Meeting of the Parliament 26 November 2025
No, thank you, sir.
My thanks end there. The Tory motion is an exercise in brass-necked gaslighting of our country. It was the Tories who crashed the economy three years ago and sent inflation, mortgages and bills soaring. It was the Tories who spent the national reserve three times in the first quarter of 2024, burning through money that the country did not have.
Not content with 14 years of growthless ideological austerity, which left the fabric of our country weakened and hobbled our economy and productivity, the Tories sought to salt the earth at the end of a session of Parliament when living standards had fallen for the first time since the Napoleonic wars.
The mammoth task that the Chancellor has faced since she entered the Treasury on 5 July last year is the result of those 14 long years of feckless, immoral incompetence from ever more rabidly right-wing Tory leaders who partied while our old folk died; who corruptly lined the pockets of their rich friends; who broke the bonds of trust between citizens and politics in this country; who committed a historic act of national economic self-harm in Brexit; and who laid our nation’s reputation low across the world. May we never see their likes again.
People continue to struggle with that legacy and the cost of living in this country. However, in the face of that horrendous legacy, the job of rebuilding has begun and real progress is being made. Since the general election, there have been five interest rate cuts, which have taken nearly £1,500 off the average annual cost of a mortgage. Inflation is coming down. The average wage has increased by £1,800, and that will grow further, given the increase in the minimum wage that is provided for in the budget today.
We have always said that there was more to do on energy bills, which is why I am so pleased to see that, in today’s budget, the Chancellor announced that this Labour Government is cutting the cost of energy bills by £150 every year. Alongside the warm homes discount, that will mean that Labour has delivered £300 off energy costs for the Scots most in need.