CHANCELLOR SHOULD TAKE OWN ADVICE ON CUTS

SPENDING CUTS RISK CHOKING OFF RECOVERY

SNP Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP has called on the Chancellor to act on his own advice after Alistair Darling, delivering the Callaghan lecture in Cardiff today, warned cutting public spending now would risk "choking off" the recovery and prolonging the downturn.

Mr Hosie pointed out that Scotland faces a real terms cut to its Budget of £500m from 20010/11 as a result of Labour cuts.

Mr Hosie said:

“Alistair Darling needs to put his money where his mouth is and rule out Labour’s planned spending cuts to Scotland ’s budget. The Chancellor is absolutely right that cutting frontline spending now risks choking off recovery and prolonging the downturn – and he needs to act on his own advice.

“Now that Alistair Darling has admitted that cutting public spending before the recession has ended is the wrong thing to do, he must acknowledge the reality of his party’s damaging cuts agenda.

“Labour are planning to raid Scotland ’s health, education and housing budgets by forcing the first real terms cut in Scotland ’s public expenditure since the Tories in the 1990s.

“In contrast, the Scottish Government is focussed on investing in recovery from recession - today launching a skills support package to provide real financial support to businesses and individuals through the recession.

“Alistair Darling’s double standards show exactly why Scotland needs to be responsible for all of our own resources, with an independent Scottish Parliament controlling all revenue and spending in Scotland .”

TORIES ALLY WITH LABOUR TO SAVAGELY CUT SCOTTISH SPENDING

GOLDIE RENEGES ON PROMISE TO LIMIT CUTS IN SCOTLAND

"WHERE WILL TORY-LABOUR ALLIANCE MAKE THEIR CUTS?"

The Tories in Scotland have reneged on a promise to limit Scottish spending cuts to £28 million and are now backing Labour's plans for £500 million says SNP MSP Joe FitzPatrick – a member of the Scottish Parliament’s Finance Committee.

Yesterday Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie demanded that £500 million of cuts be identified in Scottish public spending - a figure supported by the Labour party.

This is in direct contradiction to their statement in January when they said that their plans had been drawn up in such a way that Scotland would only have to find £28 million of cuts because they would not affect health and education spending south of the border. (The Scottish budget is determined by spending in departments south of the border under the Barnett Formula.

Commenting Mr FitzPatrick said:

"Annabel Goldie's confirmation yesterday that she now wants to support Labour's plans for £500 million in spending cuts only confirms our previous concerns that the Tories would renege on their promise to limit cuts to £28 million.

"With Annabel Goldie now confirming she is supporting Labour's cuts she now has to follow her own advice and come clean. She has to explain why she has reneged on that promise not to cut spending by £500 million?

"And she and her Labour allies must also say where they will make their planned cuts. That the Tories plan £500 million cuts means that both they and Labour will cut spending to frontline services in health and education in Scotland.

"However they have not identified one area to cut despite calling for details from others. In fact both have been calling for more spending over this very weekend!

"If both were truly standing up for Scotland's public services they would be opposing these cuts like the SNP.

"They would both be agreeing with the SNP that the best way to save the tax payers cash is to dump the multi-billion Trident nuclear missile programme and the last vestiges of ID card, instead of cutting jobs and services.

“And with the latest GERS analysis showing Scotland in budget surplus – with a surplus of some £2.3 billion in the past three years - it beggars belief that two parties in the Scottish Parliament would be following their London bosses' cuts agenda.

"Rather than pay the price for the UK's mismanagement of our economy, the Westminster cuts make it absolutely clear why Scotland needs to gain responsibility for all of own tax and spending with independence.”

Gordon Brown should be straight about his spending plans

David Cameron accused Gordon Brown of being “incapable of being straight with the British public” at Prime Minister’s Questions.

He asked the Prime Minister to admit that Labour are planning to cut total spending – and when Mr. Brown claimed that spending would continue to rise, David pointed to a Treasury document that said there would be a ‘reduction in medium-term spending’.

"If even the Treasury is going around giving presentations around the country saying public spending as a total is being cut why can't he accept the truth?"

David said that not even the Cabinet were following Gordon Brown’s “ludicrous line” that spending would not be cut.

And when the Prime Minister refused to confirm that there would be a full departmental spending review before the next election, David stressed:

“Everyone will conclude that they don’t want a spending review because they do not want to own up to the cuts they are planning.”

"Demolition day" for Brown's tax and spend policies

The Governor of the Bank of England has called on Labour to set tougher goals to reduce the "extraordinary public debt".

This stark warning from the Governor, Mervyn King, comes on the same day as new figures show that Britain is facing the biggest deficit in the world.

George Osborne said, "This is the demolition day for Gordon Brown's tax and spending policies."

And the Shadow Chancellor added, "We urgently need an election to rescue this country from a government whose denial is a danger to the recovery."

Why can't the Prime Minister be straight with people?

David Cameron has called on the Gordon Brown to confirm that the Government is planning to cut public spending over and above inflation after 2010.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, David asked Mr. Brown to “be straight with the British people” and reveal his true spending plans.

He said the Prime Minister’s repeated denials are making him look “increasingly ridiculous” and concluded:

"If you cannot be straight with people, you are simply not fit to be Prime Minister.”

PM pledges continued investment in public services

Gordon Brown has visited an East London school to see the impact of public services on communities as he pledged to continue improving and investing in frontline services.

The Prime Minister and Home Secretary Alan Johnson met teachers, police officers and youth workers at Stepney Green school in Tower Hamlets, East London, to hear how they are working together to stop young people becoming involved in drugs.

The initiative is one example of the work being done by neighbourhood police - one area of public services which has been expanded as part of the Government’s drive to invest in the sector.

The PM said:

“We have just been expanding neighbourhood policing to every area of the country. We will continue to do it. We want people to be safer. Neighbourhood policing will be concentrated on the problems of burglary and anti social behaviour. We cannot see a cut - we will not allow it to be cut.”

There are now 3,600 neighbourhood policing teams across the country. The Government said that, in conjunction with Safer Schools Partnerships, they are helping to tackle youth crime issues.

BROWN BLUNDERS OVER SPENDING CUTS

DOWNING STREET DOUBLE STANDARDS ON INVESTMENT

The Prime Minister has been accused of double standards today (Wednesday) after claiming at Prime Minister’s Questions that the country faced a “choice between a government prepared to invest in the future and a Tory Party which is going to cut."

SNP Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP rounded on the Prime Minister over his claim, point out that the Scottish Government faces a real terms cut to its Budget of £500m from 20010/11.

Mr Hosie said:

“We all know the Tories plan spending cuts, but it is a bit rich for Gordon Brown to pretend he is not doing the exact same already. Labour and the Tories are peas in a pod when it comes to cuts.

“Gordon Brown’s boomerang blunder exposes the double standards of the Prime Minister’s position.

“Now that Gordon Brown has admitted that cutting public spending is the wrong thing to do, he must acknowledge the reality of his party’s damaging cuts agenda.

“Labour are planning to raid Scotland ’s health, education and housing budgets by forcing the first real terms cut in Scotland ’s public expenditure since the Tories in the 1990s.

“In contrast, the Scottish Government is focussed on investing in recovery from recession - today launching a skills support package to provide real financial support to businesses and individuals through the recession.

“The Prime Minister’s bluster demonstrates exactly why Scotland needs to be responsible for all of our own resources, with an independent Scottish Parliament controlling all revenue and spending in Scotland .”