Liberal Democrat Finance spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP condemned the impact of the UK Budget on Scotland.

Speaking during a debate in the Scottish Parliament, Mr McArthur said:

“As we have come to expect, the UK budget in March was unveiled amid a great fanfare of rhetoric about poverty and redistribution.

“The injustice of Gordon Brown’s initial £7 billion tax grab on some of the poorest in society was highlighted and criticised by the Liberal Democrats at the time. Oddly it has taken rather longer for David Cameron and Labour backbenchers to summon up sufficient indignation to come out against the move.

“Scottish Ministers have been quick to point an accusing finger at Westminster, but the Scottish Government does have its own responsibilities in terms of addressing poverty, particularly fuel poverty.

“Last month, the Liberal Democrats initiated a debate in the Scottish Parliament on fuel poverty and I was delighted that MSPs endorsed our proposals for a one-stop shop approach to tackling fuel poverty. It is now up to the Scottish Government to take forward this approach.

“The UK budget also fails to deliver in the area of child poverty, with serious consequences for Scotland. It is now fairly clear that the target of halving child poverty by 2010 will not be achieved.

“By investing less than a third of what is necessary to halve child poverty, the UK government has effectively abandoned its own target. The modest changes announced to child benefit and child tax credit are further examples of a failure properly to walk the talk.”