UK Budget: Stewart Hosie claims Tory approach to economy is more 'ideological than practical' ahead of budget

SNP economy spokesperson Stewart Hosie has claimed the Tory approach to managing the economy is more “ideological than practical”, just days before the Chancellor is set to deliver the UK Budget.

A former deputy leader to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Mr Hosie suggested there were a lot of global factors in play when it came to the public purse. But he stressed the Conservatives were ignoring their own role through things such as former prime minister Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will unveil his second budget on Wednesday. Mr Hosie said his party was more interested in specific policy issues, rather than Barnett consequentials.

Speaking to Scotland on Sunday, the Dundee East MP accused the Tories of being at fault for issues with the economy.

Stewart Hosie claimed the UK Government managed the economy through ideology, not practicality.

He said: “There are a lot of causes for the situation we are in. There’s the Labour market in terms of reduction in trade, in terms of the contribution of trade to GDP growth. Clearly, we need to be in the European single market.

“But there's an ideological problem with the Tories when it comes to trading with Europe, so that’s frustrating.

“Also a lot of these problems, not all of them, are of the Tories own making. They'd have to be wilfully ignorant of the damage caused by [former chancellor] Kwasi Kwarteng’s extraordinary fiscal loosening less than a year ago. That’s caused a lot of the problems, which November's Budget had to try to resolve, but a lot of those problems have yet to go away.

“I think they are driven more by ideology than they are with the practical measures that they could take to fix the economy.”

Mr Hosie also criticised arguments that independence would make Scotland poorer, pointing to the benefits of European Union membership.

He said: “The irony is independence, and Scotland going back into the European Union would remove 26 borders that Brexit created. I think there is a lot of political rhetoric when they use language like that, which doesn't survive any scrutiny at all.”

Asked what the SNP hoped to see from the Budget, Mr Hosie explained he was worried about the “real problems” facing people.

He said: “We've done a lot of work on looking at what the asks are from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Trades Union Congress (TUC), so we are looking at what their plan is on green growth, then we will then look in a lot of detail about what they are planning to do or not do to actually tackle productivity, to actually tackle the output gap, to actually tackle the Labour shortage.

“Then our asks this year are more likely to be focused on the problems real people are being asked to address.

“So energy prices, number one, inflation, number two, the cost of living, generally, and of course, the UK Government within their control, the ability to guarantee benefits, pensions, public sector pay rises in the next round.

“So I think the focus is more going to be on energy prices, inflation and cost of living, rather than necessarily Barnett consequentials”.

The SNP's first youth convener, Mr Hosie pointed to energy prices as being a key issue the Government had to act on.

He said: “I think when it comes to energy, they would be extraordinarily foolish if they didn't take action, not to increase the gap, not to maintain the cap, but to actually decrease the cap, which, of course, isn't really a cap at all, it’s average.

“I think they would be extremely foolish indeed, if they let people suffer unduly with what are ridiculous energy costs”.

There was also criticism of home secretary Suella Braverman, and the UK Government’s plans to remove and ban asylum seekers from re-entry if they arrive in the UK through unauthorised means.

Rishi Sunak has argued his new Bill will “take back ­control of our borders, once and for all”, but critics have warned the proposals are “unworkable” and will leave thousands of migrants in limbo.

The Prime Minister met with France’s president Emmanuel Macron on Friday to discuss further co-operation required to reduce boat crossings.

But Mr Hosie claimed the policy would not work, and suggested the UK Government was ignoring real options to make the lives of refugees not just easier, but beneficial to the economy.

He said: “There’s two bits to this. Firstly, this is dog whistle politics, this is the worst sort of red meat to the Tory right. I thought the statement by the home secretary earlier this week was absolutely despicable.

“In terms of refugees, it's not illegal to be a refugee, it's not illegal to be an asylum seeker. It's not illegal to cross the Channel and seek asylum in the UK, it simply is not.

“Unless the UK wants to trash international law, it will remain legal to come here. Now is there not a cost involved in that? Yes. Of course, for this. But then the UK Government could resolve much of that by allowing refugees and asylum seekers to work.

“They have many of the solutions to the cost in their own arsenal, but they refuse to deploy them. This is a wedge issue for the next election, it has little to do with the reality of dealing with asylum seekers and refugees and everything to do with trying to win a few percentage points in an election.”

The Prime Minister has made "stopping the boats" one of his five priorities, while Ms Braverman has repeatedly promised to take a hard line on illegal migration and Channel crossings.