Autumn Statement

The Chancellor will deliver his final Autumn Statement at Westminster today just six months before the general election.

The SNP is today calling on Chancellor George Osborne to use the statement to outline how he intends to take action to meet economic targets.

The party claims Mr Osborne has failed to meet any of the targets he has set for himself such as debt falling as a share of GDP by 2014/15.

Commenting ahead of the statement in the House of Commons, SNP Depute Leader and Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP said:

"Chancellor Osborne must use the statement to explain why he has failed to meet a single one of the economic targets he set himself when the Tories came to power four years ago.

"Despite promising recovery all we have had is austerity from the broken promises Chancellor. In his Budget this spring he brought us news that debt will not fall until 2016/17 and that he doesn’t expect the UK current account to be back in the black until 2017/18. 

"He also announced he had failed to keep public sector debt down, at £70bn, borrowing in 2015/16 forecast to be more than three times his 2010 estimate.

"Time is running out for Mr Osborne. He must use the statement to explain why he has failed to deliver growth, and instead lined the UK up for some £75bn of further pain at the hands of his austerity agenda.

"The Scottish Government is doing all it can to undo the damage of Westminster cuts with the powers we currently have. And it is delivering results, with record rates of employment and two years of continuous economic growth.

"But Westminster is standing in the way of our efforts to tackle economic inequalities in Scotland. While the Smith Commission did not recommend the job creating powers Scotland needs to thrive, implementation of the proposals will help the Scottish Government take further action to undo the damage of austerity.

"For this reason, Mr Osborne must commit to their swift implementation during the statement.

"Next May, the Scottish people will deliver their verdict on Mr Osborne's time as Chancellor. As his austerity agenda continues to inflict pain across the country and his list of broken promises grows longer, Mr Osborne is rapidly running out of time to redeem himself."

The Chancellor will take to his feet at Westminster immediately after PMQs at 12.00pm.