JOHNSON ACCELERATING OVER NO DEAL CLIFF-EDGE.
SNP: BILLIONS IN ADDITIONAL NO-DEAL SPENDING AVOIDABLE.
The SNP has warned that the Tory government is accelerating over the economic cliff-edge, following the announcement an additional £2.1bn of taxpayers’ money is being allocated for no-deal planning.
With just over 90 days till the October Brexit deadline, Stephen Gethins MP said the measures were “entirely avoidable” and an ideological move that laid bare the Tories’ priorities while the impact of a decade of austerity cuts continues to hit families across Scotland.
The Tory government’s funding plans for stockpiling supplies, tackling traffic disruption, and securing vital medicines, would take the total amount of spending this year alone to over a staggering £6bn – all of which could have instead been invested in the NHS, helping with living costs, or boosting the economy.
The latest Brexit cash splurge follows on from a study last month that showed nearly 4m across the UK are trapped in deep poverty, with earlier figures also showing that foodbank use is on the rise.
Stephen Gethins MP, the SNP’s Europe and Foreign Affairs spokesperson, said:
“Rather than working to avert a catastrophic no-deal exit, Boris Johnson is accelerating over the economic cliff-edge.
“With just three months to go before the revised Brexit date, Boris Johnson should be ruling out a no-deal exit and instead working towards bringing the Brexit chaos to an end – not pursuing an avoidable and purely ideological policy that lays bare the shameful priorities of this Tory government.
“The staggering £6bn for a no-deal Brexit is a shameful waste of money at the same time as Tory welfare cuts are increasingly driving people to foodbanks and public services are still bearing the pain of Tory austerity.
“Boris Johnson’s adviser has already admitted that Tories don’t care about the NHS or the less well off – choosing to spend £6bn on preparations for an economically damaging no deal that will hit the poorest hardest confirms he was right.
“People in Scotland deserve the choice of a better future than the Brexit Britain being imposed on us. It’s clearer than ever that the only way to properly protect Scotland’s interests is by becoming an equal and independent European country.”
More than 4m in the UK trapped are trapped in deep poverty: https://www.
UK food banks fear busiest summer ever is ahead:
https://www.trusselltrust.org/