APART from the constantly repeated “change” mantra, one of the key promises of the Labour Party during this summer's general election campaign (well, technically it was summer, even though it has been uniformly dreich or wet this year) was that a Labour government would reduce energy bills.

This promise figured prominently in Labour Party political broadcasts, with one broadcast featuring a worried-looking woman expressing relief that her energy bills would be coming down under a Labour government. That promise didn't last too long.

The “change” that Keir Starmer promised did not include a change from politicians making wonderful sounding commitments while seeking our votes only to do something else entirely as soon as those votes were safely lodged in the ballot box.

One of the very first acts of the new Labour government was the announcement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves that the winter fuel payment would be withdrawn from pensioners in England and Wales who are not in receipt of means-tested benefits. Pensioners' fuel bills will be going up dramatically this winter.

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The Scottish Government was forced to replicate the Chancellor's decision as the axing of the universal payment in England and Wales resulted in a cut to the Scottish budget of £160 million.

Worse, Reeves had made the announcement with no prior consultation with the Scottish Government, even though her decision had a drastic impact on a devolved issue, the equivalent payment to pensioners in Scotland, which has colder and darker winters than England and consequently higher fuel bills, even though the rest of the UK relies on energy produced in Scotland to keep homes warm and lit and businesses going.

The move was strongly criticised by charities concerned with the care of the elderly. Age UK estimated around two million struggling pensioners won’t receive up to £300 they rely on to help pay their energy bills as a result of means-testing Winter Fuel Payment.

They comprise of three main groups. The first is those who just miss out on Pension Credit because their very modest incomes are slightly too high for them to be eligible, usually because they have a tiny occupational pension. Many of them are women.

The second is for those with high energy needs because of disability or illness, and/or who live in energy-inefficient homes which cost a lot of money to heat, estimated at 200,000.

The third is the one million pensioners who don’t receive the Pension Credit for which they are eligible because they do not claim it.

The problem of low take up with Pension Credit is deeply entrenched, with about a third of all those entitled to it consistently failing to claim it over many years. Many pensioners simply cannot face the embarrassing and often demeaning process of applying for a means-tested benefit from a benefits agency with a well-deserved reputation for being punitive and cruel.

The Labour government's punishing decision was then compounded by the announcement that energy prices for everyone are expected to rise by 9% in October.

The consultancy company Cornwall Insight,which is widely respected for its accurate predictions of energy costs, said a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity would pay £1,714 a year from October. This represents a £146 a year rise compared with a current typical annual bill of £1,568.

But never mind, the energy regulator Ofgem has announced a £3.4 million investment in a high-capacity electrical cable running from North East Scotland to Yorkshire which will carry renewable energy produced from Scottish wind farms to England.

As Scots freeze in the dark we can console ourselves with the knowledge that our natural resources are being exported to England to make big profits for energy companies. So that's nice.

It's a repetition of the theft of Scotland's oil and gas in the 1970s and 1980s, the profits of which went to fund Thatcher's ideologically driven explosion in unemployment and the development of the London City Docklands into a financial services hub.

It is being reported this week that the Chancellor is gearing up to announce a round of tax rises, spending cuts, and yet more squeezes on the UK's already woefully inadequate benefits for the poor and disabled.

The Treasury has made it clear that further "hard choices" would need to be made when Reeves delivers the first Labour budget since 2010 on 30 October. "Hard choices" is of course political code for making the poor and vulnerable suffer and for taking an axe to vital public services and much needed infrastructure.

I'm sure Anas Read My Lips No Austerity Under Labour Sarwar will be robustly grilled by BBC Scotland for his untrue promises before the Westminster general election when we are facing a new round of austerity from a Labour government which is as reluctant as the Tories before it to hike taxes on those most able to pay more.

I'm sure that Sarwar will face tough questions on BBC Scotland, as sure as I am that I'm going to win the Euromillions lottery this week and retire to a castle that I will be able to afford to heat.

In other news that proves that nothing has really changed, the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced there will be a “major surge” in deportations of asylum seekers and migrants. In the next six months, the Labour Government is aiming to raise the number of deportations to levels not seen since 2018.

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Enver Solomon, of the Refugee Council, has said the UK Government is “wasting taxpayers’ money on expanding detention places".

Austerity, soaring energy bills, beating up on migrants, asylum seekers, benefits claimants and the poor while robbing Scotland of its natural resources. So much for change.

This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.

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