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Budget attacked for failure to mention Scotland |
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Thursday, 13 March 2008 |
Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has been slammed by Scottish politicians for failing to mention Scotland once in his Budget speech, and for imposing substantial new duty on whisky.
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth John Swinney said:
"This Budget statement by a Scottish Chancellor not only failed to
mention Scotland once, but it actually damages our economic interests
at a time when oil revenues are propping up the UK's finances.
"The Scotch whisky industry, one of our premium industries, now faces
savage increases in duty. This runs the risk of encouraging
international competitors to introduce punitive tariffs, and threatens
our ability to export as well as the jobs this industry sustains."
He added: "The Budget also signals that public spending will continue
to be tight over the next Comprehensive Spending Review period
beginning in 2011. With public spending increases significantly
constrained, it is clear that Scotland must expect a tight spending
settlement for the next six years, at a time when our North Sea
revenues are making a massive contribution to UK finances."
The Conservative Party also attacked Darling's Budget. Shadow Secretary
of State for Scotland David Mundell said: "This is a bad news budget,
particularly for Scotland which didn’t even merit a specific mention,
and especially for our whisky industry.
"In recent times, the Scotch whisky industry has been a good news story
for Scotland and indeed there are ambitious plans for future
investment. However, instead of supporting the industry and the 65,000
jobs which depend on it, Mr. Darling has put their future at risk with
the largest tax grab in a generation."
The Scotch Whisky Association reacted with "extreme dismay" to news of a duty hike.
Chief executive Gavin Hewitt said: "Scottish distillers are astonished
by the Chancellor’s announcement. The government’s own figures show
that any duty increase on whisky is likely to reduce revenue at a time
when public finances are tight.
"A tax rise is a blow to international competitiveness when the
industry has been investing significantly to meet growing global demand
for Scotch Whisky. It sets a damaging precedent that export markets may
follow."
The Budget was also criticised by the Scottish Green Party for not going far enough to address environmental concerns.
Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: "This Government has a dismal record on
the environment and on social justice, yet they are desperate to
pretend they have today delivered a "green budget". It amounts to a
handful of superficial efforts to cover up for a Government and a party
which remain committed to business as usual, and not in a good way.
"Today we needed to see a Chancellor brave enough to start the urgently
needed transformation of the British economy. A shift away from
Labour's carbon-dependent and unequal economic policies would boost
jobs and provide major improvements to quality of life across the
country, but sadly Alistair Darling has proved too timid even to start
this vital project."
However, children's groups broadly welcomed plans to tackle child poverty, although some said they did not go far enough.
Barnardo’s Scotland’s director Martin Crewe said: "The Chancellor
boldly set out the Government’s intention to move toward the target of
halving child poverty by 2010 with investments of nearly £1 billion per
annum.
"The measures announced today will make a real difference to the lives of 250,000 children across the UK.
"In particular, Barnardo’s welcomes the plans to disregard child
benefit when calculating housing benefit and council tax benefit which
will pull 150,000 children out of poverty.
"A lot more needs to be done and we will continue to put pressure on
the Government to meet the 2010 commitment but this is a dramatically
good news for children living in poverty."
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