Labour has not “learnt the lessons of its election defeat” in Scotland the new SNP Westminster leader has said as uncertainty in Downing Street continues.
SNP MP Dave Doogan has called for the UK Government to bring forward an emergency cost-of-living budget to help families instead of being “stuck in paralysis”.
He is calling on the Chancellor to announce an emergency budget this month to deliver an urgent package of financial support including removing VAT on fuel until the crisis is over, scrapping the Labour Government’s fuel duty hike, and introducing a household energy price cap.
Mr Doogan said: “This week of Westminster chaos has shown the Labour Government hasn’t learnt the lessons of its election defeat and is repeating the same mistakes that saw it hammered at the polls.
“It’s not all about Keir Starmer and rearranging the deck chairs at Westminster.
“People voted for real change – but none has been forthcoming. They voted for urgent action on the cost of living emergency – but the Labour Government is stuck in paralysis and hasn’t announced a single measure to help.
“Instead, they are only talking about themselves – squabbling over who gets to be leader, while they plunge the UK into another crisis of their own making.
“This has been going on for two years now. The Labour Government has spent more time talking about whether Keir Starmer can survive than anything else.”
His comments come amid the rising uncertainty at Westminster with growing calls for the Prime Minister to resign, with Wes Streeting having resigned as health secretary on Thursday.
Mr Doogan continued that, while he agreed the UK Government should “settle this crisis”, he said that people around the country are not interested in Labour infighting.
He said: “Yes, we need to break this impasse and settle this crisis – but people aren’t interested in whether Wes Streeting or Andy Burnham get to further their own careers, they want urgent help with soaring bills and a better future from the terminal decline of Broken Brexit Britain.
“The UK Government must bring forward an emergency cost-of-living budget this month to help households with real financial support – removing VAT on fuel, scrapping the fuel duty hike, and introducing a Household Energy Price Cap to reduce bills by hundreds of pounds.
“Every day it fails to act, and focuses on itself, Westminster is showing people in Scotland why they need the fresh start of independence to lower bills and build a better future.”
