LAST week the Chancellor announced a disappointing Autumn Budget which unsurprisingly is more focused on cleaning up the Tories’ Brexit mess rather than prioritising people and prosperity.

While I welcome Philip Hammond’s decision to scrap the VAT on Scotland’s Police and Fire Services, it doesn’t go far enough – Scotland’s emergency services should be reimbursed the £140 million they have already paid.

It’s also laughable that the 13 Scottish Tory MPs think that they were the ones to change Mr Hammond’s mind when the SNP have raised this issue 140 times.

I must also dispel the myth that Westminster is giving £2bn ‘extra’ funding for the Scottish Government because despite an increase to Scotland’s finances, Scotland’s block grant faces a reduction of £213m in real terms. 

On top of this, over £1bn is financial transactions, meaning it cannot be spent on public services and has to be repaid.

It’s frustrating too that although Mr Hammond admitted that Universal Credit is failing, he has chosen to continue its full-service rather than pausing and reviewing its rollout. 

His move to reduce the wait time to five weeks instead of six is also infuriating. Having to wait 35 days for UC is still too long.

On top of this, the Chancellor has set aside £3bn to prepare for Brexit, proving again that the Tories’ mistakes are hurting Scotland, who didn’t vote Leave. 

Although this is only a few aspects of the Budget, regardless of what they say, the Tories have not done Scotland a favour.