HARVIE ON AUTUMN STATEMENT: COALITION ASSAULT CONTINUES
Patrick Harvie, Green MSP for Glasgow and Co-convener of the Scottish Greens, says today's autumn statement by Chancellor George Osborne shows the Coalition's relentless cuts to public spending will continue to hit Scottish communities hard.
The cuts come as research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that two thirds of people who moved into work in the last year are paid below the Living Wage, and that the worst off have seen the biggest falls in income.
Patrick Harvie MSP said:
"The Chancellor's delusional optimism about the state of the economy shows how out of touch this Coalition is. Osborne and his Libdem helpers have encouraged an economy in which people have no job security and no decent pay, and the cuts to welfare are embedding poverty in our communities.
"Despite the clear opportunities which exist for green investment to create quality jobs, cut household fuel bills and reduce carbon emissions, we again see Westminster politicians pouring money into roadbuilding and falling over themselves to offer tax breaks to wealthy oil firms whose profits we already subsidise by a billion pounds a year.
"With Miliband and Balls still signed up to the austerity agenda it is increasingly clear we need more Green voices at Westminster to argue for a balanced economy, with better jobs and decent public services."
JRF state of the nation report, Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion