THE SNP have condemned Boris Johnson’s government as “one of the most corrupt and morally bankrupt” UK governments in recent times.
The party highlighted a litany of examples of harmful and damaging policies under the Prime Minister in an end-of-year scorecard.
The report includes:
- Lockdown Christmas parties: Downing Street is under investigation over allegations that the Prime Minister, ministers, aides and officials attended at least seven different parties last year while the rest of the country abided by lockdown restrictions
- Rampant cronyism: Multi-billion-pound Covid contracts were handed out to friends, close contacts and party donors, public money was misused to carry out research on the public’s attitude towards the Union, and the House of Lords was filled with unelected Tories
- Brexit: Scotland and the UK were dragged out of the world’s largest single market, burdening businesses with red tape and mounting costs – all in the middle of a global pandemic
- Nationality and Borders Bill: The toxic piece of legislation – dubbed the “Anti-Refugee” Bill – could see people seeking asylum criminalised with an offence punishable with up to four years in prison. It could also deny people of their citizenship without any notice
- Refugees: The Tories ramped up the rhetoric against refugees desperately seeking safety, including UK Government ministers putting forward shameful plans to detain and process people abroad
- Aid budget: The UK’s aid budget was drastically cut for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable in the middle of a pandemic – breaking a manifesto and legal commitment
- Free school meals: The PM was forced into a last-minute U-turn after opposing the extension of free school meals to children from low-income families during the school holidays in England
- Universal Credit cut: The Tories came under fire for slashing the £20 Universal Credit uplift – which would slash £1040 a year from six million households, as well as “knock out the benefits that the Scottish Child Payment brings”.
- Austerity: Rather than introducing an investment-led recovery from the pandemic, the UK Government has signalled a return to austerity which will punish already hard-hit families further and consign many more to poverty.
That’s a fair summary, but, IMO, there’s more, much more … 