SPRING STATEMENT: LABOUR PROMISED 'CHANGE' BUT ARE DELIVERING CUTS INSTEAD
- clareadamsonmsp
- Mar 26
- 3 min read
SNP MSP Clare Adamson has blasted the Labour party’s ‘new era of austerity’ after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a raft of cuts to public spending.
The Labour Government’s own figures show 3.2 million families will see a financial loss because of the cuts, with an average loss of £1,720 per year. A DWP impact assessment outlines an estimated 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, will be pushed into poverty as a result of the social security cuts.
Ms Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, warned that vulnerable people will bear the brunt of Labour cuts.
It comes as UK economic growth forecasts were downgraded by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The Labour Chancellor ploughed ahead with billions of pounds worth of cuts to families and public services, and continued plans for the National Insurance tax hike, despite the damage it is doing to small businesses, jobs, frontline services, and economic growth.
Ms Adamson, MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw said:
“The winter fuel payment, the two-child limit, Grangemouth, the WASPI campaign, and the national insurance hike – a grim checklist of Labour betrayals since they got into power on the promise of change.
“Now Labour will cut crucial financial support for millions of people. The UK Government’s own figures show these decisions will push 250,000 people, and 50,000 children, into poverty.
"This is a Labour party that promised to be different from the Tories but we are just getting more of the same.
“Brexit continues to wreak economic havoc on Scotland. Sick and disabled people are seen as acceptable targets for the UK Government, and the Chancellor is ushering in a new era of austerity. Cuts with a red rosette on it are cuts just the same.
“As always, people on low incomes will bear the brunt of these cuts. And with the impending hike to employer National Insurance set to cost Scotland’s public and private sectors millions of pounds, the economic outlook is bleak.
“These decisions will hit Scotland’s finances. The UK system is failing people: stagnant growth; devastating cuts; damaging tax hikes; a strain on public services; and diminishing living standards.
"We warned that Scottish Labour would be unable to stand up to their London bosses. Today is more proof that those warnings were right.
“The SNP is the party standing up for Scotland’s people. These damaging Westminster decisions show why we must secure our independence.”
Eligibility for Personal Independence Payment - a benefit aimed at helping those with disability or long-term illness with increased living costs – will be restricted. The Resolution Foundation think tank said the tightening of PIP eligibility would mean between 800,000 and 1.2 million people losing support of between £4,200 and £6,300 per year by the end of the decade.
From April 2026, for new claimants, the health element of Universal Credit will be almost halved, from £97 a week in 2024/25 to £50 a week in 2026/27, and then frozen at this level until 2029/30. For existing claimants, the health element will be frozen at the current rate of £97 a week until 2029/30.
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