Carol Mochan backs plans to stop SNP cuts to schools and vital public services
Scottish Labour candidate for Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley, Carol Mochan has backed bold plans from Scottish Labour to protect local schools and services from SNP cuts. She has issued a challenge to her SNP opponent Jeane Freeman to explain why she is standing shoulder to shoulder with the Tories in supporting the Tory/SNP cuts to public services proposed by John Swinney in his Scottish Budget.
Carol said
"SNP candidate Jeane Freeman owes us all an explanation why she is standing shoulder to shoulder with the Tories in supporting the Tory/SNP cuts to public services proposed by John Swinney in his Scottish Budget.
The draft budget set out by the SNP Government for the next year proposes cuts worth hundreds of millions of pounds to the funding for local councils, which will have devastating consequences for education in particular.
The consequences of that would be devastating for local services in South and East Ayrshire and would rob children across the local authority areas of opportunities.
Scottish Labour is calling on the SNP Government to use the new powers available to Holyrood today to set an 11p Scottish Rate of Income Tax in next year’s budget for 2016/17. This would mean setting a rate 1p higher than that proposed by George Osborne and John Swinney.
Under plans for a payment to ensure low paid workers benefit, more than 810,000 workers in Scotland will pay not a single penny more. The payment will be worth £100 to all income taxpayers earning under £20,000. Someone on a salary of around £30,000 a year would pay less than £4 a week extra under this plan. By contrast, someone on the same £144,687 wage as the First Minister would pay an extra £28 a week (£1,447 a year).
The SNP Government in Edinburgh has a choice. They can impose brutal cuts on our local services like our schools or they can use the powers of the Scottish parliament to reject that austerity and invest in our country’s future.
Given the choice between using the powers of the Scottish Parliament or cutting into Scotland’s future, Scottish Labour will choose to use our powers.
Scottish Labour will set the Scottish Rate of Income Tax one pence higher than the rate set by George Osborne and John Swinney, to provide an extra half a billion pounds a year to invest in our future.
This choice is about protecting our children’s schools and our nation’s economic future from these cuts; it means half a billion more to invest in the future of our children and our country. Austerity isn’t working for Ayrshire families. We can make a different choice and fairer choice. We can stop these cuts.”
Ends
Scottish Labour candidate for Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley, Carol Mochan has backed bold plans from Scottish Labour to protect local schools and services from SNP cuts. She has issued a challenge to her SNP opponent Jeane Freeman to explain why she is standing shoulder to shoulder with the Tories in supporting the Tory/SNP cuts to public services proposed by John Swinney in his Scottish Budget.
Carol said
"SNP candidate Jeane Freeman owes us all an explanation why she is standing shoulder to shoulder with the Tories in supporting the Tory/SNP cuts to public services proposed by John Swinney in his Scottish Budget.
The draft budget set out by the SNP Government for the next year proposes cuts worth hundreds of millions of pounds to the funding for local councils, which will have devastating consequences for education in particular.
The consequences of that would be devastating for local services in South and East Ayrshire and would rob children across the local authority areas of opportunities.
Scottish Labour is calling on the SNP Government to use the new powers available to Holyrood today to set an 11p Scottish Rate of Income Tax in next year’s budget for 2016/17. This would mean setting a rate 1p higher than that proposed by George Osborne and John Swinney.
Under plans for a payment to ensure low paid workers benefit, more than 810,000 workers in Scotland will pay not a single penny more. The payment will be worth £100 to all income taxpayers earning under £20,000. Someone on a salary of around £30,000 a year would pay less than £4 a week extra under this plan. By contrast, someone on the same £144,687 wage as the First Minister would pay an extra £28 a week (£1,447 a year).
The SNP Government in Edinburgh has a choice. They can impose brutal cuts on our local services like our schools or they can use the powers of the Scottish parliament to reject that austerity and invest in our country’s future.
Given the choice between using the powers of the Scottish Parliament or cutting into Scotland’s future, Scottish Labour will choose to use our powers.
Scottish Labour will set the Scottish Rate of Income Tax one pence higher than the rate set by George Osborne and John Swinney, to provide an extra half a billion pounds a year to invest in our future.
This choice is about protecting our children’s schools and our nation’s economic future from these cuts; it means half a billion more to invest in the future of our children and our country. Austerity isn’t working for Ayrshire families. We can make a different choice and fairer choice. We can stop these cuts.”
Ends