BORIS Johnson has not ruled out a return to "Tory austerity cuts" after he was pressed on his government’s spending plans.

Ian Blackford urged the Conservative leader to "commit to a major fiscal stimulus of at least 5% of GDP", and questioned whether he would instead "threaten the recovery and leave millions of people worse off".

Johnson claimed he was "proud of the massive investments that the UK Treasury has made throughout the whole of the UK”.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Blackford said: "Next week's Budget gives the opportunity to tackle the financial costs of this pandemic. The UK has suffered its worst recession in 300 years. We now need a Government that understands the scale of this crisis.

"Yet at the very moment that the recovery needs maximum investment to recover, the Tories are threatening austerity cuts that will leaving lasting scars on all our communities.

"Families have already seen their incomes slashed under this Government and now the Tories want to impose a public sector pay freeze and cuts to Universal Credit.

"So will the PM rule out a return to Tory austerity cuts and commit to a major fiscal stimulus of at least 5% of GDP, or will he threaten the recovery and leave millions of people worse off?"

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Johnson side-stepped the question and instead attacked the Scottish Government.

He replied: "I'm proud of the massive investments that the UK Treasury has made throughout the whole of the UK – £13 billion and more going to Scotland, huge sums going throughout the country, and I must say I wish that the SNP Government would spend that money better, because it's very sad to see some of the failures in education policy in Scotland.

"The failures in their criminal justice policy and fighting crime, and I think what the people of the whole UK would like to see, and I believe the people of Scotland, is less talk about a referendum which is his agenda, and more talk about the real issues facing our country."

Blackford challenged Johnson to "boost the economy like Biden" asking: "Or is the Tory plan to return to type and impose yet another decade of Tory austerity?"

He said: "The Prime Minister's boasting, but the cold hard reality is that the UK has suffered the worst slump of any major economy and 120,000 people have lost their lives - that's under your guidance, Prime Minister.

"Coronavirus has exposed the deep inequalities under this broken Westminster system. After a decade of Tory cuts, millions of families are in poverty and UK unemployment is soaring.

"In contrast in the US, President Biden understands what is needed, he has proposed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package to restart and renew the American economy.

"Prime Minister, will your Government follow the example of the US and boost the economy like Biden or is the Tory plan to return to type and impose yet another decade of Tory austerity?"

The Tory leader again declined to give a direct answer.

He commented: "This Government is investing £640bn in infrastructure alone throughout the UK, a massive programme to get our country rebuilt and restarted again and I think that is what people would like to focus on rather than his agenda - he talks about our broken politics, our broken country.

"All they want to do is break up Britain with another referendum and I think that is the last thing this country needs at the moment."

Afterwards, SNP MP Stuart McDonald urged Johnson to show the UK’s poorest people the same kind of generosity his party has shown to friends bidding for health contracts.

The National:

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He called for the UK Government to make the £20 per week Universal Credit uplift permanent.

The Cumbernauld MP said: "Before the budget is finalised could the Prime Minister ensure that the Chancellor reads the Trussell Trust's new report 'Dignity or destitution: The case for keeping the Universal Credit Lifeline'?

"His Government has been incredibly generous to pals with PPE contracts.

"Surely instead of cutting employment-related benefits to the lowest real-terms level in 30 years, he must now afford some basic dignity to the six million people on Universal Credit and make the uplift permanent?"

The Prime Minister responded: "We will continue to look after people throughout this pandemic and beyond. The best thing we can do across the whole of the country is to bounce our economy back and get people into high quality jobs."