Rayner challenged on bankers' bonus u-turn ahead of visit to Scotland
The SNP has challenged Angela Rayner to explain to the people of East Lothian why her party would rather cap child benefits than cap bankers' bonuses.
It comes as the Deputy Leader of the Labour party arrives in Scotland, to a constituency where 1,600 children are currently impacted by the callous two-child cap and rape clause.
Nationwide, over 90,000 children in Scotland are currently impacted by the Labour-backed policy, with 1.5 million children affected UK-wide.
For context, in 2022, NatWest's CEO raked in an annual salary of £5.2 million, while a family who receive child benefits would be given as little as £14.45 a week for each additional child.
In 2021, before the bankers' bonus cap was lifted, four UK banks - HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Barclays - paid out an estimated £4 billion in bonuses, while an estimated 3,000 UK bankers earned more than £1 million per year.
David Linden MP, the SNP's Social Justice spokesperson, said Ms Rayner has a "brass neck" arriving in Scotland just days after her party's bankers' bonus U-turn - and that only the SNP will stand up for hard working families across Scotland, and not Westminster's wealthy elite.
Commenting, David Linden MP said:
"Angela Rayner really does have a brass neck arriving in a constituency where the callous two-child cap impacts 1,600 children just days after U-turning on Labour's bankers' bonus policy.
"Voters will rightly ask Labour's Deputy Leader: does her party now prioritise the rich over those less fortunate?
"Clearly, all it took was a quick jaunt to Davos with Westminster's wealthy elite for the Labour party to abandon their principles once again.
"Sir Keir Starmer is right when he say's his party has changed: they no longer represent the hard working people on these isles.
"Unlike Sir Keir Starmer's Labour party, the SNP will always stand up for Scotland and prioritise support for working families.
"These are our values and the SNP will always defend those values in the face of a Westminster system that does not work for Scotland."
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