Meeting of the Parliament 04 November 2015
How many times does she need to be told? The UK Government, SPICe and the independent experts at the House of Commons library all say that we can top up reserved benefits.
Let us talk about independence for a minute, because I know that SNP members are keen to do that. It was just over a year ago that the SNP tried to claim that an independent Scotland could share the administration of welfare with the rest of the UK. Now it is trying to claim that a devolved Scotland with powers over tax and welfare cannot restore the money for tax credits. How absurd is that? A party of Government that claimed that after independence it would be able to run a different welfare system using the UK system now pretends that it is impossible to run a different system inside the UK, even when the UK Government is offering to allow it to do just that. Alex Neil should be embarrassed to be peddling such nonsense. He should be especially embarrassed, given that he is doing it to avoid protecting working families.
Politics is about priorities and values. Joe Biden said:
“Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value.”
Instead of hiding behind the constitution and peddling the familiar politics of grudge and grievance, the SNP should try something new. Maybe it should show us the money. Alex Neil should just tell us what is more important to him, his party and his Government—the incomes of working-class families or the price of a business-class flight.
The SNP has the power and the money, but does it have the political will?
I move,
That the Parliament believes that the UK Government’s proposed changes to tax credits would leave working families worse off and calls on the Scottish Government to restore tax credits to families using the new powers being devolved.
14:56