THE UK Chancellor has said "nothing" to reassure the public on the cost of living crisis during his conference speech, the SNP have said.
John Healey stood up on Monday to address his party, and centred his speech on the prospect of "hope" and the "new age of industrialisation" – but he's been criticised for not addressing rising costs across the country.
Healey spoke about his own experience growing up in a Yorkshire mining community before turning to renters' rights, the future of British steel and the return of rail services to public ownership. He then announced £6 billion of new contracts for UK shipyards.
He told the Labour conference that orders for three floating dry docks, to maintain the Royal Navy's nuclear-powered submarine fleet at Faslane, will go to a UK-based shipbuilder.
A UK-only bidding competition will decide who builds the floating docks, but according to the BBC, Navantia UK, which owns sites in Fife and Belfast, is seen as a frontrunner.
The Chancellor also unveiled a new local apprenticeship service and revealed that Rolls-Royce would invest a further £300 million in its factories in Derby, Bristol, Glasgow and Rotherham.
Despite the commitments, Healey admitted to the audience: "I have to level with you that the money New Labour had in the '90s is simply not there now."
Criticising the speech, Kirsty Blackman MP for Aberdeen North said: "People are genuinely frightened about the next wave of the cost of living tsunami that is headed our way this winter. The public know that they are about to be hit with energy, fuel and food prices that are simply unaffordable.
"After a 30-minute speech from the UK Chancellor, what people still don't know is if Andy Burnham's government has any plan to help. The UK Chancellor had a chance today to reassure people that he is prepared to give real help on the cost of living - instead he chose to say nothing."
She went on to say that the chancellor's bragging about a 'new age of industrialisation' would not be appreciated in Scotland on the day that diesel prices hit their highest level ever.
As of Monday, the average price of a litre of diesel in the UK stood at 199.18p, according to figures compiled by the RAC.
She continued: "People remember that it was the Labour Party who shut the refinery in Grangemouth, and people remember that the Labour Party's tax on Scotland's energy is costing 1000 Scottish energy jobs a month.
"UK Chancellor, after UK Chancellor now stand up to explain the economic mess that is broken, Brexit Britain. Instead of listening to their excuses, Scotland can choose a better way and a better future.
"We can choose the fresh start of independence and build a fairer, wealthier future back in the European Union."
The Scottish Greens also attacked the speech for failing to "hint at taxing the super-rich profiteers" and instead saying he didn't support a "bigger and bigger benefits bill".
Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer MSP said: "Labour are trying to trick the public into accepting more cuts to the crucial public services we all rely on.
"Andy Burnham and John Healey are reusing the same old Tory playbook to stealthily push further cuts onto already struggling services, rather than properly taxing the super-rich and big corporations.
"The Scottish Greens have raised taxes on wealthy holiday home owners and landlords, and we invested that money in measures like free bus travel for young people and scrapping peak rail fares. That's what socialism looks like, helping ordinary people to save money and expecting the richest to contribute a bit more."
Directly questioning Healey's claim that the government has less money, Greer said: "The UK is one of the richest countries in the history of the world. It's just not true to claim that this government doesn't have the money the last Labour government had three decades ago.
"That money is here. It's in the bank accounts of rich and powerful people, who have profiteered from exploitation of people and planet.
"This conference was an opportunity for Labour to show they've learned their lessons from the Starmer years, but instead we're getting more of the same. That's the last thing Scotland and the UK need during this cost-of-living crisis.”
