The Tories announced "a huge giveaway for the wealthiest" while taking away £67-a-month from Scots households and promising a "callous" clamp down on benefits claimants in the Budget.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a generous tax cut on pension allowances on Wednesday afternoon. Labour leader Keir Starmer described the move as a “permanent tax cut” for the wealthy.
In the same speech, Hunt said that "sanctions will be applied more rigorously" on Universal Credit claimants. He also did not extend the Energy Bill Support Scheme, which has provided households with cash for energy bills over the last six months.
Hunt went beyond expectations and announced he is scrapping the lifetime allowance on pensions. The lifetime allowance had previously been set at £1.07 million.
All savings under this in a pension pot had been tax-free. People could potentially pay 55 per cent tax on pension savings above this.
Hunt said that the measures would help the NHS retain senior staff, but millions of pension savers will not benefit.
Starmer slammed the plan in the told the House of Commons after Hunt's statement.
He said: “We needed a fix for doctors, but the announcement today is a huge giveaway to some of the very wealthiest.
“The only permanent tax cut in the Budget is for the richest 1%. How can that possibly be a priority for this Government?
“The truth is our labour market is the cast-iron example of an economy with weak foundations. Our crisis in participation simply hasn’t happened elsewhere, not to this extent; it is a feature of Tory Britain and global excuses simply won’t wash.”
After promising this "tax cut" for the wealthy, Hunt pledged to crackdown on benefits claimants.
He said: "Independence is always better than dependence, which is why a Conservative government believes that those who can work should work.
“Sanctions will be applied more rigorously to those who fail to meet strict work-search requirements or choose not to take up a reasonable job offer.”
Poverty Alliance director Peter Kelly said that Hunt was "wrong" to propose stricter sanctions.
He said: “People in the UK believe in justice and compassion. But today’s Budget will strike fear into the hearts of millions.
"The Chancellor’s decision to widen the callous and ineffective sanctions regime is completely wrong.
"Our unjust economy simply doesn’t offer people the kind of secure, suitable employment that they need, and too many people simply can’t increase their working hours because of poor transport links, health and disability issues, caring commitments, or lack of affordable childcare."
Hunt also failed to include an extension of the Energy Bill Support Scheme in his Budget. The scheme gave all households six monthly payments of £66 or £67 to help with energy costs.
SNP Economy spokesperson Stewart Hosie criticised Hunt for not providing more energy support, saying he had "chosen to make people poorer".
He said: "The UK Budget fails to make a dent in the cost of living crisis - with Tory cuts leaving people hundreds of pounds worse off, and Brexit costing our economy billions in long-term damage.
"The Chancellor should have chosen to help families by cutting energy bills, raising public sector pay with inflation and introducing a Real Living Wage. Instead he has chosen to make people poorer - withdrawing vital support and imposing real-terms cuts to incomes."
As expected, the chancellor announced that the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended for another three months.
The Energy Price Guarantee limits the average household energy bill to £2,500 and had been due to increase to £3,000 in April.
The bill from April would have reached around £3,300 for the average household without Government support, according to the latest Ofgem price cap announcement.
Hunt also said that those who are on prepayment meters will now be charged the same as those who pay by direct debit.
He said: “Ofgem has already agreed with suppliers a temporary suspension to forced installations of prepayment meters.
“But today I go further, and confirm we will bring their charges in line with comparable direct debit charges. Under a Conservative government, the energy premium paid by our poorest households is coming to an end.”
Hunt also promised another £320 million for the Scottish Government. This additional cash will come to Holyrood ministers as a result of spending decisions for England.
He also said that Scotland would be home to one of 12 “Canary Wharf”-style investment zones. Businesses in these zones receive tax reliefs.
One of his big announcements was 30 hours a week of free childcare for children as young as nine months. But this will not apply in Scotland as healthcare is devolved.
A similar scheme could be rolled out in Scotland due to the additional funding.
Scottish Trades Union Congress general secretary Roz Foyer said that Hunt should have offered workers a pay rise in the Budget.
She said: “Scotland’s workers don’t need a ‘Canary Wharf’, they need a cost of living pay increase.
"It is simply astounding that on the day in which hundreds of thousands of civil servants, teachers, lecturers, & junior doctors are striking, the Chancellor had nothing to offer on pay – embedding the longest pay squeeze in living memory – and leaving workers facing the largest fall in living standards since records began in 1956-57."
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