TORIES CAN'T HIDE FROM DEVASTATING AUSTERITY LEGACY

The Tories cannot be allowed to hide from the devastating harm that a decade of massive cuts to public spending have done to family incomes, public services and the economy.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) The Scottish Government has been trying to mitigate the worst of their brutal austerity cuts, but the latest report from the Trussell Trust says Tory welfare reforms have been a key factor in the dramatic rise in food bank use and extreme poverty in the UK over the past 7 years.

There are now 14 million people living in poverty, and child poverty is on the rise, with all the lifelong damage that can cause. The Tories have shredded what should be a safety net for people struggling to get by, sat on their hands and passed the buck to the voluntary sector.

After a decade of Tory and Lib Dem austerity cuts, the shambolic roll-out of universal credit, sanctions, the benefit freeze, the two child benefit cap and the bedroom tax, the people of Scotland deserve so much better than this callous Tory Government.

All of the Westminster parties share the blame for the harm austerity cuts have done. The Lib Dems worked hand-in-hand with the Tories to hammer the poorest, and Labour were the architects of austerity - threatening "deeper and tougher" cuts than Thatcher.

Westminster is broken beyond repair and failing Scotland abysmally. At this crucial election, only a vote for the SNP can lock the Tories out of government, escape Brexit and put Scotland's future in Scotland's hands - not Boris Johnson's - so we can build a stronger, fairer economy.