The impact of Liz Truss’s first few weeks in government on the economy has destroyed any economic arguments against independence John Swinney has said.

The Deputy First Minister said the Tories have “threatened the financial security of millions of people”.

He said that many people who voted no during the referendum in 2014 did so because of fears over the economy of an independent Scotland.

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Swinney said, “how can that any longer be the case”.

He attacked the Conservatives on their policy of lifting a cap on bankers’ bonuses and on the decision to give tax cuts to the richest and to reduce the value of social security benefits.

He said: “During a cost of living crisis, they are taking from the poor and giving to the rich.”

Swinney, in his speech to the SNP Conference in Aberdeen, said the Bank of England took emergency action to avoid a collapse of British Pension funds.
He added: “Within weeks the new Tory Prime Minister decided to transform a punishing cost crisis into a full-blown economic and financial crisis.
“In an act of fiscal recklessness, the Tories have threatened the financial security of millions of our people, jeopardised the homes of many through higher mortgages and shredded in one fell swoop the fiscal credibility of the United Kingdom.”

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As the SNP seeks to hold a second referendum next year and awaits the ruling of the Supreme Court in whether it is within the powers of the Scottish Government Swinney recalled the 2014 referendum.

He said: “If I think back to conversations I had with people who did not support us during the 2014 Referendum, many felt they had financial security within the United Kingdom. After the events of the last few weeks, how can that any longer be the case?

How can any politician look a pensioner, or a mortgage holder or a person living in poverty straight in the eye, after the wreckage of the last few weeks, and say there is financial security any longer in the United Kingdom.”