LOCAL HEALTH SERVICES TAKE TORY TAX HIT

Health services used by people in Banff & Buchan will be hit by a multi-million pound tax bill as the Tory Government’s VAT rise kicks in at the beginning of January. The VAT increase is opposed by Banff & Buchan SNP MP Eilidh Whiteford, and MSP Stewart Stevenson.

Added to the increase in National Insurance payments that the NHS is picking up the total cost to NHS Grampian is around £4 million.

Because the NHS employs a high number of people it is particularly exposed to the National Insurance changes.

In total the Scottish NHS will have to pay around 17 million pounds in extra National Insurance payments to the London Treasury this coming year and a further 26.5 million pounds increase in VAT payments. A total of over 43 million pounds being lost from frontline services directly to the London Treasury.

In the election the Tories claimed they would scrap Labour’s tax on jobs and immediately after the Tory government’s budget David Cameron told Moray SNP MP Angus Robertson that “our action on national insurance contributions has saved the NHS money”. However backtracking by the Tories have left the rise in place.

Commenting on the multi-million pound tax bill directly hitting local health service users SNP MSP for Banff & Buchan Stewart Stevenson said:

“The Tory government is hitting NHS Grampian with a multi-million pound tax bill and the people who will suffer are the patients.

“This is a double tax bombshell for the NHS – a grotesque Christmas present where the NHS has to pay the UK Government back for the misleading pledges of the Westminster parties.

“Labour introduced the damaging changes to National Insurance, the Tories have left it in place and it is Scotland’s public services and our economy that will pay the price.

“The cost to NHS Grampian is equivalent to over 150 nurses salaries per year.”

Local MP Eilidh Whiteford added:

“The Prime Minister claimed he was saving the NHS money when in fact he is costing it millions.

“Whilst all the London parties have shown they can’t be trusted on tax it is the SNP which is the party that stands for Scotland's people and Scotland's interests. While Tory, Labour and Lib Dem planned to take taxes from Scotland’s NHS the SNP has worked hard to put more money into our health service to ensure it remains the first quality service we all want to see.

“Our public services across Banff & Buchan are being hit by massive tax bills in the coming year over and above the huge budget cuts coming from Tory-led government and people in the North-east are facing a double whammy on public services.”

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WHITEFORD APPEAL OVER FAREPAK ‘NIGHTMARE OF CHRISTMAS PAST’

Banff & Buchan MP and SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson, Eilidh Whiteford, has issued a Christmas Eve appeal to the UK Government calling for compensation for Farepak families, who are still waiting for reparation four years after the collapse.

Comparing the UK Government’s response to bailing out the banks with Farepak, Dr Whiteford has written to Business Secretary Vince Cable, asking why 20,000 Scottish customers, who lost their Christmas savings in 2006 are still out of pocket.

Commenting, Dr Whiteford said:

“The UK Government bent-over-backwards to bail out the banks but hasn’t found a single penny for the Farepak families, many of whom are in Banff & Buchan.

“It is four years since Farepak collapsed, but that nightmare of Christmas past is still being felt by many low income families. Savers are likely to recover just 5p in the pound, while the final bill for the administrators and their legal advisers could reach £3m.

“It is simply disgraceful that, years after the company collapsed, that customers are still waiting for their money back.

“The UK Government needs to bring forward compensation for these families, particularly given that it was its failure to secure adequate consumer protection through regulation that allowed the Farepak Christmas crisis to happen.

“UK Ministers should step in without further delay to secure compensation for those who lost out so badly.”

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SNP SEIZE ON NEW LIBDEM MINISTER REVELATIONS

The SNP have seized on further damaging revelations that senior LibDem Ministers, including Scotland Secretary Michael Moore, have privately condemned coalition policies on welfare reform and university tuition fees in recordings made by undercover reporters.

Commenting SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson Dr Eilidh Whiteford MP said:

"This is devastating for the Lib Dems in Scotland - Michael Moore has shown them to be utterly devoid of principle. Their duplicitous conduct over tuition fees and painful welfare reforms, which Michael Moore voted for publicly but privately condemns, shows why the LibDems just can’t be trusted. These revelations are not just hugely embarrassing they are the death knell of the LibDems as a progressive party either north of south of the Border."

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BAN ‘FAIR-WEATHER FIRMS’ FROM ROYAL MAIL BID - MP

Local MP Dr Eilidh Whiteford has called for “fair-weather firms” who abandoned deliveries to addresses in Scotland because of the winter weather to be banned from bidding for Royal Mail under privatisation plans.

The SNP MP – who is a member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee which is currently examining postal services in Scotland - said the suspension of deliveries by private delivery companies underlined the difference between private firms and Royal Mail whose universal service obligation ensures that deliveries continue in all conditions.

Dr Whiteford has also supported an Early Day Motion (EDM) on the issue in Parliament tabled by an SNP MP.

Commenting, Dr Whiteford said:

“The difference between fair-weather firms who abandoned deliveries and Royal Mail who are battling through the winter weather to meet their obligations to people in Banff & Buchan totally reinforces the case to keep the post public.

“The companies that cancelled Christmas deliveries are not up to the standards of the universal postal service, and they should not be allowed to bid for Royal Mail under the UK Government’s privatisation proposals.

“We already know that Vince Cable is considering scrapping Saturday deliveries and switching to five day a week delivery – the absolute minimum allowed under European regulations. It is simply inconceivable that the universal service obligation could survive in its current form after privatisation.

“Any reduction in the universal service obligation will be hardest felt by people in rural areas like Banff & Buchan, and crucially businesses, who rely about these deliveries. More so, at a time of economic turbulence it is absolutely crucial that businesses in rural areas have access to high quality mail services.

“The universal service obligation is vital to individuals and small businesses throughout Scotland and must not be put at risk by privatisation. This should be a wake up call to Vince Cable to reconsider his plans and abandon plans to sell off this vital national resource. At the very least he should make it abundantly clear that no company which is prepared to simply abandon services in Scotland will be considered as a purchaser of any part of Royal Mail.

“Royal Mail cannot be viewed as just another company. It provides an essential public service, especially to smaller communities and small businesses who do not have access to alternative carriers.”

Note:

The text of Angus MP Mike Weir’s EDM is detailed below:

Mail Deliveries

That this House congratulates Royal Mail employees in their sterling efforts to keep mail deliveries going in Scotland despite the recent atrocious weather; contrasts this with the decision of several private delivery services to abandon all attempts to deliver in Scotland; believes that this demonstrates the difference between Royal Mail’s social obligations under the universal service and the attitude of private operators; calls upon the UK government to abandon plans to privatise Royal Mail or, at the very least, to state that no company which has shown itself unwilling to continue deliveries in these circumstances would be considered as a purchaser or partner of Royal Mail.

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