THE SNP in North Ayrshire has denounced the ‘Brexit bombshell’ announcement from UK Chancellor Philip Hammond that borrowing is to rise by £225 million a week.

In the autumn statement from the Chancellor it was forecast that income from tax receipts was falling, that the economic growth rate is to be substantially revised down, and that inflation is projected to increase. The extra borrowing announced is to be allocated to infrastructure spending in advance of the likely damaging impact of the Brexit process once Article 50 is enacted.

Commenting on the Chancellor’s statement, Councillor Alan Hill, shadow finance portfolio holder on North Ayrshire Council, stated: “Having recently been taken through the disastrous Brexit referendum, we now know the true economic bombshell that is to hit both Scotland and the UK as a consequence. Rather than the £350m a week that we were promised would be returned from the EU to fund the NHS, we have learned instead that the UK Government is to borrow an additional £225m a week. This will create a national debt of £2 trillion pounds by the year 2020, a borrowing equivalent to £2,000 for every household.

“While the news of an additional £800m for infrastructure projects in Scotland is welcome, it is important to note that this is simply a small refund of the substantial amount that has already been cut from our capital budget, which has been reduced by eight per cent this decade by the Conservatives. Indeed, by 2020 the Scottish Government’s budget will be £2.9 billion lower than when the Conservatives first came to power.”

Further commenting on the likely impact of the Chancellor’s statement on residents for North Ayrshire, Councillor Hill added: “Since the Conservatives came to power at Westminster six years ago, many in North Ayrshire have found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet because of the UK Government’s immoral austerity agenda, with some £2bn a year already imposed through welfare cuts. The SNP again calls on the UK Government to end this harmful and failed austerity policy, and will continue to try to minimise its most harmful effects when we can, as with the bedroom tax, with the limited powers that we have.

“With the NHS, we learned that not a single penny extra has been pledged by the UK Government to fund the crisis-ridden service south of the border, which is being left to fester further on the winds of privatisation. This contrasts sharply with the SNP’s policy to allocate £500m more to the Scottish NHS budget above the rate of inflation in this parliamentary session. With our commitment to the construction of new elective treatment centres across the country, the integration of health and social care to improve care journeys, and our promise to maintain free personal care for 78,000 people, the SNP remains resolute in living up to its responsibilities to those who fund it.”