BUT TORIES STILL OWE SCOTLAND £140 MILLION

SNP pressure on the UK government has paid off for Scotland’s emergency services after the Chancellor finally backed down to allow Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue to reclaim VAT after years of unfairness.

Scotland’s emergency services had been the only territorial forces in the UK unable to reclaim VAT – which costs the forces £35 million annually. While the overdue reversal is welcomed by the SNP, the refusal to repay the £140 million already paid by Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue means the Tories continue to short-change our emergency services.

SNP MP for Glenrothes and Central Fife, Peter Grant MP, has criticised the UK government for this betrayal of Scottish Fire and Rescue and Police Scotland – and is calling on them to give Scotland the £140 million we are owed to help bolster police and fire services in Fife.

Commenting, Peter Grant MP said:

“It is of course welcome news that the UK government has finally listened to calls from the SNP and will no longer unfairly take £35 million from our Police and Fire budgets every year.

“However, the Chancellor’s failure to repay VAT already paid shows how little the Tories care about Fife’s emergency services.

“If they finally agree that it is unfair for Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue to pay VAT, how can they possibly justify keeping the money they have already taken?

“The £140 million owed to Scotland’s emergency services is a drop in the ocean compared to the £1 billion the Tories threw to the DUP to prop up a weak and wobbly Prime Minister and government.

“The refusal to repay the £140 million we are owed is simply yet another Tory betrayal of Scotland, and proves just how useless the band of Scottish Tory MPs really are.”