![\"SNP](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1c716d5e08b41ebcea02b9846594ab60.jpeg\")
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said it is \u2018essential\u2019 the UK Government act and provide a package of financial support (James Manning\/PA) <\/p>\nSNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has stepped up demands for Westminster to provide emergency support during the cost of living crisis \u2013 warning that without action the UK is heading towards a \u201ccliff edge\u201d.<\/p>\n
The MP made the plea in the wake of warnings from the Bank of England over the state of the UK economy.<\/p>\n
While stressing that the \u201cseverity and duration\u201d of the current conflict in the Gulf is unknown, the worst case scenario could see inflation peak at 6.2% and not drop back to the target rate of 2% in the next four years.<\/p>\n
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said it is \u2018essential\u2019 the UK Government act and provide a package of financial support (James Manning\/PA) <\/p>\n
Such a scenario could see as many as six interest rate rises to 5.5%, it was reported.<\/p>\n
Warning that the UK is facing \u201ceconomic catastrophe\u201d, Mr Flynn accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of being \u201casleep at the wheel\u201d when the Government should be providing \u201curgent help\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hitting out at the Labour leader, the Mr Flynn \u2013 who is hoping to be elected to Holyrood in next week\u2019s Scottish Parliament election \u2013 said: \u201cBroken Brexit Britain is at crisis point and it\u2019s a disgrace that Keir Starmer is asleep at the wheel as the UK rapidly heads to a cliff edge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Flynn said: \u201cThe SNP has been warning the Labour Party Government for months that families, farmers and businesses need urgent help as the cost of living soars on Keir Starmer\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe UK is facing an economic catastrophe but the Labour Government has done nothing, has no idea how to fix the mess and is completely unprepared for the devastation that is coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the UK faces yet another cost of living emergency, sleepy Starmer is sitting on his hands while Scottish families and businesses are battered by sky-high costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
He spoke out in the wake of\u00a0 Thursday\u2019s Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting \u2013 where interest rates were held steady at 3.75% but members stressed they were alert to the evolving situation in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Mr Flynn said warnings of the impact the conflict could have on possible increases in\u00a0inflation and interest rates were \u201cdevastating and could cripple hard-pressed families with rising mortgage rates, food prices and fuel prices that are completely unaffordable\u201d.<\/p>\n
This, he warned, would be the scenario \u201cunless the UK Government wakes up and takes action now\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Flynn demanded: \u201cIt is essential that the UK Government follows the example of independent countries like Ireland and delivers an emergency package of financial support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat must include removing VAT from fuel for the duration of the crisis, scrapping its planned hike to fuel duty, and introducing a Household Energy Price Cap to lower bills by hundreds of pounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The SNP MP sought to contrast the actions of ministers in England with politicians in Scotland, claiming that while \u201cJohn Swinney\u2019s SNP Government is laser-focused on delivering the strongest cost of living support for families anywhere in the UK, the Labour Government has no plan at all\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee stressed they were alert to the evolving situation in the Middle East (Vahid Salemi\/AP) \u00b7 Vahid Salemi <\/p>\n
Meanwhile Chancellor Rachel Reeves said:\u00a0\u201cThe war in the Middle East is not our war, but it is one we have to respond to.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery choice I make will be about keeping costs down for families and businesses, without repeating the mistakes we\u2019ve seen in the past that resulted in higher inflation and higher interest rates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe entered this conflict in a stronger position because of the choices this Government took to build economic stability, and we are going further to take back our energy security, backing British industry and protecting households, to build a Britain that is stronger, more resilient, and prepared for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has stepped up demands for Westminster to provide emergency support during the cost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1256,11635,11637,11636,94,177,11634,6593,5,1261,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-26125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-bank-of-england","9":"tag-bank-of-england-monetary-policy-committee","10":"tag-economic-catastrophe","11":"tag-emergency-support","12":"tag-keir-starmer","13":"tag-labour-government","14":"tag-labour-leader","15":"tag-stephen-flynn","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-uk-government","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116496240768921698","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}