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First Minister John Swinney delivers a speech in Glasgow, while on the general election campaign trail, June 7, 2024
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SNP leader John Swinney has accused Labour and Tory parties of “concealing” cuts plans amid a “conspiracy of silence” on economic policy.
The First Minister, who presided over swingeing cuts to public service budgets leading to more than 20,000 jobs lost from Scotland’s public sector during his nine-year tenure as finance secretary, used a campaign speech in Glasgow today to take aim at the spending plans of both parties.
Referring to a recent report by the economic think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which not only claimed that Labour and Tory spending plans could lead to “sharp” cuts after the election, but argued the parties were “avoiding the reality” of the situation, Mr Swinney said the economy would be the “defining issue of the election.”
As Scotland heads to the polls, the main parties offer variations on the same script, says MATT KERR
The BBC and OBR claim that failing to cut disability benefits could ‘destabilise the economy’ while ignoring the spendthrift approach to tens of billions on military spending that really spirals out of control, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP
Exempting military expenditure from austerity while slashing welfare represents a fundamental misallocation of resources that guarantees continued decline, argues MICHAEL BURKE