Devolved nations demand urgent meeting with Kwarteng
The devolved nations have called for an urgent meeting with Kwasi Kwarteng to discuss“reversing the damaging effects of the UK government’s tax proposals”. The finance ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have written a joint letter calling for the UK government to act now to “restore confidence in our public finances and limit any long-term damage to the economy”.
The letter, from the Scottish deputy first minister, John Swinney, the Welsh finance minister, Rebecca Evans, and the Northern Irish finance minister Conor Murphy claims Kwarteng’s package is “a huge gamble on public finances and the health of our economy”.
The chancellor’s mini-budget, which introduced tax cuts that will mostly benefit the richest fifth of households, provides “little respite for families who are already facing a winter unable to afford essentials such as food or to heat their homes” and has “sparked economic and financial turmoil”, the letter said.
The devolved nations have asked the government to provide further targeted support to help households and small businesses, which they say are “struggling most during the current crisis” and went on to say the most recent budget has put devolved government services at risk.
Highlighting that devolved nations “do not have the flexibility or borrowing powers that the UK government has”, the letter claims devolved budgets are already “stretched beyond their maximum” meaning that “as responsible governments we are having to make very difficult decisions to balance our budgets” an approach which, the letter says, is “unlikely to be sustainable”.
The letter calls for additional funding that is “urgently” needed and requests that devolved nations “see the full forecasts from the Office for Budget
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