Boris Johnson has swerved SNP calls for furlough payments to cover any future covid lockdowns in Scotland alone.
The Prime Minister was confronted by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford on the issue after Nicola Sturgeon said it was “unfair” that furlough was only extended when Johnson declared a November lockdown in England.
But the Prime Minister dodged a straight answer in the Commons when Blackford angrily accused him of discriminating against the devolved governments.
The SNP leader said: “A mini-extension to furlough was only granted at the 11th hour when one part of the United Kingdom needed it. This is a democratic disgrace. The Prime Minister only acted when England needed support. When Scotland needed full furlough support Westminster said no.”
Speaking to the Commons remotely, Blackford asked the Prime Minister directly if he would support furlough in devolved nations if they declared separate lockdowns.
He said: “If they need to put in place additional lockdown measures will the Prime Minister guarantee that the Treasury will make 80 per cent furlough payments available that Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish workers and business need over the coming months?”
Despite an appeal from Blackford for a “straight answer” the Prime Minister avoided speaking about future schemes
He caused deliberate confusion by insisting that the November furlough extension would apply UK-wide, but made no reference to future guarantees.
Johnson said: “The answer is yes, because the furlough scheme is a UK-wide scheme and it applies across the whole of the UK. It is true that Scotland is taking a slightly different approach but I thought he was talking complete nonsense about the non-application of furlough in Scotland, absolute nonsense.”
“The Treasury of this country, the United Kingdom, has supplied £7.2 billion,to support the people of Scotland and it is protected 900,000 jobs in Scotland that is thanks to the might of the UK Treasury.”
Asked again by the SNP's Patrick Grady for a "yes or no answer" on whether devolved governments would have the resources to extend 80 per cent furlough, the Prime Minister gave the same reply.
Scottish Lib Dem Alistair Carmichael also made an attempt to get the Prime Minister to answer the same question without success.
The Orkney and Shetland MP drew attention to the fact that Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, has joined calls for a separate Scottish furloughs scheme if it is needed.
Carmichael said: “The position in relation to the future access to furlough funds for Scotland another devolved administrations is unfair and untenable ans that has to change. He doesn’t need to take my word for it, he can ask his own leader of the Scottish Conservatives because he says exactly the same.”
