In the Scottish Parliament this morning, Labour voted against the Scottish Government’s Council Tax Reduction scheme, which used the Parliament’s powers to replace council tax benefit and protect around half a million households from Westminster’s 10 per cent cut in council tax benefit.
During today’s meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee, Labour did not back the regulations necessary to pass the policy. If Labour had been successful, Scotland’s poorest would have lost out on the £40m funding plug – equivalent to around £75 for each household affected. Last year, the Scottish Government and COSLA agreed to jointly invest around £40m a year to protect over half a million people across the country who would have been affected by the cut, including:
Commenting, Mike Mackenzie MSP, who sits on the committee, said: “I was proud to back the SNP Government’s efforts with COSLA to support some of the poorest households with their council tax bills. Alongside the council tax freeze this support is essential and is under attack from the Westminster government. “Labour should be ashamed of their actions which, if they had been successful, would have hit Scotland’s poorest the hardest and seen their bills increase by an average of £75 a year. “Labour demands that Scotland use the powers we already have to mitigate against Westminster welfare cuts but when the Scottish Government uses those powers, as it has done with the council tax benefit, Labour tries to derail it. “This is not the first time Labour has used parliamentary committees to attempt to wreck the SNP Government’s actions to protect the vulnerable people affected by Westminster’s cut in council tax benefit. “Our Council Tax Reduction Scheme is protecting over half a million people in Scotland from the abolition of council tax benefit – that's pensioners, families, single person households and disabled people. “It is only because the SNP has a majority in Parliament that we have been able to protect the integrity of the council tax freeze policy – we believe in fairness, and with the limited powers available to the Scottish Parliament, we have done everything we can to mitigate the impact the devastating effects of Westminster’s welfare cutting policies.”
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In an interview with Holyrood Magazine which is reported in today’s Sunday Post, former Labour Leader Lord Neil Kinnock has said the Tories under Thatcher squandered the potential of oil in ‘one of the most untransparent and unfaithful acts of modern government.’ Commenting, SNP Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP said:
“Neil Kinnock, who was leader of the Labour party from 1983 to 1992, has said it was a ‘tragedy and a regret’ that an oil fund along the lines of Norway’s was never pursued by Westminster. “Lord Kinnock's comments follow Labour ex-Chancellor Denis Healey’s admission that Westminster played down the value of oil in the 1970s because of the SNP and the independence campaign. “Out of the 20 largest oil-producing nations in the world, only the UK and Iraq have not established oil funds - compared to Norway which has succeeded in creating an oil fund worth £460 billion. Yet the head of the No campaign, Alistair Darling - who was a Shadow Minister under Neil Kinnock - still argues that Scotland’s oil is better controlled by Westminster, despite its deplorable record. "Neil Kinnock himself said ‘any time in the next 20 years will still not be too late.’ With independence, an SNP government would establish an oil fund. Only with a YES vote in the referendum next year can we ensure that Westminster’s mistakes are not repeated, and that Scotland’s oil and gas wealth provides a lasting benefit for future generations.” |
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April 2023
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