ED BALLS SPEECH MAKES IT CLEAR -- LABOUR ADOPT THE TORY MANTRA CUTS CUTS AND MORE CUTS
Following reports of the speech by Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls in which he said that parts of the country with lower housing costs could face lower welfare caps under a Labour government at Westminster, Dr Eilidh Whiteford MP, SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson, commented:
"This is an extraordinary step for Labour to take - and confirms that the only way to safeguard the welfare state in Scotland is by voting Yes next September. Already, a majority of people in Scotland believe that welfare and pensions policy should be decided by Holyrood not Westminster - and developments like this show why having control in Scotland is essential.
"Scotland has paid more tax per head than the UK average in every one of the last 30 years - and the official figures show that Scotland subsidises the rest of the UK, not the other way round - yet Labour are now talking about having lower welfare payments in Scotland than the south of England. Johann Lamont and the Labour MPs at Westminster she is nominally in charge of have a great deal of explaining to do.
“Ed Balls has now made it clear that if Labour was ever re-elected at Westminster they would adopt the Tory mantra of cuts, cuts and more cuts. His language could not be clearer and his attack on the universality of pensions by cutting winter fuel payments shows us that a Westminster government of whatever hue really does mean sticking with Tory cuts. The only way to escape this Westminster austerity is with a Yes vote in 2014."
"Scotland has paid more tax per head than the UK average in every one of the last 30 years - and the official figures show that Scotland subsidises the rest of the UK, not the other way round - yet Labour are now talking about having lower welfare payments in Scotland than the south of England. Johann Lamont and the Labour MPs at Westminster she is nominally in charge of have a great deal of explaining to do.
“Ed Balls has now made it clear that if Labour was ever re-elected at Westminster they would adopt the Tory mantra of cuts, cuts and more cuts. His language could not be clearer and his attack on the universality of pensions by cutting winter fuel payments shows us that a Westminster government of whatever hue really does mean sticking with Tory cuts. The only way to escape this Westminster austerity is with a Yes vote in 2014."