Browse content similar to 26/06/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Thank you. Good afternoon. George Osborne House laid out his | :00:09. | :00:17. | |
suspending envelope. More than 11.5 in -- 11.5 William pounds in cuts. | :00:17. | :00:23. | |
We will hear what is in store for the Scottish Finance Secretary and | :00:23. | :00:32. | |
get the political reaction from Holyrood. -- 11.5 billion pounds. | :00:32. | :00:41. | |
Here at Westminster we chew over the Chancellor's handiwork. | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
With me for the next hour in the studio is our political commentator | :00:44. | :00:51. | |
Albert Young and our dismiss and economy editor. Welcome to you both. | :00:51. | :00:58. | |
Alf, what is your reaction? I think a lot of that was trailed in | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
advance, we knew the global number and which department was going to be | :01:02. | :01:10. | |
hit and which would be ring fenced. The bit at the end about the further | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
attack on welfare benefits for those who lose work, and more particularly | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
the idea that in the civil service, at not just here, in the health | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
service, in schools, in prisons and in the police service there will not | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
be any more progression pay. If that is going to happen here in Scotland, | :01:30. | :01:38. | |
there will be a row about that. have been trying to crunch the | :01:39. | :01:45. | |
numbers for Scotland, Douglas. How is it looking? The bits that are | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
used to keep services turning over of nearly 2%, that is applied | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
through the Barnett formula. This year we are talking about, 2015, | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
2016 is down the road, we are looking at 27.5 billion pounds of | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
money available. It is a cut of nearly 2%. The capital budget is | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
increasing quite substantially. 13% and part of that is because there | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
are new powers coming in through the Scotland Act with additional powers | :02:17. | :02:24. | |
coming into Scotland. The Barnett formula takes all the different | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
departmental spending decisions and applies them so local government | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
gets clobbered again. There is a consequential effect on the budget | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
for Scotland. There really the thing that Holyrood spends on, that is | :02:38. | :02:40. | |
health and schools, or ring fenced and largely protected, but only | :02:41. | :02:49. | |
just. Is a little bit of shipping away. Overall, the Scottish budget | :02:49. | :02:55. | |
is yet to be distributed, but that is less bad than we have seen. | :02:55. | :03:02. | |
Fashion mag chipping away. -- chipping away. There are a | :03:02. | :03:09. | |
unorthodox means of getting the budget and progression awards in | :03:09. | :03:17. | |
focus here. The NHS is so big, �110 billion being spent according to | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
today's figures, the effect of protecting all of that means if you | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
have to apply cuts as the government must, then you must apply them are | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
severely elsewhere. That includes local government. What they are | :03:30. | :03:37. | |
talking about for England does not apply here in Scotland yet. It makes | :03:37. | :03:42. | |
a lot of sense in terms of delivery of the services for people who can | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
get stuck between the two systems. We have been talking about it for | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
years. In financial terms, it is significant that the health budget | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
may be getting a little shaved off at the edges in order to help other | :03:55. | :04:00. | |
departments that are suffering. Thank you all stop let us get a | :04:00. | :04:08. | |
straight to some of the reaction here in Scotland. We can speak to | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
the Finance Secretary John Sweeney who has been busy day jesting the | :04:11. | :04:21. | |
:04:21. | :04:25. | ||
figures. -- busy day jesting. -- busy assimilating. What are the top | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
line for Scotland? It demonstrates a further reduction in the operating | :04:30. | :04:36. | |
expenditure of the Scottish Government. We have seen that | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
reduced in 2015, 2016. The capital budget is largely flat on the | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
position at the end of 2014, 2015. The UK government is putting in | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
place additional financial measures including robbing that we knew was | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
coming. It will have to be paid back either Scottish Government were we | :04:54. | :05:00. | |
to use these facilities. The Chancellor has set out a clear | :05:00. | :05:02. | |
roadmap of further reductions in public expenditure that will go all | :05:02. | :05:10. | |
the way through to 2017, 2018 and it demonstrates that the power of the | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
United Kingdom is on is one of austerity and budget reduction. It | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
Scotland stays part of the United Kingdom that is exactly what we will | :05:17. | :05:24. | |
get. The Chancellor was clear about the reasons for austerity. He | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
pointed out some departments are being cut by 10% but Scotland is | :05:28. | :05:35. | |
having a 2% cut, so we are getting off relatively lately? That is | :05:35. | :05:45. | |
:05:45. | :05:45. | ||
related to the Barnett formula. Let us not be in any way deceived by | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
this. It represents a reduction in public expenditure into 2015, 2016 | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
and that is not something that has happened in one year. We have in | :05:54. | :06:00. | |
dealing with this since 2010, 2011. The capital budget has come down by | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
25%, between 2010 and 2015. We have seen reductions in our operating | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
budget by 7% over the same period. We are dealing with significantly | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
reduced public expenditure. If the Chancellor wanted to do something | :06:15. | :06:21. | |
about that he should have invested to expand and grow the economy. He | :06:21. | :06:27. | |
has burrowed over 275 billion pounds more than he expected simply to did | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
with the costs of failure within the economic policy over which he has | :06:31. | :06:38. | |
precise and that is a terrible economic legacy. He said he had to | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
ride the rough waves of the eurozone crisis and the rising oil prices. He | :06:43. | :06:53. | |
:06:53. | :06:53. | ||
said he was trying to inject growth into the economy. In 2015, 20 62, | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
you will have capital spending projects and spend three points | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
three billion pounds. That is a product of the Barnett formula. We | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
are getting to facilities, financial transactions which we will have to | :07:05. | :07:11. | |
pay back, borrowing facilities which we will have to pay back, but the | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
traditional core capital budget is remaining flat at a much reduced | :07:15. | :07:22. | |
level and a level that is 25% lower than it was in 2010, 2011. In | :07:22. | :07:28. | |
Scotland, we are delivering better economic news. We have rising | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
employment and falling unemployment. The economic developments and | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
positive pieces of economic news in the United Kingdom have emanated | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
from the you -- the economic performance of Scotland. We have | :07:42. | :07:44. | |
taken a different economic approach than the Chancellor of the | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
Exchequer. What we are concerned about is the good investments that | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
we have been making will be thwarted in the actions of the UK government | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
who are determined to inflict more austerity on the people of Scotland. | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
The Chancellor hopes to end the automatic pay increases for public | :08:01. | :08:07. | |
sector workers. That will applied to the UK public sector workers based | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
in Scotland. What about public sector workers when it comes to the | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
Scottish Government, the ones you control, such as the NHS and the | :08:13. | :08:20. | |
police? Do you foresee an end to automatic pay rises for them? | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
Scottish Government takes all its decisions overpay seriously. The | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
government will consider all of the issues about public sector pay | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
policy as we do within the context of the resources we have available. | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
One of the most important thing is I think has to be remembered at this | :08:37. | :08:43. | |
time, is as we try to reform public services, to adjust public services | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
to the changing financial landscape, we have got to make sure we take the | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
workforce with us. That is the spirit that the Scottish Government | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
will take forward as we address these issues and address the further | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
reductions in our budget that we face. Forgive me for | :08:58. | :09:04. | |
interrupting... We must have a responsible pay policy that we can | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
afford. If you want to take public sector workers with you it sounds | :09:09. | :09:15. | |
like you will not be implementing this procedure. As I said, we will | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
resolve the pay issues when it comes to the setting of the budget in | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
September. I think anyone that wants to take forward a serious programme | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
of public sector reform, which the Scottish Government is currently | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
doing, must recognise that they must take the workforce with them. We | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
will be mindful of that. Tough new rules when it comes to job-seekers? | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
You must wait seven days before you can claim and you must learn how to | :09:43. | :09:49. | |
speak English. What is your reaction? These are indicative of | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
the approach that has been taken on the wider welfare agenda within the | :09:52. | :09:59. | |
UK government. One of the problems in the UK is that they must satisfy | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
themselves to reduce budgets at the UK level but they move the Scottish | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
Government -- the problems onto the Scottish Government under local | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
authority partners. We are dedicated to giving people the support they | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
require, because by getting them into employment, we can create | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
economic opportunities and growth that lead to long-term economic | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
sustainability and that is how we tackle the issues in our public | :10:24. | :10:33. | |
finances. Thank you. We will recapture some of the main | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
point is that the Chancellor outlined. There are cuts of 11.5 | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
early in pounds and some departments are protected including schools and | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
health and overseas aid. That will have a knock-on effect on the money | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
allocated to Scotland. The Chancellor got to his feet over two | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
hours ago and started by detailing why the government is carrying out | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
this policy. We act on behalf of everyone who knows that Britain must | :10:57. | :11:03. | |
live within its means. We have applied three principles to the | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
spending round I set out today. Reformed to get more from every | :11:07. | :11:13. | |
pound we spend, growth to get Britain the education, enterprise | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
and economic infrastructure it needs to win the global race and | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
fairness, making sure we are all in it together, by ensuring those with | :11:23. | :11:30. | |
the broadest shoulders the largest burdens. We must make sure the | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
unfairness of the something for nothing culture in our welfare | :11:32. | :11:38. | |
system is changed. We are reforming pay in the public sector and holding | :11:38. | :11:46. | |
down pay awards. Public sector pay rises will be limited to an average | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
about two 1% for 2015, 2016. The biggest reform we make on page is to | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
automatic regression paid. This is the practice were many employees not | :11:55. | :12:02. | |
only get a pay rise every year, but also automatically move up a pay | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
grade every single year, regardless of performance. Some public sector | :12:06. | :12:12. | |
employees see annual pay rises of 7%. Progression pay can best be | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
described as antiquated. At worst it is deeply unfair to other parts of | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
the public sector who do not get it. The private sector must pay for it | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
so we will end automatic regression pay in the civil service by 2015, | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
2016. Because we have prioritised health and schools in England, this | :12:31. | :12:37. | |
leads through the Barnett formula to require resource savings of around | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
2% in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Scottish resource | :12:40. | :12:45. | |
budget will be set at 25 points �7 billion in Scotland will benefit | :12:45. | :12:50. | |
from new capital borrowing powers of almost �300 million. Being part of | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
the United Kingdom means Scotland will see its capital spending power | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
increase by almost 13% in real terms in 2015, 2016. It is for the | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
Scottish Parliament to decide how best to use it, that is devolution | :13:05. | :13:13. | |
within a United Kingdom, delivering the results. Separately we will make | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
10% savings to the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland offices. We | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
will introduce a welfare cap to control the costs of the welfare | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
bill. We will cap the system as a whole. Under the system we | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
inherited, welfare was put into a category called annually managed | :13:32. | :13:38. | |
expenditure, but it was not managed at all. It increased by a staggering | :13:39. | :13:45. | |
50% even before the crash. Our welfare cap. That happening again. | :13:45. | :13:52. | |
The cap will be set each year of the budget for four years. It will | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
reflect forecast inflation, but it will be set in cash terms. In | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
future, when a government looks to reach the cap because it is failing | :14:01. | :14:08. | |
to control welfare, the OBE are will issue a warning and the government | :14:08. | :14:16. | |
will be forced to take action and explain that to Parliament. A small | :14:16. | :14:24. | |
number of the most psychical benefits will be preserved -- | :14:24. | :14:30. | |
cyclical. Pensioner benefits will all be included, but the state | :14:31. | :14:40. | |
:14:41. | :14:41. | ||
pension will not be. I have representations that we should | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
include the basic state pension in the welfare cap. That would mean | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
that a future government can offset a rise in working age benefits by | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
cutting the pensions of older people. That penalises people who | :14:54. | :14:59. | |
worked hard all their lives, cutting pensions to pay for working age | :14:59. | :15:04. | |
benefits is a choice this government is certainly not prepared to make. | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
It is unfair, we won't do it and we rejected those representations | :15:08. | :15:16. | |
completely. Half of all job-seekers need more help looking for work, so | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
we will require them to come to the job centre every week rather than | :15:20. | :15:27. | |
once a fortnight. We will give people more time with job centre | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
advisers and proper progress reviews every three months, and we are going | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
to introduce a new seven-day wait before people can claim their | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
benefits. Those first few days should be spent looking for work, | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
not looking to sign on. We do these things because we know they help | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
people stay off benefits and help those on benefits get back into work | :15:50. | :15:58. | |
faster. And here is a further change: From now on if claimants do | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
not speak English they will have to attend language courses until they | :16:03. | :16:08. | |
do. This is a reasonable requirement in this country. It will help people | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
to find work, but if you are not prepared to learn English your | :16:11. | :16:17. | |
benefits will be cut. Taken together, this new contract with | :16:17. | :16:23. | |
people on benefits will save over �350 million each year and all that | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
money will enable us to afford extra support to help people get into | :16:27. | :16:34. | |
work. Helped to work, incentives to work and an expectation that people | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
should do everything they can to find work. That is there for people | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
out of work and it is fair for people in work who pay for them. The | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
decisions we take today are not easy and these are difficult times, but | :16:49. | :16:54. | |
with this statement we make more progress towards an economy that | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
prospers, a state we can afford, a deficit coming down and a Briton on | :16:59. | :17:08. | |
the rise and I commend this economic plan to the country. -- Britain. | :17:08. | :17:12. | |
We will have more analysis right here, but first let's pick up on the | :17:12. | :17:17. | |
interview with John Swinney we just had. He was not saying he would | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
commit to ending the automatic pay increase. It sounded like he wasn't | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
going to do it, at maybe that was just him. Young Mike it wasn't in | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
keeping with every other -- It wasn't in keeping with every other | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
challenge we have had. Generally they said we don't want to do this, | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
sometimes we have to, or we will protect you from the nutty things | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
happening in London. He is still not being clear. I wouldn't wish to | :17:49. | :17:55. | |
guess which way he is going to jump in September. This wouldn't apply | :17:55. | :18:05. | |
for UK reserved power workers, for example in the DWP and MoD. If it | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
applies also to the devolved powers, the NHS, police and local | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
government, they are separately negotiated, we would probably get a | :18:16. | :18:21. | |
signal in the draft budget from John Swinney in September. He is trying | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
to balance being affordable and responsible. Affordable is getting | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
very tight at the moment. At the same time, he doesn't want a fight | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
with the public sector unions. George Osborne has more appetite for | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
a bit of aggression in dealing with the public sector unions. The other | :18:40. | :18:47. | |
area we touched on what the spending on capital projects. �3.3 billion | :18:47. | :18:55. | |
for 2015/16. Mr Swinney was very critical. He is going to have to | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
borrow a bit of it anyway. He will be more reluctant to commit to | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
borrowing because that will add to his longer term problems about | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
fiscal credibility, whether to be an independent Scottish government. I | :19:10. | :19:17. | |
think both sides have a problem. Thank you very much. Let's just get | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
some political reaction to the Spending Review at Holyrood. I am | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
joined by the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats Willie Rennie, | :19:24. | :19:32. | |
Kevin McIntosh and Conservative spokesperson Simon Brown. I know you | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
are joining us before the division bell goes, you are voting this | :19:35. | :19:43. | |
afternoon. Let's get some Scottish Labour reaction to this. The | :19:43. | :19:51. | |
Chancellor Berry critical of the Labour left. -- very critical. | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
quite unbelievable. It is a disaster for Scotland and the rest of the | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
UK. This is the same approach the Chancellor took five years ago. He | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
said the problems caused by the deficit when it was caused by | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
demand. He said that by increasing public spending that would Frink the | :20:08. | :20:16. | |
deficit and grow the economy. -- shrink. The economy hasn't grown and | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
unlike every other country in the Western world we are still stuck in | :20:19. | :20:24. | |
recession. Instead of changing his policy he is doing the same thing | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
all over again and he says that austerity is going to work. I don't | :20:29. | :20:35. | |
know what has to go wrong for the Chancellor to rethink his approach. | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
George Osborne has not shrunk the deficit. The economy is not | :20:40. | :20:45. | |
growing. What is the problem? to disappoint Kevin McIntosh but he | :20:45. | :20:51. | |
has trumped the deficit. It was 11% when he took office, it is now the | :20:51. | :20:59. | |
tween seven and 8%. He has succeeded -- between seven and 8%. The growth | :20:59. | :21:06. | |
is disappointing but unemployment is far lower than was predicted. He is | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
getting the basics right but it is taking longer than predicted, and | :21:11. | :21:18. | |
that is disappointing. He has cut the deficit by one third. Willie | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
Rennie, the Democrats are all in this together with the | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
Conservatives. We heard from Vince Cable holding out from cuts to his | :21:26. | :21:34. | |
department. Then he caved in and accepted the cuts. Are you taking on | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
Ken Macintosh's criticisms that George Osborne's policies are not | :21:38. | :21:47. | |
working? The independent commentators see that the economy is | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
recovering. It isn't me that is saying that, it is independent | :21:50. | :21:56. | |
commentators. The deficit is coming down. This is Spending Review in | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
that context is not significant. It is a small amount in comparison to | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
the big achievements that have been made in recent months. We are not | :22:06. | :22:12. | |
complacent, there is more to do, but Ken should be a bit cheery about the | :22:12. | :22:19. | |
gains that have been made because things are getting better. All your | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
colleagues are going up the steps to vote, we will let you go up there as | :22:24. | :22:31. | |
well. Thank you very much. At the heart of it is our political | :22:31. | :22:37. | |
correspondent, who has been standing by. Thank you for joining me. George | :22:37. | :22:44. | |
Osborne, a 50 minute long speech. How do you think this will go down | :22:44. | :22:51. | |
at Minster with the backbenchers and also the Labour Party? I think the | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
Tory backbenchers will be very pleased. Labour will find things to | :22:54. | :23:03. | |
criticise. Essentially it is a carrot and stick policy. There will | :23:03. | :23:09. | |
be �11.5 billion of spending cuts in the financial year 2015/16. Why is | :23:09. | :23:17. | |
that unimportant? Well, the financial year 2015/16 starts in | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
April 2015 and that will be the last year of the present Parliament. The | :23:20. | :23:27. | |
future cuts will take place in the first year of the new parliament. | :23:27. | :23:33. | |
Many in Parliament agree the austerity programme will continue | :23:33. | :23:39. | |
past 2015. The government that takes power will have to make more cuts | :23:39. | :23:45. | |
along the line and those may be quite deep cuts. We may get to the | :23:45. | :23:50. | |
point when the Chancellor feels they can no longer do it with spending | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
cuts and there may be tax increases coming in along the line as well. | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
That is all for the future. The stick apart, as most people were | :24:01. | :24:09. | |
expecting, we won't welcome it. The carrot part is more money for | :24:09. | :24:11. | |
infrastructure spending. For Scotland a large part of that will | :24:11. | :24:17. | |
be seeing, we will give you the power to borrow extra money. You | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
want these capital projects, you go out and get the money, you finance | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
them, you do what you say you've been wanting to do. Now you have the | :24:26. | :24:33. | |
power. This is for 2015/16. Who knows who could be in government | :24:33. | :24:39. | |
then. It is interesting he has decided to have this now. Perhaps he | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
is setting a time bomb for whoever is at number ten down the line. Ed | :24:44. | :24:53. | |
Balls is having none of it. He made a Jeffrey, George and bungled | :24:53. | :25:03. | |
:25:03. | :25:04. | ||
joint, referring to the characters in Rainbow. -- joke. I don't think | :25:04. | :25:09. | |
it is a state secret if I told you that Ed Balls and George Osborne are | :25:10. | :25:16. | |
hardly bosom buddies. They speak out against each other every time the | :25:16. | :25:26. | |
:25:26. | :25:27. | ||
meat in Parliament. -- they meet. It is only for one year, 2015/16. He | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
didn't have to hold a Spending Review, he could have done it next | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
year, but what he is trying to do by invoking what the government will | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
spend in that year 2015/16, he is laying out the rabbit is | :25:41. | :25:51. | |
:25:51. | :25:53. | ||
economically for the next election. -- programme that is -- parameters. | :25:53. | :26:01. | |
If you are going to be bound by these parameters, this week will be | :26:01. | :26:07. | |
pivotal in moving towards the general election. We are to years | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
away from the general election but already we are starting to see the | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
ground being laid for that. We will be back with you shortly, thank you | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
very much. The leader of the opposition has a | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
right of reply, but at the Spending Review it is the Shadow Chancellor | :26:26. | :26:33. | |
Ed Balls. He spoke for 50 minutes but not once did he mention the | :26:33. | :26:40. | |
reason for this Spending Review. His comprehensive failure on living | :26:40. | :26:47. | |
standards and the deficit. Prices rising faster than wages, families | :26:47. | :26:54. | |
worse off, long-term unemployment up, welfare spending soaring, the | :26:54. | :27:01. | |
economy flatlining, the slowest recovery for over 100 years. The | :27:01. | :27:11. | |
:27:11. | :27:11. | ||
budget boasts, but borrowing went up, not down. He did not balance the | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
books, a deficit of �96 billion. More borrowing to pay for his | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
economic failure. That is why this Chancellor has been forced to come | :27:22. | :27:28. | |
to the house today to make more cuts to our public services. Mr Speaker, | :27:29. | :27:33. | |
that we ask the Chancellor. Does he recall what he said to this house | :27:33. | :27:39. | |
two years ago? He said, we have already asked the British people for | :27:39. | :27:45. | |
what is needed and we do not need to ask for more. We do not need to ask | :27:45. | :27:51. | |
for more. Isn't his economic failure the reason why he is back here | :27:51. | :28:01. | |
:28:01. | :28:02. | ||
asking for more today? More cuts to the police, more cuts to local | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
services, this out of touch Chancellor has failed on living | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
standards, growth and the deficit and families and businesses are | :28:08. | :28:14. | |
paying the price for his failure. Of course, Mr Speaker, it wasn't | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
supposed to turn out like this. Let me ask the Chancellor of the | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
Exchequer, does he remember what he told the House three years ago in | :28:24. | :28:30. | |
his first budget and Spending Review? He said, the economy would | :28:30. | :28:37. | |
grow by 6%. It has grown by just 1%. He pledged to get the banks lending, | :28:37. | :28:43. | |
but bank lending is down month on month. He failed the number one test | :28:43. | :28:50. | |
of his economic credibility, heaping the triple-A credit rating. -- | :28:50. | :28:56. | |
keeping the triple-A credit rating. He promised living standards would | :28:56. | :29:01. | |
rise but they are falling year on year. He said we are all in this | :29:01. | :29:08. | |
together but then he gave a huge tax cut to millionaires, Mr Speaker. He | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
promised to balance the books and that promise is in tatters. Failed | :29:11. | :29:19. | |
tests, broken promises, his friends call him George. The President calls | :29:19. | :29:29. | |
:29:29. | :29:32. | ||
on Jeffrey. To everyone else, he is just Bungle! That was the comment | :29:32. | :29:39. | |
from Ed Balls. The criticism of the Chancellor has been if you look at | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
many of his comments on social media, is that they want to cut | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
capital spending in 2010, that was one of their efficiency savings. Now | :29:48. | :29:54. | |
in 2013, we are looking at 2015, 2016 when the capital budgets are | :29:54. | :30:02. | |
going up. He wanted a quick hit as governments always do. They took one | :30:02. | :30:09. | |
quarter out of the capital budget. As John Swinney said, governments | :30:09. | :30:14. | |
are bad at delivering infrastructure. Ed Miliband was | :30:15. | :30:24. | |
:30:25. | :30:28. | ||
having fun today. In areas like school building and housing, large | :30:28. | :30:34. | |
numbers of project announced to years ago. He has delivered a | :30:34. | :30:43. | |
fraction of these. In Scotland we have had a lot of talk about | :30:43. | :30:49. | |
infrastructure. It has taken a long time to get into a rhythm and | :30:49. | :30:58. | |
producing new programmes for school buildings and so forth. The idea | :30:58. | :31:03. | |
that it all has an impact, and it makes things different and we | :31:03. | :31:08. | |
recover growth -- growth because we build things, the rhetoric is one | :31:08. | :31:15. | |
thing, the reality and delivering something else. Is George Osborne | :31:15. | :31:21. | |
secretly pursuing a different course of action? He is trying to put more | :31:21. | :31:28. | |
money into capital spending. As we have seen, the boosting of Scotland | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
is as a result of the Scottish Government getting powers to borrow. | :31:31. | :31:37. | |
South of the border, he has got to show that he can deliver on this. It | :31:37. | :31:43. | |
is not happening. It is not now, it is in two years time. Thank you very | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
much. The spending review was preceded by Prime Minister's | :31:48. | :31:55. | |
Questions. As Alf was pointing out, as Ed Miliband and David Cameron | :31:56. | :32:02. | |
clashed, they talked about infrastructure projects. He said he | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
wanted to bring forward every single infrastructure project in the | :32:05. | :32:13. | |
pipeline. Add a 576 project set out, how many have been completed? | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
You cannot build a nuclear power station overnight! They had 13 years | :32:19. | :32:26. | |
and they did not build a single one. Let me give him the figures. There's | :32:26. | :32:31. | |
government is electrifying more than 300 miles of railway track. Perhaps | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
he could tell us how many were electrified under the Labour Party? | :32:35. | :32:42. | |
Nine miles. That is the record. Prime Minister promised to balance | :32:42. | :32:47. | |
the books but rolling was up last year. He said we are all in it | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
together but living standards are falling. He must to get holding | :32:50. | :32:56. | |
Britain, they have not. All you need to know about this Spending Review | :32:56. | :33:01. | |
is that British people are paying the price for their failure. | :33:01. | :33:11. | |
:33:11. | :33:13. | ||
Speaker, let us remember what the Leader of the Opposition said at the | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
time of the last Spending Review. He told us unemployment would go up, it | :33:16. | :33:23. | |
has gone down. He told us crime would go up it has gone down. He | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
told us who are students would not go to university, the percentage has | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
gone up and he told us that the immigration policy would not work | :33:31. | :33:41. | |
:33:41. | :33:41. | ||
but we have cut immigration by one third. That is what we have done. | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
The Prime Minister told the Conservative Party conference that | :33:43. | :33:48. | |
in five years time we will have Alan is the books. That promise will be | :33:48. | :33:53. | |
broken, isn't it Prime Minister? have cut the deficit by one third | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
and we will conduct further by the next election. Frankly, coming to | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
this House and complaining about borrowing when you have got plans to | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
put it up is a pretty odd political strategy. That is the question he | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
must ask his front bench. Why, if borrowing is a problem, is Labour | :34:10. | :34:16. | |
policy to put it up? Last week the Prime Minister said that people on | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
these benches had forgotten about the bedroom tax but I can assure him | :34:20. | :34:26. | |
my constituents have not. In my city last week, only 23 one bedroomed | :34:26. | :34:36. | |
:34:36. | :34:36. | ||
homes were available to rent. Of those, four of them had over 200 | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
applicants. When is the Prime Minister going to admit that this is | :34:39. | :34:45. | |
not the best way of reducing the housing benefit will? The point I | :34:45. | :34:49. | |
would make to the honourable lady is that we are removing the spare room | :34:49. | :34:53. | |
subsidy because it is right to be fair to people in private rented | :34:53. | :34:56. | |
accommodation and those in socially rented accommodation at this in the | :34:56. | :34:59. | |
way is the perfect value to the Spending Review we are going to hear | :35:00. | :35:05. | |
about. Labour have told us they will be responsible about spending and | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
they will accept the cuts that have made. We hear constantly, bag | :35:09. | :35:12. | |
venture after backbencher and frontbench after frontbench, | :35:12. | :35:16. | |
complaining about the difficult decisions we have had to take and | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
promised to reverse them. They have no credibility. | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
We stay at Westminster and David Court -- Porter has some company on | :35:24. | :35:33. | |
College Green. The Chancellor has had his say and so has Ed Balls. | :35:33. | :35:38. | |
What do others think? Let's find out. I am joined by three members of | :35:38. | :35:44. | |
Parliament. We have a Conservative, a labourer, and an SNP | :35:44. | :35:49. | |
representative. Good afternoon. However you dress this up, Scotland | :35:50. | :35:56. | |
is facing cuts. This is a good deal for Scotland. We have additional | :35:56. | :36:02. | |
capital funding of �3.3 billion, increased borrowing powers which the | :36:02. | :36:05. | |
Scottish Government has asked for and they have been telling us they | :36:05. | :36:10. | |
have got these projects at the ready. This is the opportunity to | :36:10. | :36:18. | |
get out and buy shovels and yet shovelling! The ground for Scotland | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
is going down? It is not going down in comparison to the level of cuts | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
experienced by other departments. The Scottish budget has been | :36:27. | :36:34. | |
protected by decisions made at Westminster. There will be a real | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
terms cut of only 0.1%. I do not think in the environment we are in | :36:39. | :36:42. | |
and the reality of cuts we are experiencing, that could become | :36:42. | :36:52. | |
:36:52. | :37:03. | ||
claimed about. But obviously the SNP will try and do so. There are cuts | :37:03. | :37:06. | |
but not as bad as England? Chancellor was forced to come to the | :37:06. | :37:08. | |
chamber and admit his fundamental failures. This is an economic | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
crisis. He said... He has failed in all his key tests, there is a crisis | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
in wages and he needs to take the International Monetary Fund advice | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
about stimulating the economy. That is where this government has failed. | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
Let us put this on the record. At the Labour government came in in | :37:22. | :37:27. | |
2015, you would abide by the spending cuts? The government is | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
trying to avoid the issue. We need to borrow now to get the economy | :37:32. | :37:39. | |
moving and get infrastructure building. We are not denying as the | :37:39. | :37:42. | |
SNP sometimes do that you can sometimes forget all of this and | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
there are no difficult challenges. We will always be honest about this | :37:46. | :37:52. | |
but we cannot take try of the ball and we need action now. The UK | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
coalition government says it will give you the power to borrow more. | :37:56. | :38:02. | |
Get those shovels and get them working! We have just come off the | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
back of the last Spending Review which is a 25% cut in capital | :38:06. | :38:13. | |
spending and a 6-point fight card in revenue spending. We have a further | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
cut in revenue spending. In terms of the additional money, such as it is, | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
in capital, that is additional arrowing which is currently agreed | :38:21. | :38:28. | |
and it said that all the money announced at the budget... What we | :38:28. | :38:34. | |
needed from the Chancellor, across the UK, was our proper stimulus to | :38:34. | :38:39. | |
the economy to kick-start it and get it going, but he failed. He has | :38:39. | :38:45. | |
failed to learn the lessons of his own mistakes. He has failed and what | :38:45. | :38:50. | |
we got today will fail again. power comes responsibility. You have | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
the power to borrow. The UK government and I suspect the Labour | :38:53. | :39:01. | |
Party, will say could your financial mouth were you want it and go | :39:01. | :39:11. | |
:39:11. | :39:13. | ||
forward and bring these projects. must deliver projects, but this is | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
not about capital spending in Scotland, it is about all of the UK. | :39:17. | :39:22. | |
We have had massive posterity for the past three years. He said the | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
pace will continue until 2018 and this was the yacht -- parole policy | :39:26. | :39:36. | |
:39:36. | :39:39. | ||
prescription. He needs to practice what he preaches. For example, we | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
have had a fall in house building completions. The housing budget has | :39:43. | :39:51. | |
been cut. Economic experts will tell you you must build houses to get the | :39:51. | :39:59. | |
economy moving. The SNP has led the Scottish people down very badly. | :39:59. | :40:06. | |
This is typical Labour. You let the Conservative Party offer. The SNP | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
are failing badly in Scotland because they are doing for the | :40:09. | :40:11. | |
Conservative Party is doing across the rest of Britain. They are not | :40:11. | :40:21. | |
:40:21. | :40:22. | ||
investing. These two guys sometimes look the same to me! I am not | :40:22. | :40:29. | |
advocating more borrowing and more spending or debt. The prescription | :40:29. | :40:33. | |
market this was the prescription that got us into this. Labour caused | :40:33. | :40:39. | |
problems to the economy. If they address that, perhaps they could | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
have some credibility on this issue. The economy is failing because of | :40:44. | :40:47. | |
the state that you left it in and now we have no clarity on what you | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
want to do about it. One day your leader announces that he is going to | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
be tough on borrowing, the next day Ed Balls, who just seems to be able | :40:57. | :41:03. | |
to say and do what he wants, announces something else. It is | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
likely that whoever wins the next general election, there will be more | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
pain to come, isn't there? We are in a difficult global environment to | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
try and transform what is happening. We have issues and instability in | :41:17. | :41:24. | |
the Eurozone. There are issues in China and in the Far East as well. | :41:24. | :41:27. | |
We are going to be in a difficult situation and we are not ignoring | :41:27. | :41:32. | |
that. What we have made clear to people across the United Kingdom is | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
what we are going to do. It will now be for a Labour and other political | :41:36. | :41:42. | |
parties to set out what they will do. In terms of Scotland, what the | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
Scottish National Party and the Scottish Government needs to do, | :41:46. | :41:54. | |
they need to get on with the projects that they said were ready. | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
Looking ahead to 2015 and whoever wins the general election, they have | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
lots and stark choices to make. There is no doubt it will be | :42:04. | :42:11. | |
difficult. We need a different prescription of the way forward for | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
all the people across the United Kingdom. But do not let that divert | :42:14. | :42:20. | |
you from the need to take action now. This government must produce a | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
viable economic plan. It needs to stimulate the economy, and cutting | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
your way through everything is not the answer. We do recognise there | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
will be real difficulties with spending. The best way to spend that | :42:34. | :42:40. | |
is by growth. That must be faced. Whatever happens with the Scottish | :42:40. | :42:45. | |
referendum next year has -- as far as Westminster is concerned, 2015 | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
general election, whoever gets here must give the UK some nasty | :42:49. | :42:57. | |
medicine? Not necessarily. The last Labour government and this | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
Conservative government had fundamentally the same plant, a | :43:02. | :43:05. | |
deficit consolidation strategy over a fixed timescale that did not leave | :43:05. | :43:13. | |
room to manoeuvre. There have been extenuating external factors such as | :43:13. | :43:18. | |
Greece. Whoever wins the next election must reset the entire | :43:18. | :43:23. | |
strategy. They must have a long-term strategy. I hope this is the last | :43:23. | :43:27. | |
Westminster Spending Review Scotland has to supper. We will leave it | :43:27. | :43:37. | |
:43:37. | :43:39. | ||
there. Thank you Albury much. -- thank you all very much. Thank you | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
very much for that. Our political editor Brian Taylor has been | :43:44. | :43:50. | |
crunching through the figures as well. Let's get his analysis. We | :43:50. | :43:57. | |
were just hearing David say that Scotland's budget is being protected | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
in comparison to some of the other budgets that are facing cuts of 10%, | :44:01. | :44:09. | |
but there is still a cut of 2%. relative terms by comparison with | :44:09. | :44:16. | |
some individual Whitehall cuts, 2% is less than that. You must regard | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
the Scottish position in two ways. Scotland is affected by the overall | :44:20. | :44:27. | |
UK changes, particularly those changes in welfare. Then you have | :44:27. | :44:37. | |
the secondary element, the cuts to the direct Scottish budget. In | :44:37. | :44:43. | |
England health and schools are relatively protected and they are | :44:43. | :44:49. | |
large part of the Scottish budget, they are protected. John Swinney | :44:49. | :44:55. | |
says it is a relative standstill comparatively. The money that is | :44:55. | :45:03. | |
available, he says, is borrowing that will need to be paid back. This | :45:03. | :45:13. | |
:45:13. | :45:16. | ||
is the advantage and Scotland should take the opportunity. The issue of | :45:16. | :45:22. | |
pay, public sector pay is an issue. This is a large part of the | :45:22. | :45:28. | |
Chancellor's strategy for stopping these automatic progressions | :45:28. | :45:32. | |
year-on-year. John Swinney must decide whether he will replicate | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
that or find some squeeze out of his existing budget to make it look a | :45:36. | :45:41. | |
bit better. My guess is he will try to make it look better for Scottish | :45:41. | :45:46. | |
public sector workers. Why? Because it fits with his general strategy | :45:46. | :45:53. | |
and because of the matter of the referendum next year. There was a | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
hint that we were getting here, no commitment but a hint. You mention | :45:58. | :46:05. | |
the referendum. How does this play politically, because this is for | :46:05. | :46:12. | |
2015/16 and there is the Scottish Parliament are action -- election in | :46:12. | :46:19. | |
2016. People will be feeling disquieted by September 2014, | :46:19. | :46:26. | |
dealing anxious about the economy. Will stop make them -- will that | :46:26. | :46:33. | |
make them less likely to vote for change or will they look at it as an | :46:33. | :46:42. | |
opportunity for Scotland to move out from under the wing of Westminster. | :46:42. | :46:47. | |
I think this issue of blame or responsibility rather than blame | :46:47. | :46:51. | |
will be a critical factor in the referendum. People attach | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
responsibility and thus the blame to either the Scottish Government or | :46:56. | :47:03. | |
Westminster, and that will be key. The Secretary of State for Scotland, | :47:03. | :47:07. | |
Michael Moore, has been making 10% cuts to his own department. David | :47:07. | :47:15. | |
Porter has been speaking to him. Chancellor has now sat down and MPs | :47:15. | :47:19. | |
are getting a chance to distil what's the Spending Review means for | :47:19. | :47:24. | |
them. What does it mean for Scotland? Thank you for joining us, | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
Michael Moore. It is a simple question, what does this mean for | :47:27. | :47:35. | |
Scotland? We get a huge increase in the capital budget for Scotland, a | :47:35. | :47:41. | |
13% increase, which is great news for investing in Scottish capital | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
projects and infrastructure. Here we are delivering for them. The | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
Scottish budget is generally protected because a decision has | :47:51. | :47:56. | |
been taken at a UK level to protect health and schools. It is a very | :47:56. | :48:04. | |
difficult economic background, here we are making long-term decisions. | :48:04. | :48:13. | |
Extra spending on investment, in financial terms what will it be? | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
will be �296 million of new borrowing powers introduced by last | :48:16. | :48:23. | |
year's Scotland Act. That gives the Scottish Government huge freedom to | :48:23. | :48:29. | |
invest in schools and infrastructure, very important for | :48:29. | :48:35. | |
us at this critical time. This is against the backdrop of the | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
continuing challenges of the international economy, but we are | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
confident that we are now in the recovery phase. We are taking the | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
right decisions for the Scottish economy. This is not extra money | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
coming from Whitehall, this is the ability for the Scottish Government | :48:51. | :48:58. | |
to borrow that money. There will be a mixture of capital and consented | :48:58. | :49:02. | |
purchase, something that we battled long and hard about to deliver in | :49:02. | :49:07. | |
the Scotland Act. In effect you are bringing those borrowing powers | :49:07. | :49:16. | |
forward. You are not giving Scotland extra money for infrastructure. | :49:16. | :49:22. | |
are giving significant new powers, 2.2 billion in total, four capital | :49:22. | :49:28. | |
borrowing in Scotland. That is a major breakthrough. It is not to be | :49:28. | :49:34. | |
sniffed at. It is exactly the kind of freedoms that Scottish agitators | :49:34. | :49:39. | |
have been calling for. This will get the Scottish economy on the right | :49:39. | :49:48. | |
track. It is been a challenging few years. Let's deal with the stick. | :49:48. | :49:56. | |
There will be a reduction, I'll be at a smaller one than in England, -- | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
albeit a smaller one than in England. You only have to look at | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
Europe to see what is happening in the Eurozone, there are still major | :50:05. | :50:10. | |
challenges. People haven't forgotten the legacy we were left with by the | :50:10. | :50:15. | |
last Labour government, so we have to continue making tough choices but | :50:15. | :50:23. | |
we believe in prioritising the way we have and making the right | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
decisions for Scotland. It is worth saying that this settlement is only | :50:27. | :50:34. | |
for a year. After the next general election there will have to be | :50:34. | :50:40. | |
further decisions, weren't there? The recovery has been longer than | :50:40. | :50:50. | |
:50:50. | :50:51. | ||
we'd hoped because of the international economy, but we are | :50:51. | :50:59. | |
prioritising international investment -- infrastructure | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
investment and tax reform. That is very important for us to continue to | :51:03. | :51:09. | |
deliver and something that I am particularly proud of. Is it a case | :51:09. | :51:17. | |
of pain deferred, not pain reduced altogether? What we are doing is | :51:17. | :51:23. | |
taking responsible steps to move from the recovery phase... From the | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
rescue phase to the recovery phase. Today's spending round supports | :51:28. | :51:36. | |
that. The acid test for Scotland is if we are having this conversation | :51:36. | :51:44. | |
in a year's time, will more people be in work and will those capital | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
projects, the borrowing you are allowing, be up and running? | :51:49. | :51:55. | |
Scottish Government say they have projects ready to go, we want to see | :51:55. | :52:03. | |
those projects happen, but we are seen over the past three years over | :52:03. | :52:07. | |
350,000 jobs created in the private sector, we want to reduce | :52:07. | :52:13. | |
unemployment, we are not complacent and we want to make sure the economy | :52:13. | :52:18. | |
continues on the right road. As far as these capital projects are | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
concerned, is it up to the Scottish Government to decide what projects | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
they choose will Whitehall be saying, we fancy that one, we don't | :52:26. | :52:32. | |
fancy that one? These powers are devolved to the Scottish | :52:32. | :52:35. | |
Government. The Scottish Government will set them for the country as a | :52:35. | :52:41. | |
whole. UK Government will continue to invest across the whole country, | :52:41. | :52:49. | |
whether it is working together on HS2, rural broadband or other | :52:49. | :52:52. | |
initiatives that will be announced tomorrow. Across the UK we are | :52:52. | :52:57. | |
continuing to invest and that is happening in Scotland as well. | :52:57. | :53:05. | |
you for joining me, Andrew, back to you. | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
A final word with this afternoon's commentator, Alf Young. What is the | :53:10. | :53:15. | |
strategy behind this are Spending Review? What is the Chancellor up | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
to? Is he trying to show he is responsible and credible, trying to | :53:19. | :53:24. | |
put Labour in an awkward position? The core strategy is political | :53:24. | :53:29. | |
positioning. This could have been done next year, but he is setting | :53:29. | :53:35. | |
the scene. He is setting up some big points that he hopes he can go to | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
labour into saying, we will do that as well. Some of the stuff about pay | :53:40. | :53:45. | |
reform and welfare reform, he knows there is a constituency out there | :53:45. | :53:51. | |
that thinks too many people are on welfare. He will hope to push Labour | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
into that position. Equally, there is a strategy these are the Scotland | :53:56. | :54:06. | |
:54:06. | :54:08. | ||
and the referendum -- vis-a-vis. John Swinney is reluctant about | :54:08. | :54:17. | |
following the Chancellor 's reforms, he is having to say that | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
this wouldn't happen if we were independent, but a lot of countries | :54:20. | :54:26. | |
in the world are looking for growth and not finding it. The central | :54:26. | :54:32. | |
issue is that question of growth and demand in the economy. If another | :54:32. | :54:35. | |
144,000 people are leaving the public sector, if there is not going | :54:35. | :54:40. | |
to be progression pay for these areas of the public sector, if pay | :54:40. | :54:46. | |
itself is going to be continually capped right through to 2016, people | :54:46. | :54:49. | |
will have less money in their pockets. People on welfare will have | :54:49. | :54:54. | |
less money in their pockets. If they don't have money then they won't be | :54:54. | :54:59. | |
spending, and if demand isn't there then it doesn't matter how many | :54:59. | :55:05. | |
shovels you wield, if you build a bridge here or road there, there | :55:05. | :55:14. | |
won't be any growth. The growth story, the backdrop, people will | :55:14. | :55:19. | |
look at this and ask, where is it coming from? The story of the | :55:19. | :55:25. | |
stimulus is still there to be fought over by one side or the other. | :55:25. | :55:31. | |
Taylor was speaking about the blame game and the SNP -- Brian Taylor was | :55:31. | :55:36. | |
speaking about the blame game, but that can be a risky strategy for the | :55:36. | :55:42. | |
SNP. The SNP Government gets the money and spends it so it doesn't | :55:42. | :55:45. | |
have responsibility for the bigger picture about where the growth is | :55:45. | :55:53. | |
going to come from. They say, if only they had the power to do that, | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
but they are asking if they are really going to get back to the | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
growth we used to know or if there is a new world we are facing where | :56:01. | :56:07. | |
growth is at a low level and not so easily gained. Thank you for your | :56:07. | :56:10. | |
company this afternoon. More from Danny Alexander and the | :56:10. | :56:14. | |
infrastructure programme tomorrow. That is all we have time from and | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
that is indeed ask for this session of Holyrood. We will be back in | :56:19. | :56:26. |