Russell Brown
Main Page: Russell Brown (Labour - Dumfries and Galloway)Department Debates - View all Russell Brown's debates with the HM Treasury
(10 years, 8 months ago)
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Stephen Crabb
I simply disagree with the hon. Lady’s argument. The Government are determined that, as the economic recovery emerges throughout the country, people on the lowest incomes should be at the front of the queue to benefit from that recovery.
We recognise that for those on the lowest pay things remain challenging. Wage levels are not where we want them to be. That is why we need a strong minimum wage. I am proud that the coalition Government have not only implemented the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission in full, but that last year we were able to go beyond its recommendations and increase the apprentice rate too. We can afford that only because we have taken difficult and responsible financial decisions.
Mr Russell Brown (Dumfries and Galloway) (Lab)
The Minister is exactly right. The coalition Government have taken tens of thousands of people out of paying tax, but does he agree with his Liberal Democrat colleagues, that if they raised that tax-free allowance any higher, people who are not paying tax at the moment will see no benefit from that?
Stephen Crabb
I have just given the House the numbers of people who are benefiting from the steps that we are taking to increase the personal allowance. With that measure and the other steps that we are taking, such as strengthening the minimum wage, we are providing real practical tools to ensure that those on the lowest incomes start to see the benefit of the economic recovery.
Stephen Crabb
I will not be tempted to support an unworkable and generalised plan that has been criticised by industry stakeholders and the people who really know about these matters. What I support are the practical steps that this Government are taking on a broad range of fronts to return money to the pockets of hard-working people and insulate the most vulnerable against the challenges that remain in our economy.
Hon. Members would not know it from the interventions of Opposition Members, but inequality surged when the Labour party was in government. It is the party that was, as the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr said, intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich. This Government are determined to see inequality fall. It is under this Government that those with the broadest shoulders are facing the greatest burden. The richest members of society now pay a higher proportion of tax than they have ever done, with the richest 1% paying almost 30% of the total income tax take and the richest 5% paying almost half.
There is nothing fair about ignoring or ducking the challenge of welfare reform. If we are serious about tackling inequality, we must be serious about tackling the wasted opportunities we see before us. In Wales, 92,000 children are growing up in households where no one works, and 200,000 people in Wales are yet to work a day in their lives. That is the result not of this Government’s policies but of years of failing to stand up to the problems of dependency and the decline of work incentives. I make no apologies for the fact that it is this Government who are taking this once-in-a-generation opportunity to embrace welfare reform.
The Labour party championed welfare reform 20 years ago. Where have all the Labour party’s welfare reformers gone? Labour MPs 20 years ago were among the first to recognise the problems of dependency and the decline of work incentives that were emerging in our welfare system, but these days no one on the Opposition Benches speaks up for people caught in welfare traps. Instead, they turn poverty into a political football. They have opposed every sensible measure that we have put in place to restore fairness and opportunity to our welfare system.
Mr MacNeil
My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. Johann Lamont has a cuts commission. [Interruption.] I hear from the Labour Front Bench that she does not have a cuts commission, which is another example of how Labour Scottish Members say one thing while Labour in Scotland says another. If Labour Front Benchers want to tell us what Johann Lamont is doing—if she has told them—they are more than welcome to intervene.
Mr Russell Brown
Will the hon. Gentleman tell us why £1 billion has been removed from anti-poverty programmes since 2008 under his Government? Perhaps that might paint a clearer picture.
Mr MacNeil
I thought the hon. Gentleman was going to stand at the Dispatch Box to tell us what Johann Lamont is thinking about the cuts commission, but he failed to do that.
Guto Bebb
I will try to make a bit of progress.
The key point to remember is that those who now claim that the economic recovery has been too slow in coming are the exact same people who claimed that unemployment would increase dramatically because of the decisions taken in 2010. They are often the same voices who argued that there could be no growth without public spending, yet in Wales and in the whole of the UK we are seeing a vast increase in private sector employment. We have 1.5 million new private sector jobs, a ratio of almost 4:1 in comparison with the loss of jobs in the public sector. Wales is not an exception. Time and again when this is debated in the Welsh media, we hear people saying that the economic recovery is happening in London and the south-east. That is simply not reflected in the facts. In Wales, unemployment is falling and employment rates are increasing.
Anyone who is genuine about the opportunities necessary to reduce inequality would welcome the jobs that are being created. What we often hear from the parties on the Opposition Benches, however, is a complaint about the type of jobs being created: that they are not proper jobs and not the type of jobs we should be proud of. That is such a demeaning comment to make to people going out of their way to try to earn their living. I wonder how someone working in a Tesco or an Asda in my constituency feels when they hear a member of the Labour party demeaning a job as nothing more than shelf stacking. Such comments from a party that claims to represent labour are utterly disgraceful. I have made this point to the House previously and I will make it again.
One of the most moving things I have done as an MP was to visit a Tesco partnership store in Toxteth, in Liverpool. I can tell Members that a visit from a Conservative MP from north Wales is not something that happens very often at any store in Liverpool. The Tesco store in Toxteth was the largest inward investment into Toxteth since the riots in 1982. It was Tesco that undertook that investment. Half the staff employed at that store had been unemployed long term—for more than 18 months. The retention rate was more than 94% and the pride they showed in the fact that they were now working for a living was moving—there is no other way of describing it. I met one lady who ran the bakery section and asked whether she would ever want to move on. Her response was, “I’d have to be taken out of here in a box. It has given me my life back.”
Mr Russell Brown
I apologise to the hon. Gentleman—perhaps I am not in the Chamber as often as I should be—but I have yet to hear any of my colleagues condemn anyone in the retail sector. Those are valued jobs and, as the hon. Gentleman, I and many other colleagues know, working in retail is about much more than serving customers and stacking shelves.
Guto Bebb
I welcome that intervention from the hon. Gentleman, who clearly understands the importance of the retail sector. I was talking about comments made on radio and television by members of the Labour party. When I hear those comments I get annoyed as they refuse to acknowledge the fact that the sector provides the individuals in Tesco in Toxteth, or in various businesses in my constituency, with the opportunity to start a career, learn a skill and move on—and I would argue that people need a job to be able to move on to another job. It makes such a difference and those opportunities should not be dismissed by those who earn far too much to appreciate how important it is to earn a living, perhaps for the first time, and, in some cases, to be the first member of a family for a generation to take a job.
We need to be aware of the fact that the success we are seeing across the UK is being replicated in Wales. In a Welsh economy with relatively low levels of pay, it is even more important that we reduce the tax burden on those individuals. I have heard Opposition Members complain that although it is all very well to reduce people’s tax bills, by increasing the personal allowance tax credits have been reduced. That is not about what is right for the individuals; it represents the significant difference between the Government and Opposition. Government Members want to allow people to keep as much of their earnings as possible, because if a person goes out there and works we should tax them as little as possible. The Opposition were quite happy to tax people earning as little as £6,000 a year and recycle the money through an expensive, well-paid bureaucracy before paying it back to buy a client state. That was the dishonesty of the tax credit policy.
Mr Russell Brown (Dumfries and Galloway) (Lab)
It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb).
Some of the best debates that we experience in the House—on all too few occasions, it must be said—are those that mean a great deal to the people whom we represent, and at the same time manage to secure a degree of consensus. It is therefore a great shame that the Scottish National party, Plaid Cymru and the Greens have chosen to go somewhat native today. Rather than providing an opportunity for a straight vote on a commission of inquiry to put pressure on the Government, they have chosen to show their real side by playing gesture politics.
Just over four weeks ago, my right hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West and Royton (Mr Meacher) led a Back-Bench business debate on the subject of welfare reforms and poverty. Winding up the debate for the Opposition, my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) made it clear that there was a need for a commission of inquiry.
Nia Griffith
Is my hon. Friend aware that 18 Labour Members spoke in that debate, and not a single nationalist did so? I do not blame the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards), because he was on paternity leave, but is it not shocking that the nationalists should dare to suggest that Labour is not equally concerned about poverty?
Mr Brown
I have a copy of the report of the debate, so I am well aware of its content and of which Members contributed to it.
We may find little common ground today, but we can at least agree with the nationalist parties on the need for an inquiry into the impact of the coalition’s cuts on poverty throughout the United Kingdom.
The motion opens with the words:
“That this House notes that the United Kingdom is one of the most unequal states in the OECD, ranked 28 out of 34 countries for income inequality and the fourth most unequal country in the developed world according to some analyses”.
It is those last four words—“according to some analyses”—that present the problem. If we look at the OECD figures, we can see that the most recent ones are out of date. Definitions are provided for these figures, and statistics are also provided, but because different surveys and methodologies have been used, it is a real problem to get fully behind the figures and to determine what they are saying. In other words, statistics can prove one thing to one individual but tell a different story to another.
The coalition’s austerity measures have undoubtedly resulted in the greatest burden falling on low and middle-income families, while the richest have been given significant tax cuts to ensure that they do not feel the cold draught of the current economic climate. That is why Labour Members have consistently called for action to tackle the cost of living crisis caused by this Government. Such action would include freezing energy prices, taking real action to end exploitative zero-hours contracts, and strengthening the minimum wage now.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Morley and Outwood (Ed Balls) recently said that if Labour forms the next Government,
“we will restore the 50p top rate of tax”.
I know that that causes anxiety for Government Members, but we believe that, in tough times like these, those with the broadest shoulders should bear the greatest burden.
Lorely Burt
Will the hon. Gentleman tell the House for how many days the 50p rate of tax was in force during the 13 years Labour was in power?
Mr Brown
The hon. Lady knows as well as I do that it was a matter of days, but this also relates to the comments made by the hon. Member for Aberconwy about the impact of taxation on individuals. For most of that time, there was never a need for that higher rate of tax to be imposed. The hon. Lady knows that it was a Budget decision to raise the rate from 40p in the pound to 50p. Yes, that rate applied only for a matter of days, but the Labour Government had not felt the need to increase it at any other time.
Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)
Will the hon. Gentleman tell us how much he expects the 50p tax rate to raise in net gains to the Treasury, and how that squares with the comments from the Institute for Fiscal Studies about the policy?
Alun Cairns
I notice that the hon. Gentleman did not answer my question about the comments from the IFS. Does he accept its view that the net gain from Labour’s policy would be negligible?
Mr Brown
The net gain will be significant. It will be some 11% more than is currently being raised.
It is notable that there is no mention in the motion of creating a fairer tax system. The Scottish National party’s plans for independence include slashing corporation tax, but it has been unable to provide any certainty on whether it would follow Labour in introducing a 50p tax rate. In fact, the SNP Finance Secretary in the Scottish Government has resisted making the party’s tax policy clear in any way.
We now accept that the driver of inequality has been the rate at which salaries at the top have increased in recent years. Again, however, the motion makes no mention of that. It says nothing about how we are to get to grips with high pay in the UK. The Labour Opposition have accepted the recommendations of the High Pay Commission, and we have outlined three key tests that the Government must meet to show they are serious about executive pay being at such high levels. First, we want firms to publish details on the ratio of employee average salaries to executive pay, and for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to publish a league table showing the highest ratios. Secondly, we want to see an employee representative on the remuneration committee of every company. Finally, we would repeat Labour’s tax on bank bonuses to fund a compulsory jobs guarantee for any young person on unemployment benefits for 12 months or more. These young people are not our future—they are part of today, and they need to be employed today and well into the future. That is real action to bring about fairness in our society, but what we have heard from the Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru this afternoon often bears closer resemblance to what those on the Government Benches have been saying.
Yesterday, during a question on economic inequality, Lord Newby stated that
“according to the latest ONS statistics, income inequality in the UK is at its lowest level since 1986. The Government are committed to ensuring that all families benefit from the return of growth to the economy”.—[Official Report, House of Lords, 10 February 2014; Vol. 752, c. 408.]
That is not what far too many individuals and households are actually experiencing. Any economic recovery here in the UK is patchwork in its nature. As I have said in the Chamber previously, there are many rural localities where households are in a desperate plight, with below average earnings.
Stephen Crabb
Is the hon. Gentleman saying that he does not believe the statistics and that he does not believe that income inequality is dropping in the UK at the moment?
Mr Brown
I am saying that a rosy picture is being painted. Some will say, “It is happening in London and the south-east”, but the Minister represents a Welsh constituency, which is rural, just as mine is. People in rural constituencies and in some urban constituencies are finding things really difficult indeed. The situation is still pretty tough and they do not recognise this rosy picture that is often painted.
Also in the other place yesterday, Lord Lawson stated that
“it is far more important to focus on making the poor richer than on making the rich poorer”.
I have to agree with that, but the Minister replied:
“we want to make sure that everybody makes a fair contribution to society and that all those in work get a fair wage for their labour. Obviously, there comes a point when taking too much tax from those right at the top becomes counterproductive.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 10 February 2014; Vol. 752, c. 408-09.]
I would have to argue with that; those comments by the Minister tell us an awful lot about what those on the Government Benches are thinking.
Where we disagree with the text of the motion is on the words
“successive governments of all political hues have presided over an underlying trend of rising income inequality since the early 1980s”.
There can be no doubt that over the past 30 years or so there have been some particularly difficult and distressing times for many families, but during the early years after the change of government in 1997 rapid improvements were made right across the country. [Interruption.] I am not about to rewrite history; I am about to tell the Chamber what actually happened, because we tend to forget. This relates to a point made by the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards), because he said that if Labour were to win the next election we would be carrying out the current Government’s spending plans. When Labour came to power in 1997 we held by the tight budgetary constraints, but as a party coming from opposition to government we decided that we would spend the money in a wholly different manner. What did we do with the chance that came our way? We created employment opportunities for young unemployed and long-term unemployed people, the disabled and lone parents through the new deal, and those very chances that were given to so many people brought about a marked change when coupled with the introduction of the national minimum wage and working tax credits. It was not the answer to every woe that people had suffered under the previous Government, but it was a major step forward. For many individuals, especially women, it meant that they no longer had to try to hold down two or three jobs to make ends meet.
The motion makes reference to inequality between men and women, but fails to recognise the gains made by women under the Labour Government from 1997 to 2010. I am talking about not just the minimum wage and tax credits but extensions to child care, which allowed more women to participate in the labour market, and extensions to maternity leave, which meant that women no longer had to choose between work and family life soon after having a child.
Let me now mention one or two things that have been raised this afternoon, including the issue of food banks. Over the past 12 months, there has been a 170% increase in the number of people using food banks. Between 2010 and 2011—some two years ago—61,468 people were using food banks, compared with more than 346,000 now. Those are only the Trussell Trust figures. There are other ad hoc, less regulated, food bank systems.
The Minister mentioned welfare reform. Let me tell him, in case it has slipped his mind, that the previous Labour Government introduced three welfare reform Bills, and we maintained that those who could work should work and should be given help and support into work.
Pete Wishart
Where does the hon. Gentleman stand on the great “more powers” debate in the Labour party? Is he one of the boycotters, or is he an enthusiast of more powers? Would he give welfare powers to the Scottish Parliament, so that it is under Scottish people’s democratic control, or does he want to keep it with the Westminster Tories?
Mr Brown
I will come to that in just a moment. It is not that I need time to think. [Interruption.] Let me tell the hon. Gentleman that I am a solid believer in devolution.
We put three welfare reform Bills through the House. They were designed to ensure that those with the greatest need received benefits not just to exist but to live. We were able to recover that money by getting others into work. We were making progress on that when the banking crisis hit and turned the world upside down.
Stephen Crabb
The hon. Gentleman’s party may have introduced three Bills on welfare reform during its 13 years in government, but the records show that it ducked all the really difficult decisions on welfare reform. It was frit on that and, as a consequence, there are 200,000 people in Wales who have never worked a day in their lives.
Mr Brown
I hear what the hon. Gentleman is saying, but there is an element of him trying to rewrite history. We were making progress. I cannot say what he experienced in his constituency, but there were people in my constituency, some of whom had been out of work for a long time, were disabled, or had been seen as people who would never work, who got into employment, and that was thanks to the excellent work of the Department for Work and Pensions staff. We did make progress; it was just that it was not as much as we would have liked.
Alun Cairns
Can the hon. Gentleman point me to any Labour Government in the past who left office with unemployment lower than it was when they entered office?
Mr Brown
I will be honest with hon. Gentleman and say that I cannot give him that figure. However, I think he is trying to forget that there were almost 3 million people who were unemployed under the previous Conservative Government. We worked massively hard to reduce the levels of unemployment in this country, so much so that, as a Government, we were talking about the potential of full employment in this country, which is a long way away from where we are today.
Mr Brown
Let me just mention one or two other things. The hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) has left the Chamber, but she spoke about paying down debt. In case the House has forgotten, when we came to power in 1997, there was 43% debt, and we paid down debt as we progressed over the years to 37%.
The hon. Member for Aberconwy spoke about taxation. I do not have a problem, as he has, with a 50p income tax rate, but I do have a problem with value added tax. Our colleagues in the SNP need to be absolutely clear and honest with the people of Scotland: if Scotland achieves independence on 18 September and becomes a full EU member state, the people of Scotland will be looking at VAT on food, children’s clothing, and books and newspapers. That is fact.
The SNP is very good—and I have heard this a couple of times this afternoon—at comparing other small nations with Scotland. It is keen to mention Sweden, and all too often it mentions Norway, but the problem is that they have Conservative Governments. I do not know if that is what it wants in an independent Scotland.
Jacob Rees-Mogg
I think that a Conservative Government for Scotland is being a little optimistic.
Mr Brown
I am absolutely delighted that I allowed the hon. Gentleman to intervene. I have no wish to see that either.
The one thing that the SNP does not tell the people of Scotland is just how high taxation is in those countries that they are keen to mention and with which they make comparisons. It cannot run away from that.
On how the devolved Governments have operated in the UK until now and their record on increasing fairness and tackling inequality, the Welsh Labour Government, even in tough times, have worked to protect the most vulnerable in Wales from the Tory Government with Jobs Growth Wales, which will create over 16,000 jobs for young people in Wales, and the £35 million boost to the pupil deprivation grant in the next year. The same cannot be said for the SNP Government in Scotland. A recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation noted that cuts by the UK Government and the Scottish Government in England and Scotland have meant that the most deprived local government areas receive £100 a head less in funding. Professor Arthur Midwinter of Edinburgh university recently concluded that
“the SNP’s budget strategy adds to the austerity agenda”.
I made a similar point in an intervention, as £l billion has been removed from anti-poverty programmes since 2008. Analysis by the House of Commons Library shows that cuts to the most deprived areas in Scotland are greater than those for the least deprived.
On local government and the underfunding resulting from the council tax freeze in Scotland, this is a debate about fairness and equality, so let me share with the House what we have seen as a result of local government being badly underfunded. Some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our communities—those who need social services or who have to pay for services—have seen an increase in the cost of services or, if those services were free, charges have been introduced. That hits the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest.
Mr MacNeil
How much does the hon. Gentleman want to raise council tax by and what else is on the agenda for the cuts commission of Johann Lamont?
Mr Brown
That really is a naive question, but it is not unexpected. I am not asking for a council tax increase; I am asking for local government in Scotland to be properly funded. It has to be properly funded. To do otherwise is a false idea, especially when it falls on the shoulders of the poorest.
If the SNP was serious about tackling inequality in Scotland, it would be using the tools of the Scottish Government, like our colleagues in Wales, to protect people from the worst of the Tories. Instead, it would rather not let Westminster, in the words of its Finance Secretary, off the hook. At no point in the debate have SNP Members explained why they think this is acceptable for the people of Scotland. I would only hope that if there are to be further contributions from their Benches, they will explain away some of the inaccuracies that they think are in my contribution.
Mr Mike Weir (Angus) (SNP)
The Scottish National party’s manifesto for the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections stated:
“Scotland can never be considered truly successful until all of its citizens consider themselves to be equally valued members of society. We are determined that Scotland will constantly strive to be a more equal society.”
We said that because we believe in Scotland.
Within the UK, Scotland is unfortunately part of an increasingly unequal society, with too many trapped in poverty and prevented from reaching their full potential. As has been said, the UK ranks 28th out of 34 nations on the measure of overall inequality. OECD analysis shows that since 1975 income inequality among working-age people has increased faster in the UK than in any other country in the organisation. Academic analysis also suggests that the UK is the fourth most unequal nation of the world’s richest nations.
In a rich nation such as Scotland, it is ridiculous that in 2011-12, 710,000 people—14% of our population—lived in relative poverty. That includes 420,000 people of working age, 150,000 children and 140,000 pensioners. Despite periods of time when overall poverty has reduced, in-work poverty has remained high. Two thirds of children who live in poverty in the whole UK have at least one parent in paid work. We believe that it is absolutely unacceptable that in a nation with the wealth and resources of Scotland one in seven of our population live in poverty.
Since devolution, Scottish Administrations have sought to promote social inclusion and cohesion. Since devolution, child poverty levels in Scotland have fallen substantially, from 28% in 1999-2000 to 15% today, compared with a UK rate of 17%. That is a tremendous achievement by the Scottish Parliament. However, 200,000 more children across the UK will be pushed into relative poverty by 2016 as a result of the 1% cap on increases in benefit payments. That equates to around 15,000 children in Scotland. The Child Poverty Action Group has estimated that Scotland’s child poverty rate will increase by between 50,000 and 100,000 by 2020 as a result of the UK Government’s tax and benefits policy. That is a terrible indictment of what is happening in our country. That is why we seek independence: to tackle these problems.
With devolution, the Scottish Parliament has used its limited powers to tackle inequality. Our continuing commitment to a social wage will deliver benefits to everyone in Scotland in tough financial times. We have maintained the council tax freeze, saving the average band D taxpayer about £1,682 by 2016-17. We have kept higher education fee-free and we are keeping student debt levels the lowest in the UK. To me, that is vital. I was the first of my generation to go to university, and I was able to do so only because there were no tuition fees and I got a grant. My daughter has recently gone through university and, even with no tuition fees, it is now a very expensive process. I dread to think about what debt has been piled up on kids who are going through university now and how they are ever going to start in life, buy a house, buy a car or get married. As my hon. Friend the Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr MacNeil) said, there is an increasing trend for children to stay at home much longer and to live in flat-shares well into their 40s, in some cases, because they simply cannot afford the price of property.
The Scottish Parliament has abolished prescription charges, making the NHS truly free at the point of need, and we are supporting concessionary bus travel for over 1.2 million of our people—over-60s, people with disabilities, and injured veterans. We have provided NHS eye examinations free for all, and we have committed to free personal nursing care, benefiting more than 77,000 older people. Labour attacked many of these things in its cuts commission. The Labour leader said they were just wee things it is not in favour of—unless, of course, it is fighting by-elections, when it tries to take credit for them.
Mr Russell Brown
The hon. Gentleman mentioned free prescriptions. Why am I now coming across pensioners in my constituency who are visiting their doctor and instead of being given a prescription for painkillers are told to go to the chemist and buy them over the counter?
Mr Weir
I have never heard of that one; perhaps the hon. Gentleman should ask the doctors why they are doing that. We have made it clear that free prescriptions are an important policy for pensioners throughout Scotland. Too often, pensioners and those with multiple prescriptions had to choose whether to buy their prescription or eat, and they do not have to make that choice any more. This is a really progressive policy, despite what his leader may say.
We are investing in skills, training and education for our young people to make sure that they all have an opportunity in life. I recently visited the Angus training group in my constituency, where tremendous work is being done to train youngsters who are leaving school and have got apprenticeships in engineering. While the Chancellor may talk about the march of the makers, we are making sure that that actually happens and there is power behind it. We are protecting the education maintenance allowance for 16 and 19-year-olds while the Westminster Government have scrapped it. These are just a few of the things that we have already done.
We are committed to ensuring, where we can, that people get paid a decent wage. Since 2011-12, the SNP Government have paid all staff covered by Scottish Government pay policy a living wage, and that includes NHS staff. No compulsory redundancy policy has been in place since 2007, helping to protect about 10,000 jobs a year. We are funding the Poverty Alliance to deliver the living wage accreditation scheme to promote the living wage and increase the number of private companies that pay it.
We have done a lot to deal with inequality in Scotland, but what holds us back so much is the fact that the Scottish Parliament has to depend on and fit within a block grant determined by Westminster that has been steadily cut in the past few years. The Chancellor has said that another £25 billion of cuts is coming round the corner, so we can only imagine what will happen to the Scottish block grant in that event.