Sturgeon must come clean about job losses – Dugdale

Nicola Sturgeon must come clean about how many jobs will be lost because of her budget cuts, Scottish Labour said today.

Yesterday the Deputy First Minister John Swinney said claims about job losses have been “utterly exaggerated”. Yet trades unions have said that thousands of jobs will be lost because of the SNP’s budget cuts for next year.

Unite Regional Officer Willie McGonigle said:

“To suggest the Budget cuts will have ‘a minimal impact on jobs or services’ is frankly astounding. We’ve lost 40,000 local government jobs since 2010 and over the next year we will likely lose a further 15,000 as a result of the Scottish Government’s cuts.”

At First Minister’s Questions today Nicola Sturgeon was asked by Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale to set out how many jobs will be lost as a result of the SNP’s budget. The First Minister refused to do so.

Labour produced a plan during the budget process to set a Scottish rate of Income Tax 1p higher than the rate set by George Osborne. This would have increased the Scottish Government’s budget for 2016/17 and stopped the SNP’s cuts to schools and other vital public services. The SNP and the Tories stood shoulder to shoulder to vote against this plan and for more cuts.

Kezia Dugdale said:

“The casual disregard with which John Swinney dismissed those who are losing their jobs left many workers sick to their stomach. To hear Nicola Sturgeon join in the attack on trade unions today is even worse.

Despite the pretence from the government, the reality is that cuts are happening all across the country because of a choice the SNP made. Teachers, classroom assistants and office staff find themselves out of work because of choices the SNP have made.

Nicola Sturgeon should come clean about how many jobs will be lost as a result of her cuts.

With the budget we were faced with a choice between using the powers of this Parliament to invest in the future or imposing more cuts to vital public services. Yet when Nicola Sturgeon had the chance to use the powers to stop cuts to schools and save jobs she bottled it with her austerity budget.”

Related Posts

21 thoughts on “Sturgeon must come clean about job losses – Dugdale

  1. “We will…..lose a further 15,000……next year.”—-McGonnigle.
    Was it Rowley who claimed —–” 10’s of thousands of job losses” ?

    Frankly this is embarrassing mince. These figures are a gross exaggeration.
    Perhaps some journalist could run a FACT CHECKER——as if!

  2. “Nicola Sturgeon must come clean about how many jobs will be lost because of her budget cuts, Scottish Labour said today.”

    I can do it for her. NONE! Not one single job will be lost because of any policy decisions made by the Scottish Government.

    However once again 1000s will be lost as a direct result of cuts imposed by Westminster on the Scottish budget. Cuts voted for by both the Conservative Tories and the Labour Tories. Cuts opposed by the SNP in Westminster.

    Labour finding itself without anything decent to say for itself once again tells great big fat lies regarding the Scottish Government by projecting their own faults and policies onto them.

    Labours election manifesto contained the same pledge as the Conservatives to cut 30 billion from public services. 12 billion of it directly from the welfare and benefits.

    This is deliberate sanctioned ideologically imposed austerity and its part of our Better Together Union package and all Labour in Scotland can do is lie their worthless arses off trying to pin it all on the only mainstream party in the UK who opposes these ideological targeted criminal policies.

    Pretty disgusting really.

    1. Labours election manifesto contained the same pledge as the Conservatives to cut 30 billion from public services. 12 billion of it directly from the welfare and benefits.

      in bold….

      people should remember this clearly when dealing with Labour….

      Labour are trying to airbrush their part in this out of history

          1. Yawn, Wasn’t a vote for £30bn cuts then, wasn’t a vote for £30bn cuts the last time you tried to pretend it was, won;t have been a vote for £30bn cuts the next time you bring it up.

            All you have is lies, Mike. Pathetic.

  3. Where is the source of all the Austerity? Follow the trail back to Tory Westminster where Labour stood with the Tories in principle for all of it. And down the pipe it continues to come.

    …but as usual it’s SNPBAD with Dugdale and Co. and their selective amnesia.

  4. We’ve lost 40,000 local government jobs since 2010 and over the next year we will likely lose a further 15,000 as a result of the Scottish Government’s cuts.”

    remind me who’s in charge of council employment and who decides which jobs are cut?
    (Labour councils)
    Remind me by how much the Scottish budget has been cut in the past 5 years?
    (10%)

    At First Minister’s Questions today Nicola Sturgeon was asked by Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale to set out how many jobs will be lost as a result of the SNP’s budget

    Kez should ask the varous Labour council groups across the country as they are the one’s who decide and what to spend money on (like pedestrianising a main street that no one wants – whilst slashing funding elsewhere)

    Labour produced a plan during the budget process to set a Scottish rate of Income Tax 1p higher than the rate set by George Osborne.

    great idea – tax the poor to pay for Labour’s profligate waste at council level

  5. “Yawn, Wasn’t a vote for £30bn cuts then, wasn’t a vote for £30bn cuts the last time you tried to pretend it was, won;t have been a vote for £30bn cuts the next time you bring it up.

    All you have is lies, Mike. Pathetic.”

    Well that’s about as convincing as you’ve ever been.

    All I have is evidence. All you have is your sycophantic desire to deny.

    1. You have no evidence. We’ve been round this. Your claim is based on the false assertion that the vote for the CBR was a vote for £30bn cuts. It’s a lie. Stop trotting it out.

      1. Only Labour are claiming is wasn’t! Even the media says it was! Your media!

        Is there nothing you wont deny for Labour?

        1. The CBR – the actual document that was voted on – proves it wasn’t. You, and everyone else who claims it was, can go to hell.

          1. You are unbelievable. Ed Balls was unable to deny on TV several times when asked directly that he wouldn’t impose the 30 billion cuts agenda. Ed Miliband couldn’t deny it during the debates either.

            You know it I know everybody and his fucking dog knows Labour would have imposed the same 30 billion cuts on the UK budget had they won the election because they never made any secret of the fact!

            And when they had a chance to vote against the Tory austerity package they voted FOR IT! The SNP VOTED AGAINST IT!

            That’s where it started! That’s why everybodies budget is getting cut. So don’t go lying your worthless arse off again blaming it on the only mainstream party who voted against the cuts.

          2. Well Duncan I thought I would refresh my memory about the labour austerity vote with the torys/libdems and heres the headline from the Morning Star the next day (Jan 2015 – Thur 14th) :

            Labour MP’s backing for Austerity Bill a “disservice”

            – this was a quote by Diane Abbott labour MP, she was one of five labour MP’s who voted against the bill with Katy Clark, Dennis Skinner, Austin Mitchell, and Rodger Godsiff, a small number (unknown) abstained but all the rest voted with the con/dems to pass the Con-Dems budget responsibility Charter by 515 votes to 18.

            The Bill included a 30 billion in cuts that the “Institude of Fiscal Studies” called colossal and warned would reduce public spending to 1930 levels.

            Now Duncan to find all this out I just had to type in “labour votes for austerity” and reams of stuff appeared, try it.

          3. The bill did not include £30 billion of cuts. Why is it that when newspapers say things you don’t like they’re a bunch of liars, but when they say things you do like they become the fount of all knowledge?

            The CBR contained not one single cut.

  6. Funny enough Duncan the Institute of Fiscal Studies believed their was 30 billion of cuts in the bill, so did the press and from reading that article so did the labour MP’s who refused to vote for it.

    Infact the only person who does not believe there was any cuts in the bill is YOU !!!

    Your problem is, you Duncan and your party think everyone but you sufferers from short term memory, here’s a hint we don’t.

    Labour at that particular time was doing everything it could to out tory the tory’s, so voting for 30 billion of cuts meant nothing to them, the only thing that mattered was trying to win the middle england vote. And they would vote for anything to get that and even sell their very souls let alone their principles for that middle england vote.

    I may not remember every detail about that time but I am very good at remembering the reasons and backgrounds of past situations, as for the rest, just type in “labour votes for austerity”, and watch the information just flow out.

      1. Ducan ….. Duncan…….

        The CBR stated the OBR forecasts would be used to implement and inform the government’s aims in satisfying the CBR…..

        The OBR stated it would take £30bn of savings……Labour did not deny this was the figure…..

        Their ludicrous tax rises came nowhere near £30bn ….Ed Balls, Miliband, and Ummuna admitted several times that there would be cuts

        Diane Abbot knew it was £30bn as did every other Labour MP before the vote and the majority of Labour MPs stood shoulder to shoulder with the Tories as usual and voted it through

        It is endlessly amusing watching you bite at this then foist a weak denial every time the facts are pointed out to you……

        The more you deny it the more silly it looks, and the more untrustworthy Labour activists in general.

        Next you’ll be denying the Labour specifically targeted pensioners, to terrify them about independence, by saying they would lose their pensions………a contemptible act of craven cowardice I will add

        1. People can read for themselves what the CBR said. Here it is in full:

          https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/386973/charter_for_budget_responsibility_AS2014_web.pdf

          That’s what Labour voted for. Says absolutely nothing about £30 billion of cuts. And for the full explanation, and a demonstration that even Nicola Sturgeon agreed that it wasn’t a vote for £30bn cuts (although she waited until after the election to admit it) read this:

          http://labourhame.com/the-big-lie-how-the-snp-deceived-the-scottish-public/

          1. Had you read my post the situation was clearly outlined……..

            The CBR is a commitment to zero deficit management…….written in to it is the clear position of the OBR as the official source of statistics and financial forecasts needed to achieve the aims of the CBR……

            Everyone was perfectly clear at the time of the vote…

            The OBR stated to satisfy the CBR….it would take £30bn of savings…
            So did the Tories
            So did the lib dems
            Labour refused to deny it, could quite bring themselves to admit it
            The press stated that value over and over….
            Everyone knew that a vote for the CBR was a commitment to £30bn of savings….
            The debate repeatedly stated it and labour acknowledged that figures before the vote….

            Then Labour voted for.it….

            Diane Abbott was dismayed at her party voting for austerity…..

            Your weak, childish attempt to squirm out of this by bleating that the OBR didn’t specify it is like a child saying “well you didn’t say I couldn’t have a chocolate biscuit”

            We all knew it….

            To use the surgeon example is again a vote face…….her position on deficit reduction was rubbished from every other party…..including labour…..

            For labour to try and hide behind it as cover for their actions is cowardice……at least take responsibility!

            Note…..the accusation over labours foul actions with pensioners has gone unchanged……you know that’s true too……..but I do hope you try to deny it aswell

Comments are closed.

.