Local Liberal Democrats blast “disastrous” SNP Scottish Government budget
Councillor Robert Brown, Liberal Democrat Group Leader on South Lanarkshire Council today condemned the SNP Scottish Government budget as “disastrous for local services, disastrous for homelessness and useless for economic growth.”
The Scottish Government budget contains swingeing cuts to vital areas, including:
- An inadequate settlement for Councils, meaning major cuts to local services like roads, leisure facilities and schools
- £189m cut from building new warm and energy efficient homes, ignoring the housing crisis
- A real-terms cut to mental health
- £9m cut from energy efficiency
- £80m cut from the rail budget, coinciding with the announcement fares will rise 8.7%
- £63m cut from the Future Transport Fund
- A 76% cut to the Just Transition Fund despite the climate emergency
- £62.9m less for enterprise, trade and investment, cutting the Scottish economy off at the knees
Robert Brown said:
“The bad news for councils will spell more trouble for everything from our roads and leisure facilities to our schools.
Swingeing cuts to the housing budget during a housing crisis will do nothing to tackle homelessness in South Lanarkshire and cutting mental health flies in the face of the post Covid crisis.
The SNP have spent years ignoring expert warnings about the lack of a long-term economic strategy and the impact of its failure to grow the economy. Taxpayers in South Lanarkshire and across Scotland are now having to pick up the tab for SNP failure – paying more for fewer and poorer services.
Scotland generally has suffered a lethal combination of a Conservative Government in London which crashed the economy and an SNP Government in Edinburgh which cannot manage its finances.
Scottish Liberal Democrats will stand up for a growing and thriving Scottish economy which generates the tax revenue we need to invest in supporting local services, tackling the climate emergency, lifting up Scottish education, rescuing the NHS and building more warmer homes."