Boris Johnson has been challenged to “put cash in peoples’ pockets” by turning the £200 consumer energy loan into a grant.
Ian Blackford, the SNP Westminster leader, called on the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to help people who face a £700 price hike on Friday when the energy price cap is lifted.
At Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons Blackford said the Chancellor’s Spring Statement did not touch the sides of the cost of living crisis faced by millions.
He said: “Last week the Chancellor got it badly wrong with the Spring Statement and ever since the Prime Minister has been busy briefing against him, saying that he needs to do more.”
Blackford said the Prime Minister was dangerously out of touch and accused Boris Johnson’s government of “partying through the cost of living emergency”.
He said: “Some in the Tory Cabinet clearly believe that better weather means they can happily sit on their hands and do nothing till next winter.
“They obviously don’t get or don’t care that in many parts of Scotland, the weather will barely reach above freezing in the next week.”
Blackford added: “The Chancellor thinks his £200 loan, which is forcing people into energy debt, is somehow a solution. It clearly isn’t.
“So, before the Prime Minister and the Chancellor go off on their Easter holidays, will they at the very least turn this loan into a grant and finally put some cash into people’s pockets?”
Johnson responded with insults about Blackford’s weight and by labelling the SNP as the “Scottish Nationalist Party”.
He said that when it came to energy that the SNP were opposed to the use of “any of our native hydrocarbons with the result that the Europeans are importing oil and gas from Putin’s Russia.”
Johnson added: “What’s happening actually is that the living wage is going up again by record amounts and thanks to what the chancellor has done we are putting £9.1 billion into helping people up and down the country.”
"What I might respectfully suggest is actually the Scottish National Government should focus on the long term prosperity of Scotland and the education system where I’m sad to see Scotland’s once glorious record falling behind.”
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