Scottish Budget must use extra money from Westminster to counter Tories' tax raid on poor, help businesses and boost jobs – Daniel Johnson MSP

Last week we saw the UK budget published and it showed how out of touch the Conservative Chancellor is, despite his attempts to dress down and wear socks with sliders for his pre-Budget photos.

Rishi Sunak's Budget was good for wealthy Champagne-drinkers but bad for those on low incomes (Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Maybe I’m old fashioned but I'm not convinced these decisions are best made by a Chancellor chilling out in Number 11 in flip flops.

A week before the global climate conference in Glasgow, he cut taxes on flights and champagne while working people now face the highest taxes since the Second World War.

His plans amount to taking away with one hand while giving a fraction back with the other and asking for credit.

He has taken £6 billion out of the pockets of the poorest people across the UK and handed only a third of that back through his Universal Credit changes and he’s expecting people to be grateful.

The changes to the tapering system also mean that only those in work will receive any money back at all. The Chancellor introduced all these added National Insurance contributions during the pandemic and is holding onto them.

He is taxing working people more while those earning income through property and shares pay 26 per cent compared to the 36 per cent average.

But what I would acknowledge is that the Budget takes some action in key areas of economic recovery where so far the SNP have been slow to act.

Reduced business rates for hospitality and retail will contrast with current Scottish government plans to reintroduce these business taxes in full next year.

That could prove lethal for many local high streets. Likewise increases in skill spending is important. There were almost 100,000 people still on furlough in Scotland when it came to an end. Yet so far the training and jobs schemes will amount to little more than a third of this figure, let alone the thousands more who are unemployed.

The UK Budget is the starting gun for the Scottish Budget on December 9. They have more money to spend than they were expecting so they must take clear and decisive action to stimulate economic recovery.

That means taking specific measures to help business, protect jobs and support those who need to reskill. People don’t just slide into new jobs in new industries effortlessly. The damage of de-industrialisation across the Central Belt in Scotland makes that abundantly clear.

The Scottish Budget must learn from the mistakes both of the Conservative Budget and those of their own making. They must use additional money to target recovery in jobs and to help businesses survive.

They cannot do so by cynically adding additional burdens to those they seek to help. But most importantly we need a clear plan.

The Scottish government is good at announcing pots of money but poor at explaining what they will do or when they will be delivered.

We need a Recovery Budget that delivers a clear and detailed recovery plan. If it fails to do so, the cost will be counted in failed businesses and lost jobs.

Daniel Johnson is Scottish Labour MSP for Edinburgh Southern

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