For immediate release – Monday 18 October 2010
Attn: NEWS DESKS
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENTS
TORY/LIBDEM PLANS THREATEN SCOTTISH JOBS, PUBLIC SERVICES & ECONOMIC GROWTH
Speaking ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review, SNP Westminster Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP issued a last ditch warning for the Tory/LibDem Government to step back from cuts which threaten economic recovery and risk the danger of a further recession.
Mr Hosie, a member of the Treasury Select Committee, said:
“If George Osborne cuts as he plans to cut, he will risk jobs, public services and the economic recovery we require. The Tories and Liberal Democrats must step back from their reckless course.
“The scale of the spending cuts proposed by the UK Government undoubtedly risks jeopardising recovery and causing significant harm to the economy at this critical period. There is no doubt that, by cutting too far and too fast, there is a real risk that the UK Government will make things far worse.
“We will find out whether Tory and LibDem Ministers have listened to the devolved administration who united to warn against the scale and pace of these cuts, as well as leading economists who have made the same point. Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz described the cuts as “wrong headed” and former Member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee Professor Blanchflower has warned that Westminster’s cuts could represent the “greatest macro-economic threat in 100 years.”
“We will find out whether Tory and LibDem Ministers have listened to the devolved administration who united to warn against the scale and pace of these cuts, as well as leading economists who have made the same point. Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz described the cuts as “wrong headed” and former Member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee Professor Blanchflower has warned that Westminster’s cuts could represent the “greatest macro-economic threat in 100 years.”
“It is clear that Tory and LibDem Ministers are cutting in the wrong places. An Institute of Fiscal Studies Report published in the Summer showed that low and middle income families will lose out the most from the financial plans of the UK Government. All the while – and this is the disgrace of it – the UK Government keeps in place plans to spend £100 billion on brand new weapons of mass destruction.
“The challenge is to protect services, jobs and the economy in Scotland, and it is only the SNP which has an alternative to the dire and depressing agenda of Labour cuts or Tory/LibDem cuts. Instead of accelerating cuts for Scotland we need more powers - and quickly.”
ENDS
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