- “Smoke and mirrors” spending review could leave a blackhole for social care
- Police funding short-fall as families face council tax bombshell to pick up the tab
- Spending review: Reeves has put farmers “at the back of the Treasury queue”
- Welsh rail funding announcement – Wales getting the scraps again
- Lib Dems comment on defence, Acorn, supercomputer in spending review
“Smoke and mirrors” spending review could leave a blackhole for social care
Responding to the spending review, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:
This spending review was a missed opportunity to repair the damage done by the Conservatives and finally deliver on the promise of change.
Behind the smoke and mirrors is a potential blackhole for social care as local government budgets remain at breaking point. Putting more money into the NHS without fixing social care is like pouring water into a leaky bucket.
The Chancellor must also raise her ambition for the country and boost growth through a much closer trade deal with the EU. That’s the best way to improve people’s living standards and unlock billions of pounds more for our public services.
Police funding short-fall as families face council tax bombshell to pick up the tab
The Government has said that the ‘police core spending power’ increases assumes rises in the PCC council tax precept in order to fund it. It means people will be left to pick up the tab in order to fund increases in police spending with the Government refusing to cover the costs.
Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Lisa Smart MP said:
The Government is relying on a hidden council tax bombshell to fund their half-hearted rise in police funding as they pass the buck to local families.
After frontline policing was neglected for years under the Conservatives, local communities deserve better than this sleight of hand.
The Government must put more bobbies on the beat, with the proper funding to make it happen. Liberal Democrats will keep pushing for the proper neighbourhood policing our communities deserve.
Spending review: Reeves has put farmers “at the back of the Treasury queue”
Responding to the cuts to the farming budget, Tim Farron MP, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson, said:
I’m more than disappointed to see the Government once again put farmers and rural communities at the back of the Treasury queue.
With the Chancellor barely paying lip service to farmers in her statement to Parliament today, it’s clear the farming industry has been relegated in Reeves’ list of sectors to rescue. All this on top of the Government’s shameful family farm tax that’s ringing the death knell for farming communities across the country.
Reeves’ move today is just wrong. Our farmers need more investment, not less – including a cast-iron guarantee to maintain the nature-friendly farming funds rather than the cuts the Chancellor has introduced today.
Welsh rail funding announcement – Wales getting the scraps again
Responding to the news that Wales will get £445m for rail in the spending review, Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster Spokesperson David Chadwick MP said:
Yet again, we have seen Wales get the scraps. The funding announced today falls far short of the billions owed to Wales over recent years.
Not only that, but without fixing the system and devolving rail fully to Wales, we will continue to see the same funding scandals repeat themselves as spending in England is ramped up over the next few years, yet when I asked the UK Government to devolve rail to Wales by the end of this Parliament last week they refused.
Lib Dems comment on defence, Acorn, supercomputer in spending review
Responding to the UK Government’s spending review, Liberal Democrat Scottish Affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said:
Scotland has been held back by the Conservatives crashing the economy and the SNP’s costly blunders. The problem is families and businesses still don’t feel any better off.
The economy is bumping along the bottom. The UK Government needs to go for growth by negotiating a bespoke UK-EU Customs Union. It would turbocharge our economy, cut red tape for businesses, and raise billions of pounds to protect public services and struggling families.
On increases in the defence budget, which will including spending on the Clyde and at Rosyth, she said:
Liberal Democrats have pressed for the UK Government to go further and faster to rebuild our defence in this dangerous world. Scotland must play a pivotal role in strengthening those capabilities.
The SNP Government’s industrial strategy, skills pipeline and defence policies are all riddled with holes, so we need to protect against their failures throwing any spanners in the works.
On the Acorn carbon capture and storage plant going ahead, she said:
It was Liberal Democrats in government that first paved the way for the Acorn Project more than 10 years ago. It’s time to get it built, create ground-breaking green jobs and harness the North East’s engineering expertise.
On confirmation of £750 million investment to support Scotland to host the UK’s national supercomputer, she said:
When this project was abruptly cancelled I wrote to minsters and raised in Parliament that this would set back our national efforts to be at the forefront of both scientific inquiry and the AI revolution.
It has been bizarre to see Labour first pulling funding and then reintroducing it. They have run the risk of both universities and investors thinking that plans are being made up as they go along.
Nevertheless, today’s announcement will be welcomed at Edinburgh University and across the country. Scotland was at the forefront of the enlightenment and the industrial revolution. We can be again.