Ferguson comments on Scottish draft budget

> Speaking following today’s meeting of Dumfries & Galloway Council, at which the Scottish Government draft budget and its implications for local government were debated, SNP Council Group Leader Andy Ferguson said:
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> “All we’ve seen today is rhetoric from Labour and the Tories – who sound more and more like each other every day. Everyone in this region knows that the Scottish Government’s overall budget has been cut year on year, with more cuts to come by 2019.
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> “Equally, everyone is well aware that the Scottish Government doesn’t have the powers yet to fully mitigate these cuts without massive tax hikes which would hit the poorest hardest.
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> “This draft budget continues the Scottish Government’s commitments to a whole range of measures to mitigate the worst excesses of the Tory Welfare Reform agenda, finance the integration of adult health and social care and increase investment in affordable housing. You simply can’t achieve all of that on a reducing budget without making savings somewhere.
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> “Today we saw Labour and the Tories singing from the same hymn sheet and protesting dismay at the direct result of the constitutional situation they campaigned together to continue.
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> “If other parties are so genuinely outraged by this draft budget what are their alternative proposals? So far their colleagues at Holyrood have offered no constructive alternatives of any sort.”
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