UK ECONOMIC GROWTH SLOWS

UK ECONOMIC GROWTH SLOWS

LONDON PARTIES MUST ADMIT SCALE OF UK CUTS AGENDA

Commenting on the 0.2 per cent UK growth in the first quarter of 2010 –
down from 0.4 per cent in the previous quarter – the Scottish National
Party’s Treasury Spokesperson Mr Stewart Hosie challenged the London-based
parties to “come clean” and admit the scale of their cuts agenda over the
next 12-15 years.

The Scottish Government published a report yesterday showing that it will
take a period of sustained adjustment lasting up to 12 to 15 years before
2009/10 levels of expenditure are reached once again. Over this period,
Scottish expenditure could cumulatively forego between £25 and £35 billion
in real terms compared to a situation whereby the 2009/10 peak level of
expenditure remained unchanged. The upper end of this scale would be more
likely if the UK economic recovery were to be slower than forecast in
Budget 2010. The UK equivalent figures would be between £250 billion on
Treasury forecasts and £370 billion on the basis of slow growth – and
today’s GDP figures indicate that the UK is on a slow growth trajectory.

Mr Hosie said:

“The London-based parties are trying to conceal the extent of their cuts
agenda from the electorate, but the information is now out in the public
domain and Labour, the Tories and Lib Dems must come clean in this
campaign.

“On the basis of Treasury growth forecasts, the cumulative UK cuts over
the next 12 years would be £250 billion. And on the basis of slower UK
growth – which the latest figures indicate is the case – we are talking
about cuts of some £370 billion over the 15 years it will take until
spending reaches the 2009/10 levels in real terms.

“The London parties are merely debating the tip of the iceberg on
television – they are desperate to hide the scale of UK cuts from the
people before 6 May. No wonder they ganged up to keep the SNP and Plaid
Cymru off the airwaves.

“Their position is now untenable, and the London parties must all be
challenged on they will respond, and what exactly they are proposing for
our key public services.

“The key issue over the next two weeks is ensuring that political choices
and priorities are changed from the intentions of the London parties, to
ensure that the cuts fall on the things that the people of Scotland
neither need nor want – Trident, ID cards, and a nuclear waste dump – and
that our public services are protected.

“The London parties are all tied into cuts of this scale – and the Tories
would even impose an extra ‘Cameron cut’ on Scotland, by forcing through a
worse funding formula without the consent of the Scottish Government or
people.

“That is why ‘more nats means less cuts’, because only the SNP stand for
dumping wasteful spending on Westminster vanity projects, protecting our
great public services, and charting a course to Scottish prosperity.”