SNP in Falkirk call for general election candidates to pledge support for public sector

They are urging general election candidates to pledge support for local services and to highlight the “continued assault” on public sector funding by the UK government.

Falkirk SNP has made the call, saying privatisation of huge swathes of the NHS, underfunding of local government, and brutal cuts to education in England and Wales directly impact on Scottish Government funding. This in turn, they say, leads to the underfunding of public services across Scotland.

An SNP spokesperson said: “Decisions taken in Westminster over the past 15 years have had a lasting impact on local service delivery in Falkirk and across Scotland.

“Without properly funding public services in England and Wales, local authorities, health and other public services in Scotland will continue having to make difficult decisions.

“There is a total misunderstanding of this from all sides. Candidates promising to stop decisions being made, which wouldn’t be in their power, are either spreading untruths to the public or they simply don’t know how government works.

"Without a credible plan to reverse Westminster spending cuts and properly fund public services across the UK, the problems we face now will only get worse.

“Since there are no plans to reverse the looming £18 billion of cuts and even Labour’s Wes Streeting admits that all roads lead to Westminster, instead of letting Tory austerity change into Labour austerity, the people of Scotland should vote to put their interests first."

They added: “The only real and meaningful change will come when Scotland becomes a normal, independent country and we can take all these decisions for ourselves.”