Reeves must end jobs tax and act to bring down energy bills

Speaking ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves' visit to Scotland on Friday, where she is expected to discuss energy, defence and measures to boost the Scottish economy, Alistair Carmichael MP said:

“I’m surprised the Chancellor can find a business to host her. She won’t be welcome in Aberdeen because of what she has done to oil and gas and she won’t be welcome in most of the shire because of her plans on inheritance tax. All that on top of national insurance increases that are crippling business growth everywhere.

“Nevertheless progress on rebuilding our defence industry after years of hollowing out Britain’s armed forces under the Conservatives should be welcomed. I hope that the Chancellor can now persuade the Prime Minister to up the pace on getting to 3% of GDP on defence spending.

“While the Chancellor is here, we also need to see immediate progress on the Acorn carbon capture project. Carbon capture was championed by the Liberal Democrats in government before the Tories axed £1bn from the project as soon as they could.

“This project has the potential to create thousands of skilled jobs, utilise Scotland’s engineering expertise and accelerate our progress towards meeting critical emission reduction targets. The government must now make up for almost a decade of lost time.

“However, this alone will not be enough to cut bills for ordinary Scots. The Chancellor should announce new measures to break the link between gas prices and electricity costs so people get the benefits of cheap, clean power.

"There are also key questions she needs to answer. She has never met any farming reps on inheritance tax. Will she meet farmers in North East Scotland? 

"Likewise will she meet with unions like Unite and RMT to discuss her plans for the North Sea?”