The UK Government needs to “nurse” businesses through the energy crisis by providing support, the SNP’s Westminster leader has said.
Ian Blackford compared comments made by UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng playing down the possibility of extra help for business to Margaret Thatcher, and warned that a lack of support will affect everyone.
Mr Kwarteng shied away from committing to extra support for firms when asked this morning by Andrew Marr.
He said the government was "looking to find a solution" when asked if ht was going to give extra help to energy-intensive industries.
However when he was told that sounded like a 'yes', he said: "No, that doesn’t sound like yes at all. We already have existing support and we’re looking to see if that’s sufficient to get us through this situation.”
"I’ve been very clear we’re not going to bail out failing energy suppliers.".
He said he had been in discussions with the Treasury about the situation, however Treasury sources have since denied any such meetings have taken place.
Mr Blackford, when told about Mr Kwarteng's comments, said: "This is like Thatcher all over again, isn’t it?".
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show, the SNP MP said: “Government has to recognise it has a responsibility to nurse businesses through this, to provide short-term support.
“If we end up in a situation, for example, where steel production stops in west central Scotland that helps nobody.
“So we’ve got to make sure that companies have got the assistance they need in the short term while we get through this.
“If not, we’re all going to pay a price because we’re going to end up with higher unemployment, we’re going to end up with supply constraints; we’re ending up in a situation, by the way – and the real worry I have out of this – is that inflation is now increasing.
“The Bank of England and the Government have been slow to react to this; we’re now seeing wage inflation – in fact the Prime Minister is encouraging wage inflation. That runs the risk that we end up with higher inflation for longer and the consequences of all of that.
“It is a serious problem.”
Asked if the Scottish Government would provide support, he said that energy policy was reserved but the Scottish government would do all it could to help.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel