Anas Sarwar and Nicola Sturgeon clashed over the cost of living crisis in Holyrood today.
The Scottish Labour leader said the Scottish Government should be doing more to help people who are struggling and called for the SNP to back Labour’s call for a windfall tax on oil and gas profits.
He said: “Both Scotland’s governments can do more.”
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He called on the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, next week in the Spring Statement, to cut VAT, reverse Universal Credit cuts and impose a windfall tax on oil and gas giants profits.
Sarwar asked The First Minister if she would “instruct” SNP MPs at Westminster to back the windfall tax plan.
Sturgeon replied that the SNP MPs called for a windfall tax that went further but which included oil and gas firms.
She said: “Why would Anas Sarwar want to exclude Amazon?”
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She said: “I hope we can unite to call on the Chancellor to make substantial interventions for people struggling.
“We will continue to do everything we can with limited powers. All of us should be calling on the Chancellor to do much more.”
She said the SNP Scottish Government was doubling the Scottish Child Payment and protecting the council tax reduction scheme which she added means “many thousands of people do not pay council tax at all”.
She added: “Wouldn’t it be so much better, rather than asking my view on something I can’t do, if he asked for powers to be in the hands of this government.”
Sarwar said: The cost of living crisis is now. There’s no constitutional answer to it.
“It is affecting people whether they voted yes or no.”
He added the Scottish Government “Could’ve used the £150 payments more progressively.
He said: “This crisis is only going to get worse and warm words won’t help.”
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