The foundations of the UK “can’t and won’t be fixed”, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has said, as he pushed Scots to back his party next year in the hopes of securing an independence referendum.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast on Wednesday that growth in disposable income would drop from 3% in 2024-25 to just 0.25% by the end of the decade, owing to tax changes announced by Rachel Reeves in the Budget.
The Resolution Foundation think tank projected living standards will rise by the 2029 general election, but growth would be the second worst of any parliamentary term on record.
Mr Flynn has urged voters in Scotland to back his party in May in the hopes of securing a majority at Holyrood and a subsequent referendum on Scottish independence.
But the Chancellor told BBC Radio Scotland on Thursday the UK Government will not allow another referendum, regardless of the outcome of next year’s election, stifling the SNP’s route to fulfilling its central goal.
Mr Flynn told the Press Association: “This UK Budget again exposes the depth of damage and decline that Westminster has inflicted on people’s lives for a generation.
“The brokenness of Brexit Britain has been laid bare and is now locked in – every budget and every year sees the same pattern of painful policies that have hit people in the pocket for over 15 years.
“That was the toxic legacy of the Tories, but now the official figures confirm that the United Kingdom is set for another lost decade under the Labour Party.
“A generation of Scottish people have now lived through Brexit Britain – a place that is poorer and smaller, with a Farage future the only thing on the Westminster horizon.
“That reality has clear constitutional consequences – the economic case for the United Kingdom has been torn apart by flatlining living standards, falling growth and constant chaos with Westminster.”
Mr Flynn said politicians at Westminster have been “promising change”, while things “have gone from bad to worse”.
He added: “A new generation in Scotland desperately deserves a fresh start and a fresh choice.
“We know Westminster’s past all too well, we know the damage it is inflicting in our present – this can be the moment where we determine that another generation of Scots won’t be forced to live with Westminster’s future.
“That is the opportunity that the SNP offers – by winning a majority next May we can unite and break beyond the brokenness of Britain and give people the hope of a fresh start with independence.”
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland on Thursday, the Chancellor said: “I can be very clear there won’t be another referendum.
“When there was a referendum just a few years ago, it said that this was a once in a generation referendum. People gave their verdict.
“Then we don’t need another one. And the Scottish Government, whoever is in charge, should focus on the priorities of the Scottish people – bringing down NHS waiting lists, which are still far too high in Scotland, improving educational outcomes for people in Scotland and investing in infrastructure.”
