Jeremy Hunt launches economic attack on most vulnerable
Jeremy Hunt’s Budget is bad for people and a disaster for our planet. It throws billions in giveaways at the rich while consigning millions of people to decades of struggling in poverty, say the Scottish Greens.
The Scottish Greens finance spokesperson, Ross Greer MSP, said:
“Jeremy Hunt has launched yet another vicious Tory attack on the most vulnerable people in the country.
“His tax reliefs for corporations and pension reforms, designed to benefit those on massive incomes, will cost billions of pounds, money which could otherwise be spent lifting children out of poverty or giving public sector workers a decent pay rise.
“Instead of also giving some help to the most vulnerable, these giveaways for the rich sit alongside yet another round of increased sanctions for those who rely on DWP benefits.
“Hunt claims that he is tackling poverty, but wages are falling way below the dizzying levels of inflation and millions of families are living in poverty. No wonder so many workers are on strike across the UK today.
“The Chancellor talked about his four Es, but he clearly forgot about the environment. This is yet another climate wrecking budget.
"The billions spent on the fuel duty freeze could be used to make public transport more affordable and accessible, or on supporting the growth of cheap, clean renewable energy sources to help lower electricity bills. Instead, the Tories are doubling down on fossil fuels.
“There is nothing green about nuclear energy. It is monumentally expensive, cannot be built quickly enough to help tackle the climate crisis and will leave a long and toxic legacy for generations to come. The billions that will be poured into it would be far better invested in clean, green and renewable energy.
“No-one is being spared the pain here except super-rich Tory supporters who are being rewarded with new tax breaks on their pensions, so they can retire in comfort.
“Hunt could have done more to support people with their energy bills, he could have unleashed the Treasury surplus to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis, he could have followed Scotland’s lead on progressive taxation.
“Instead he has doubled down on an economic ideology designed only to serve his rich mates and offer a lifeline to the oil and gas industry as it continues to drag the world towards total climate breakdown
“They have no plan to lead us out of the cost-of-living crisis, no pathway to a greener and more sustainable future, and no sense that they even care. This is a government out of ideas, out of touch and out of time. Scotland deserves so much better.”
“The Chancellor says that independence is better than dependence, but like the rest of the Westminster elites, he doesn’t think Scotland should be allowed to make that choice.
“The people of Scotland have rejected Tory rule time and again. With independence we put our future in our own hands and deliver an economy that works for people and planet.”