Oral Answers to Questions

Dave Doogan Excerpts

Tuesday 9th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that debt is going to fall during the course of this Parliament—something that never happened under the Conservative Government—and that the deficit as a share of GDP will fall by 1 percentage point this year. This is a Government who have a grip on the public finances and on public spending, because of the choices that we made. All those choices were opposed by all the Opposition parties.

[Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) (SNP)]

In the spring statement earlier this year, the Chancellor said that the responsible choice is to reduce our level of borrowing in the years ahead. That is a noble sentiment, which I applaud—if she was not trying to fix a watch with a hammer. This is the Chancellor that has seen UK debt interest now soar to a 27-year high, while annual debt interest is almost twice the cost of servicing the Ministry of Defence. Given her catastrophic first Budget, what reassurance has she got for Scottish businesses that things will not get even worse when she finally has her next Budget in the winter?

[Rachel Reeves]

I will not take any lectures from the SNP, which has put up taxes on ordinary working people in Scotland. The SNP Scottish Government had the biggest settlement since devolution in real terms at the spending review this year. That was only possible because of the tax changes that we made in the Budget. It is now up to the SNP Government to use that money wisely and to see waiting lists fall in Scotland in the way that they have in England and Wales. Waiting lists are still rising in Scotland—what does that say about their Government?