TORIES WILL IGNORE SCOTLAND JUST AS LABOUR HAVE DONE

TORIES WILL IGNORE SCOTLAND JUST AS LABOUR HAVE DONE

SNP ARE THE ONLY PARTY THAT WILL STAND UP FOR SCOTLAND

Responding to David Cameron’s comments on the BBC’s Politics Show, SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said:

“David Cameron’s warm words won’t be enough to fool the people of Scotland into believing the Tories have changed. It is noticeable that he refused to guarantee legislating within the first term of a Tory administration on the recommendations of the Calman Commission, which his party supported.

“Along with Labour, the Tories at Westminster have just kicked these reforms into the long grass despite Scottish Parliamentary cross-party support.

“The Tories are all over the place on constitutional reform. They back a referendum on extending the powers of the Welsh Assembly and have been longstanding supporters of a referendum on Europe, but refuse to allow the people of Scotland the chance to have their say on Scotland’s future.

“The Tories will pay dearly at the ballot box in Scotland – along with Labour and the Lib Dems – if they continue to deny the people of Scotland a free and democratic vote in an independence referendum.

“In reality, the Tories under David Cameron intend to impose a triple whammy of cuts to Scotland’s budget. He has backed the first real term cut since devolution in Scotland’s budget next year, supports further and deeper cuts in the years thereafter, and plans to introduce a new spending formula which will further reduce spending in Scotland.

“Instead of supporting swingeing cuts to Scotland’s budget, the Tories and Labour should scrap their nonsensical plans to spend up to £100 billion on replacing the Trident nuclear missile system.”

"The people of Scotland need local champions who will stand up for their interests. Only the SNP will speak up for Scotland's services as the London parties race to slash funding.

"Westminster is holding Scotland back. The only way Scotland can thrive economically is with fiscal autonomy. As the official GERS report lays out, Scotland recorded a current budget surplus over the three years to 2007/08 of £2.3bn while the UK ran up a deficit of £24bn over the same period.”