A HOLYROOD committee has been told that Tory mismanagement of the economy has cost the taxpayer £40 billion in just six months.
MSPs were given the news by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) chair, Richard Hughes, who said that “the past six months have witnessed a series of dramatic swings in policy with five major fiscal statements delivered by three consecutive governments”.
He added: “Taken together, and including their indirect effects via the economy, the net impact of the announcements and reversals has been to add over £40bn of borrowing by 2027-28.”
The extra debt is said to have cost every individual man, woman and child in the UK £600 each.
Commenting, finance convener Kenneth Gibson MSP said the “eye-watering figures” are a “damning indictment of the chronic mismanagement of the last three consecutive Tory governments”, adding: ”The OBR says worse is to come, predicting a 7% fall in living standards over the next two years.
“Following on from a previous decade of austerity, saddling taxpayers with more than £40bn extra debt is outrageous enough. Now households across Scotland face paying for Westminster mismanagement for years to come with even more Tory austerity.
He went on to say that Brexit is “crippling our economy”.
Gibson continued: “While Ireland’s economy is expected to grow by 5.4% next year, the UK’s will shrink by 0.8%. Labour is now a pro-Brexit party with a pro-Brexit leader completely at one with the Tories when it comes to ignoring Scotland’s vote to remain in the EU.
“The only way to protect Scotland is through independence - it is the only way we can get rid of Tory Westminster governments for good.
"And, with independence, we can build a genuine partnership of equals with other nations across these islands while allowing us to escape the failing Westminster economic model and build a fairer, more prosperous and sustainable Scotland, with a seat at the top table as an independent member of the EU and part of a single market seven times bigger than the UK.”
