As UK cost of living crisis grows, Boris Johnson is about to make life more difficult for the poorest – Angus Robertson MSP

The UK government is presiding over the biggest challenge to incomes and cost of living in recent memory.

Scotland is being hammered by Boris Johnson and Brexit (Picture: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

It includes: plans for a rise in National Insurance payments; enormous energy cost increases; rises in the everyday cost of living; cuts to vital social security provisions.

While this will impact on most people, it will penalise low and middle-incomes households the most. The Scottish government will do what it can to protect people, but Westminster holds the key powers and ultimate responsibility.

Let us be under no illusion that we need to assess how we can recover from the economic damage caused by Covid. But, as has been shown by some of the world’s top economists, the key to growth is investment, not austerity-style deprivation.

As the high-profile anti-poverty campaigner and chef Jack Monroe has highlighted, the real cost of living has far exceeded the headline figures from the Office for National Statistics. The cost of everyday basic food products has risen by, in some cases, over 140 per cent.

This is contributing to the fact that, for huge numbers of young people and those on lower incomes, current salaries are just enough to take them to the next payday. There is already no opportunity to save for house deposits, invest in their family’s future, or protect themselves from any gaps in employment or increased financial or health needs.

It is mind-boggling to hear the UK government has decided now is the time for a National Insurance hike.

In Scotland, most people believe in progressive and equitable taxation. Those who earn less pay less tax in Scotland. Those who can afford it, pay a little more.

Yet this National Insurance tax rise from the UK government applies to incomes over £9500, meaning the least well-off and those on middle incomes will be penalised as heavily as those earning enough to manage the rise.

When income inequality is already at one of the highest rates in Europe, this National Insurance rise is, at best, unacceptable and at worst immoral.

Again, for young people who attended English and Welsh universities and graduated in the last ten years, the repayment threshold is not going to be raised in line with inflation, as was the intention. This will mean students pay, on average, an extra £3000 in their repayment period.

For Scottish students in Scotland, we have protected them from fee burdens as there are no higher education fees.

Another protection from the Scottish government is the doubling of the Scottish Child Payment to £20 per week per child from April 2022 – described as a “game changer” by the Child Poverty Action Group. This comes as the UK government is cutting Universal Credit to the poorest.

It is also the case that energy costs are going to rise, due to increased wholesale costs. In Scotland, we are working to ensure our energy supply is appropriately diversified with enormous new renewable projects such as ScotWind, which will help protect us from increasingly volatile gas and oil prices in the long run.

Households across the UK are being squeezed, and those on low and middle-incomes are being hit hardest. This inept and corrupt UK government promised dividends from Tory rule and leaving the European Union. Instead, we are taking a battering from Brexit and Boris Johnson.

Angus Robertson is the SNP MSP for Edinburgh Central and Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Secretary

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.