Tory and SNP 'austerity' was lethal during pandemic, says Scotland's top trade unionist

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scotland’s most senior trade unionist will today claim Tory and SNP Government austerity killed workers during the pandemic.Roz Foyer of the STUC will tell the UK Covid Inquiry that spending cuts had a “grave” impact on workers’ safety during the public health crisis.Both Governments have faced sustained criticism over the poor protection offered to staff during covid, particularly in the early part of the pandemic.Foyer, whose body represents 540,000 workers, will lay part of the blame for the high number of deaths on austerity.The Tory Government has presided over fourteen years of financial pressure on key public services, with Scots councils also complaining of settlements from Edinburgh.In her response to the Inquiry, which sits in Edinburgh this week, Foyer and the STUC will say staffing shortages in social care, a lack of PPE and shoddy pandemic planning put workers' safety at risk.

Ahead of her appearance before the Inquiry, Foyer told the Record workers were “dangerously exposed” to the virus as a result of spending cuts.She said: “Our testimony to the Inquiry makes clear that years of brutal austerity has fundamentally altered our public services with lethal consequences.“Workers across our economy, especially in health and social care, were dangerously exposed to the virus through a deadly combination of understaffing, PPE shortages and poor pandemic planning from central government.“With a Health and Safety Executive hamstrung by budget cuts and, with limits on devolution, a Scottish Government unable to effectively legislate on employment and health and safety matters, working people were caught in the cross-fire with grave results.”The UK Covid-19 Inquiry will hear evidence in Edinburgh over the next three