For immediate release

Rutherglen MSP, Clare Haughey, has written to the new UK Labour Government’s Chancellor, ahead of the upcoming UK Budget – describing the “real apprehension and worry” that local residents have expressed to her about what it may have in store.

The letter to Ms Reeves comes on the back of the new Prime Minister warning that the UK budget will be “painful”, and reports in the press that UK Ministers are being asked to draw up ‘billions of pounds’ in cuts to infrastructure.

In her letter, the MSP warns the Chancellor against “repeating the same damaging mistakes as the Tories”, calling for the reinstatement of the Winter Fuel Payment, scrapping the two-child limit on benefits to tackle child poverty, full compensation for WASPI women who lost out on years of their pensions, and a sizeable increase in investment to public services – which would deliver funding consequentials for these vital services in Scotland.

Commenting, Clare Haughey, said;

“For many of my constituents, there has indeed been “change” since the election, but that change has not been for the better.

“There has rightly been a huge outpouring of anger about Labour’s first steps in Government – slashing Winter Fuel Payments for pensioners.

“The Prime Minister might make statements about his ‘heavy heart’, and ‘painful decisions’ – but the reality is that these are political choices.

“The new Labour Government is publicly laying the groundwork for another brutal round of austerity ahead of their first Budget.

“Fourteen years of Westminster failure has left public services in the UK at breaking point.  Our public services, most vulnerable households, and working families have been made to pay the price for Westminster cuts.  This cannot continue.”

ENDS