ANDY Burnham’s UK Government is “all for England”, the SNP have said after the Chancellor announced a £150 million fund for firms south of the Border.
On Monday, John Healey said that the Government-owned British Business Bank would offer investments of between £5m and £15m to help university spin-outs and other innovative companies across the North of England expand.
“This is not sentimentality, it’s supply side economics,” Healey said.
Responding, the SNP’s economy spokesperson at Westminster Kirsty Blackman said: “People in Scotland can see an obvious pattern here – small announcement after small announcement from the Burnham Government but they are all for England.
“Day by day the philosophy and priorities of this UK Government become clearer – Burnham’s political project is about England and nowhere else gets a look in.
“That priority runs from top to bottom of the Burnham government. If Andy Burnham is the first Prime Minister of England, clearly John Healey is determined to be the first Chancellor of England too.”
The SNP also took issue with Healey’s 3600-word speech, which was delivered on Monday morning but only mentioned anywhere in Scotland twice.
In one, Healey said that “local leaders working with world-class universities, investors, [and] local businesses have created clusters of innovation across the UK – not just in Oxford and Cambridge, but in Leicester, Swansea, in Strathclyde, Newcastle, yes, in Manchester and in Rotherham.”
And in the second, he said that the UK Government had begun work with nations other than England by “making Aberdeen the home of GB Energy, making major investment in Welsh railways, and making investments in small businesses across Northern Ireland”.
Blackman said that Healey’s speech underpinned the “reality” that he is the “Chancellor of England”, adding that he was “clearly oblivious to the recent revelation that a third of [GB Energy’s] workers live outside of Scotland – the very definition of another broken promise from the Labour Party”.
The SNP MP went on: “In Scotland, Burnham’s obvious priority towards England might have more merit if he stopped blocking the Scottish people’s democratic right to choose their own future. That would at least give space for an honest discussion and a choice about the future.
“Scotland is clearly ‘off-limits’ when it comes to Burnham’s personal political priorities – so what right has he to declare that the fresh start of independence is ‘off limits’ for the Scottish people?”
The SNP also pointed to the Prime Minister missing Scotland out of his “listening tour of the UK”, which saw him visit the three other nations in the Union in August but decline to come north of the Border.
Burnham was spotted in Aberdeenshire over the weekend with King Charles, but declined to speak to any Scottish media or Scottish voters.
Elsewhere, Healey used his speech to say he wanted to “make Great Britain Growth Britain again”.
“Let me be clear. I recognise that the cost of business – that’s energy bills, regulation burdens, planning constraints, labour costs – have grown since Covid. And I want to draw the line,” the Chancellor said.
“Whether it is the cost of business or the cost of living, the only way we deal with these in the long term is growth.
“I want to see this country as a country of wealth creation. I want our government decisions and policies to raise the levels of confidence, and investment, and profit in British business.”
