Swinney rejects ‘callous’ Tory calls for benefits cuts to reduce taxes

John Swinney has rejected as “callous” Tory calls for benefits support in Scotland to be reduced so that taxes can be cut in next week’s Holyrood Budget.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay had urged the First Minister to reduce the “crippling financial burden” on families by cutting income tax.

Adding that Scotland’s benefits bill is forecast to grow from £7 billion a year to £10 billion, the Tory said: “John Swinney could cut people’s taxes in this budget by tackling the out of control benefits bill, but does he have the bravery to do so?”

He challenged the SNP leader on the issue at First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood, with Mr Findlay telling MSPs that while social security provides “a vital safety net for those in need”, the level of payments “is unaffordable, it’s unfair and it’s unsustainable”.

The “only way” the Scottish Government can afford the rising cost of benefits is by “hiking taxes more”, the Conservative leader added.

Mr Findlay blasted: “John Swinney thinks he can take more and more from workers and businesses. And at the same time spend more and more on benefits.”

But the Tory argued that workers should be able to “keep more of their hard-earned money”.

Mr Findlay said that “taxes are too high in Scotland”, adding: “Scots are forced – not asked – to pay £1.7 billion extra a year through SNP income tax rises, yet they see a wasteful government, utterly incapable of fixing public services that only get worse.”

Calling for cuts, he argued that “struggling workers, families and businesses, they all deserve a break”.

Mr Swinney, however, said the “implications of Mr Findlay’s policies are to reduce support for vulnerable people in our society”, adding that “as a consequence more children will be subjected to poverty by the callous actions of the Conservative Party”.

Rejecting that suggestion, the SNP leader made clear: “We will have none of that on these benches. We will stand beside the families in Scotland, reducing poverty and making sure there is opportunity for all.”

The First Minister told MSPs that implementing Tory proposals for tax cuts would “also involve cutting public spending by £1 billion”.

He went on to highlight his government’s record on tackling poverty, as he claimed his Tory rival “doesn’t care about child poverty”.

Mr Swinney said: “When it comes to social security investment, what this Government has done has invested in measures such as the Scottish Child Payment, which means child poverty is falling in Scotland when it is rising in other parts of the United Kingdom, and we have child poverty levels that are at 30 year lows in Scotland as a consequence of our intervention.”