The Chancellor has been urged to focus on ‘work not welfare’ when he delivers his Budget.
John Healey is facing calls not to proceed with expected increases in benefit payments and to instead focus on efforts to help people into work.
The Scottish Conservatives accused Labour and the SNP of trapping people in a life on benefits as they made a series of key demands including no more tax rise, approving the Rosebank oilfield and scrapping the windfall tax on energy profits, and freezing fuel duty.
The SNP also urged Andy Burnham to ensure the Budget focuses on measures to provide meaningful support for families by cutting energy bills by at least £300 and removing VAT from petrol and diesel ‘rather than showboating on TickTok or Gogglebox’.
Spending on benefits has soared in Scotland and across the UK and the cost of devolved welfare is projected to hit £9billion by the end of the decade.
Mr Healey will decide the payment rates for reserved benefits which apply across the UK, such as Universal Credit and Jobseeker’s Allowance in his Budget, while any uplifts for devolved welfare like the adult disability payment and Scottish child payment will be announced by the SNP Government later in the year.
John Healey is facing calls not to proceed with expected increases in benefit payments
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: ‘Labour’s Budget must be one that focuses on work not welfare.
‘For too long both Labour and the SNP have trapped people in a life on benefits and allowed welfare spending to spiral out of control.
'Chancellor John Healey should use his first Budget to grow the economy, face down his backbenchers and rein in a ballooning benefits bill.
‘The situation is even worse in Scotland where John Swinney has imposed the highest taxes in the UK to fund ever-increasing benefits spending and he has no intention of changing direction.’
He said other key demands set out by his party include freezing spirits duty, abolishing the family farm tax, scrapping VAT on household energy bills, and halving National Insurance contributions for workers aged 21-24, as he demanded a focus on measures to boost economic growth, protect jobs and support crucial Scottish sectors.
Mr Findlay said: ‘This Budget cannot repeat Labour’s endless doom loop of tax rises and soaring welfare spending, which are being replicated in Scotland by an incompetent and out-of-touch SNP government.’
The SNP said that cutting household energy bills by at least £300 and removing VAT from petrol and diesel for the remainder of the fuel price crisis would benefit households by around £500.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay says the Budget must focus on work not welfare
SNP economy spokesman Kirsty Blackman said: ‘Andy Burnham is fiddling while Brexit Britain burns.
‘The Prime Minister has wasted his first 100 days - spending more time showboating on TikTok and Gogglebox than delivering meaningful help for hard-pressed families.
‘Good vibes won’t pay the bills this winter - and the reality is many families are thousands of pounds worse off since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister.
‘At the UK budget today, the Chancellor must finally deliver meaningful help for the majority of households by cutting energy bills by at least £300 and by removing VAT from petrol and diesel for the remainder of the fuel price crisis.
'It could save households in Scotland £500 as prices soar under the Labour government.’
In today’s Budget, funding for the Scottish Government through the block grant is expected to be affected by a reduction in the pension costs of the UK Government payroll.
Any reduction in the block grant is likely to stoke a major row between Labour and SNP ministers, although the UK Government will argue that Scottish Government spending power will rise because it is also making savings from pension costs on its payroll.
In a video message ahead of the Budget, Mr Healey said: ‘Breathing space for today and fresh hope for the future. That’s what today’s Budget will deliver.
‘The world’s a highly uncertain place. Conflicts abroad are pushing up energy prices, and the cost of living here at home - piling pressure on the families, on businesses, and on our public finances.
'But Britain’s economy is showing real signs of resilience: investments up, productivity is growing, and we had the joint fastest growth in the G7 in the first half of this year.
‘We can’t stop these shocks that hit Britain, but we can make Britain more resilient when they do.
‘So, this Budget is designed to give households breathing space from some of the everyday costs, provide targeted support for businesses and self-employed people, and to start the long-term action needed to get energy costs down for good.’
