Spring Budget proves disastrous for Douglas Ross and Andrew Bowie

POOR Douglas Ross, there he goes strutting his stuff at the Scottish Tory conference like a heavyweight boxer up against a myopic one-armed seven stone weakling, boasting about how only the Scottish Tories would stand up for the interests of the oil and gas sector in north east Scotland by resisting calls for a windfall tax on the energy companies. 

Ross said that he had privately warned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that such a measure could have a disastrous effect on what is left of the Tory vote in Scotland. 

 It is understood that at a pre-budget event in Westminster on Monday evening, Ross approached Sunak not to agree to a windfall tax, then sought out Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to plead with him. 

Recently Labour leader Keir Starmer admitted that he had “urged” the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to break with Parliamentary tradition and do him a big favour. The difference with Ross's urging is that Starmer has the political clout to make veiled or not so veiled plausible threats in order to get his own way. 

Ross is a political lightweight who lacks any clout even within his own party. His bosses have long since written off Scotland as a lost electoral cause. A Tory annihilation in Scotland has already been priced into the calculations of Conservative electoral strategists. 

Over the weekend, Douglas Ross had said it would be an "unacceptable blow” to the industry if Jeremy Hunt extended the windfall tax on oil and gas, but then Hunt went and did exactly that, having made the calculation that it's far better for the Conservatives to pander to voters in England, and if that means hanging the Scottish Tories out to dry, then tough luck Douglas. 

The decision was an utter humiliation for Ross, especially since Sunak had visited Aberdeen to speak at the Tory conference but had clearly not told Ross of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's plans to impose a windfall tax on the oil and gas companies. In Sunak's eyes Ross is merely the hired help. He'd no more discuss policy with Ross than he would with the cleaning staff. 

To compound the embarrassment, the Scottish Tories had scheduled a debate in Holyrood for Wednesday afternoon, shortly after the Budget, in order to condemn Labour's plan to extend the windfall tax. How did that work out for you Dougie? 

During the debate, Labour MSP Daniel Johnson observed: " We can all agree on one thing. And that's that Douglas Lumsden [the Scottish Tory energy spokesperson] desperately needs Jeremy Hunt's phone number." 

But even if he did have it, it would only go straight to voicemail. 

The decision was also an embarrassment for north-east MP and UK nuclear minister Andrew Six Chips Bowie. At the weekend, he had even told the Press and Journal newspaper that the Conservative government could even be considering a reduction in the tax or perhaps scrapping it completely. Well, it would be an embarrassment, but Bowie was born without the genes for self-awareness or shame, which are essential attributes if you want to become a Tory MP. 

The move has blown a huge hole in the Scottish Tory campaign strategy for the north east, where they had hoped that they might be able to cling on to a couple of seats at the upcoming Westminster general election. 

It's a pretty catastrophic Tory budget when not even Douglas Ross and Andrew Bowie are happy. 

‘Nothing short of a betrayal’ 

Hunt's budget has not just angered the Scottish Tories, the budget has been received with disappointment across the political spectrum. The Scottish Government has denounced the new Tory spending plans as a betrayal of public services and is warning that spending cuts may result in consequence, spending cuts which Douglas Ross and Anas Sarwar will seek to blame on the SNP. 

Finance Secretary Shona Robison has accused the Conservatives of providing "not a single penny more" for investment in Scotland, she raised concerns there was "no detail on where cuts will fall". 

Experts have warned that the budget will result in major cuts across the public sector, except in protected areas. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, said because there were “bigger increases nailed in for health, defence, and childcare” other parts of public spending would have to be cut back. He said his calculations said this would result in cuts worth £20bn per year until 2028 in the unprotected areas. 

Speaking in the wake of the Budget announcement, the Finance Secretary said: "Today's UK Spring Budget is nothing short of a betrayal of public services across the UK.

"Our hope had been the Chancellor would have eased pressures on services – not least by providing more funding for capital. 

"This would have helped support our NHS and the delivery of more affordable housing, but it would also have created jobs and economic growth, as well as helping secure a just transition to net zero."