will continue to tackle child poverty, a job made even harder by UK Government decisions and we will do this in the face of Labour’s austerity on welfare.
“As a Parliament, we need to start to plan and reckon with the impact that those cuts from Labour will have on the sustainability of public finances.”
Last week’s announcement and others from the UK Government since Labour won last year’s election, she added, have meant it is “essential” to reform public services to improve efficiency and productivity.
Scottish Labour finance spokesman Michael Marra said the Chancellor’s decisions had been taken “not just to secure our economy, but our public services for the long term”.
“To put it bluntly, she is currently engaged in a rescue mission for UK public services, given the inheritance she received just nine months ago,” he said.
The Labour MSP went on to say that, while social security must be there for people who need it, “every pound spent… is a pound not spent on schools, hospitals and roads”.
“The state must be there for those who require it,” he said.
“We have to make sure that as few people as possible require that support, and our public services must be shaped in the direction of that aim.”
Scottish Tory finance spokesman Craig Hoy told MSPs that Scots were “at breaking point” financially as a result of rising bills, council tax and rail fares, all of which came into force on Tuesday.
“They simply cannot absorb the quadruple whammy of extra costs that came forward yesterday,” he said.
“In the 1970s, Labour squeezed the rich until the pips squeaked, now 50 years on, Labour and the SNP are doing the same thing to lower and middle income Scots.”
