NICOLA Sturgeon told Holyrood that independence would help Scotland tackle poverty caused by Tory policies at Westminster.
It comes as warnings grow that the country is facing a “perfect storm” of energy price hikes, the end of furlough and social security cuts this autumn.
She made the intervention at First Minister’s Questions when she was asked by one of her new intake of SNP MSPs – Marie McNair – whether she agreed “the only way to protect the most vulnerable in society from devastating Tory policies is to become an independent country?”
“Yes, I believe that having control over tax, welfare and all the levers that other countries have at their disposal would be better for Scotland. That would, of course, be possible only if Scotland became an independent country,” the First Minister replied.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross accused of 'insulting people's intelligence' with NHS comments at FMQs
“Marie McNair is absolutely right when she talks about a perfect storm. There are significant worries about energy inflation and food inflation over the winter months, and those threaten to plunge more and more already low-income families into poverty.”
She went on to condemn an “unthinkable” £20 a week reduction to Universal Credit that is due to be imposed by the UK Government on modest earners saying the move lacked “any basic morality”.
She said: “If the UK Government was not prepared to reconsider before, it should surely do so now. It would be indefensible to take that money literally out of the mouths of children and to plunge more families into poverty.
"Given what many people will face this winter, I argue that it is essential for the UK Government not just to keep that payment but to look at additional payments – as this Government has done through our pandemic payments – to help people to deal with, for example, rising energy costs.”
Earlier at First Minister’s Questions, Sturgeon was quizzed about accident and emergency waiting times by Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross (below) and about ferry building contracts by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
She conceded the performance of A&E departments is “not good enough”after official figures earlier this week showed compliance against the four-hour treatment time target had fallen to the worst level on record.
Ross said: “Isn’t it time that the First Minister and her Health Secretary finally got a grip of events?”
READ MORE: FMQs sketch: Anas Sarwar should 'think twice' about his line of attack
The Scottish Government target is for 95% of patients to be treated within four hours, but figures for the week ending September 12 show just 71.5% of A&E patients were seen and subsequently discharged or admitted to hospital within four hours.
Sturgeon said: “The waiting times in our accident and emergency departments are not good enough.”
Sarwar (above) said the failure of Scotland’s state-owned shipyard to compete for a boat building contract was an “international humiliation” as he accused Sturgeon of presiding over “complacency and ineptitude” after Ferguson Marine did not make the shortlist to build ferries serving Scottish islands. The Scottish Government took the shipbuilder, based at Port Glasgow, into public ownership in 2019 to avoid its collapse.
Sturgeon argued Ferguson “is on a journey back to recovery” and its focus is on the two heavily delayed ferries still being built. She added: “This government has protected shipbuilding jobs here in Scotland because without the intervention of this Government, Ferguson’s would not still be open, it would not still be operational, and there are hundreds of people currently employed at Ferguson’s who would not be employed.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel