Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to deliver the Budget. Picture by Ben Dance / FCDO.
A cross-party consensus that yesterday’s Autumn Statement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves will hurt rather than help the North of Scotland, specifically the Highlands and Moray.
Despite the £820 million more pledged to the Scottish Government until the end of the decade, LibDem, SNP and Tory MPs and MSPs were critical of the budget.
The chief areas of complaint were national insurance contributions (NIC); family farm tax; the energy profits levy; alcohol duty; and higher charges for electric vehicles.
They all hit vital sectors, both private and public, badly – including the whisky industry, hospitality, social care, and local council finances among many others.
The hike in alcohol duty was almost universally condemned as a “hammer blow” for the whisky industry that is vital for jobs across Moray and the Highlands.
Maintaining higher NIC rates will hit both the public and private sectors and employment prospects as it is more expensive to hire new staff.
The higher charges for electric vehicles is considered by some as a new rural tax because it means those in EVs, as they are known, travel greater distances.
Even moves to reduce by removing the renewables and energy company obligations will only take effect from April while energy profits levy will suppress oil and gas.
While the family farms tax has been reviled by the industry and prompted serious concerns about the mental health of many in agriculture.
Conservative MSP
Highlands and Islands MSP Douglas Ross said the Chancellor’s tax-raising budget will be “devastating” for the rural economy and way of life.
Branding it a “shameful betrayal” he said: “Everywhere you look in this Budget, there are measures that will have a deeply damaging impact on the rural economy and decisions that will put local jobs at risk.
“Her move to once again hike the duty on Scotch Whisky is a hammer blow for one of the most vital industries locally, with Moray being home to the most distilleries of any constituency in the United Kingdom.
“The Chancellor has also committed another shameful betrayal of our local farmers. She has doubled down on keeping her cruel and hated family farm tax in place which puts the future of many family farms at risk and will put the price of food up in our supermarkets.”
Liberal Democrat MPs
Far north MP Jamie Stone, MP picked up on alcohol duty as well saying “the Chancellor missed a trick to alleviate this burden.”
“The far north is home to some of the most famous whisky distilleries in the world – such as Glenmorangie,” he said. This iconic product supports thousands of jobs, is one of the UK’s greatest exports by value and is an engine for growth.
“Tariffs and other ongoing economic headwinds in the last year have had a significant impact on the industry and it’s my strong belief that the Chancellor missed a trick to alleviate this burden.”
“Once again, it is clear that Highland communities are not being prioritised by either Governments.”
His Liberal Democrat colleague, Angus MacDonald, representing MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire said: “Our tax burden, at 38 per cent of GDP, is at an all-time high – and you simply cannot tax the way to growth.
“The Liberal Democrats have been calling for a new UK-EU Customs Union, which would grow the economy and raise more than £25 billion by repairing the damage of the last Government’s terrible Brexit deal. At the moment, the cost of being out of Europe is a staggering £1.7 billion per week.”
He added: “I welcome the Government’s decision to remove the legacy Renewables Obligation and end the Energy Company Obligation from energy bills – reforms I have long pushed for, including to the Prime Minister in a recent PMQs.”
SNP MP
The MP for Moray West, Nairn & Strathspey, Graham Leadbitter, described the budget as “an outright shambles – capped off by the chaos of the OBR leak.”
He said: “There is nothing here to tackle the UK’s economic stagnation. The OBR has downgraded growth for every remaining year of this parliament and confirmed that none of the measures will change that.
“Meanwhile Scotland’s oil and gas industry, whisky sector, and rural communities, like my constituency of Moray West, Nairn & Strathspey, are all being hit yet again. Brexit Britain is broken – and under Labour it’s only getting worse.”
SNP MSP
Caithness, Sutherland & Ross MSP Maree Todd believes the higher charges for EV drivers – 3p per mile, plug-in hybrid 1.5p per mile, rates rising annually with inflation – unfairly penalise rural communities.
She said: “The Chancellor’s announcement in the Autumn Budget to introduce new road charges for EV and hybrid drivers is a real blow to people living in the Highlands.
“Many of my constituents will travel over 100 miles to access essential services. Under these plans, EV drivers would pay £3 in tax per trip just to access the same services that urban residents can reach within a few miles.
“In rural areas, where there are fewer alternatives to driving and where long distances are unavoidable, this decision risks disproportionately penalising those in Highland who have made the switch to greener vehicles.”
Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.