yesterday\u2019s Autumn Statement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves<\/a> will hurt rather than help the North of Scotland, specifically the Highlands and Moray.<\/p>\nDespite the \u00a3820 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
They all hit vital sectors, both private and public, badly \u2013 including the whisky industry, hospitality, social care, and local council finances among many others.<\/p>\n
The hike in alcohol duty was almost universally condemned as a \u201chammer blow\u201d for the whisky industry that is vital for jobs across Moray and the Highlands.<\/p>\n
Maintaining higher NIC rates will hit both the public and private sectors and employment prospects as it is more expensive to hire new staff.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
While the family farms tax has been reviled by the industry and prompted serious concerns about the mental health of many in agriculture.<\/p>\n
Conservative MSP<\/strong><\/p>\nHighlands and Islands MSP Douglas Ross said the Chancellor\u2019s tax-raising budget will be \u201cdevastating\u201d for the rural economy and way of life.<\/p>\n
Branding it a \u201cshameful betrayal\u201d he said: \u201cEverywhere 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liberal Democrat MPs<\/strong><\/p>\nFar north MP Jamie Stone, MP picked up on alcohol duty as well saying \u201cthe Chancellor missed a trick to alleviate this burden.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe far north is home to some of the most famous whisky distilleries in the world – such as Glenmorangie,\u201d he said. This iconic product supports thousands of jobs, is one of the UK\u2019s greatest exports by value and is an engine for growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cTariffs and other ongoing economic headwinds in the last year have had a significant impact on the industry and it\u2019s my strong belief that the Chancellor missed a trick to alleviate this burden.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce again, it is clear that Highland communities are not being prioritised by either Governments.\u201d<\/p>\n
His Liberal Democrat colleague, Angus MacDonald, representing MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire said: \u201cOur tax burden, at 38 per cent of GDP, is at an all-time high – and you simply cannot tax the way to growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Liberal Democrats have been calling for a new UK-EU Customs Union, which would grow the economy and raise more than \u00a325 billion by repairing the damage of the last Government\u2019s terrible Brexit deal. At the moment, the cost of being out of Europe is a staggering \u00a31.7 billion per week.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI welcome the Government\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
SNP MP<\/strong><\/p>\nThe MP for Moray West, Nairn & Strathspey, Graham Leadbitter, described the budget as \u201can outright shambles \u2013 capped off by the chaos of the OBR leak.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThere is nothing here to tackle the UK\u2019s economic stagnation. The OBR has downgraded growth for every remaining year of this parliament and confirmed that none of the measures will change that.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeanwhile Scotland\u2019s 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 \u2013 and under Labour it\u2019s only getting worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
SNP MSP<\/strong><\/p>\nCaithness, Sutherland & Ross MSP Maree Todd believes the higher charges for EV drivers \u2013 3p per mile, plug-in hybrid 1.5p per mile, rates rising annually with inflation \u2013 unfairly penalise rural communities.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThe Chancellor\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of my constituents will travel over 100 miles to access essential services. Under these plans, EV drivers would pay \u00a33 in tax per trip just to access the same services that urban residents can reach within a few miles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here<\/b><\/a> to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to deliver the Budget. Picture by Ben Dance \/ FCDO. A cross-party consensus that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,51,35,4884,8887,1501,16807,285,712,1263,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-597665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-energy","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-highland-council","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-nairnshire","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-scotland","17":"tag-transport","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115623132201229765","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}