Smith Hits Out At SNP Over Costs Of Care

JACQUI Smith, the Home Secretary, yesterday accused the SNP of penalising vulnerable people as she joined the by-election campaign trail in Fife.

She made the comments while touring a paper mill with Labour candidate Lindsay Roy, a local headteacher, four weeks before voters go to the polls in Glenrothes.

Criticising the First Minister, she said: “Alex Salmond can grandstand all he likes, but he perhaps ought to be answering questions as to why the SNP-controlled Fife Council feels it’s necessary to penalise the most vulnerable people in the community by increasing home care costs.

“When you’ve got SNP in government you see those sorts of cuts.”

She said home care costs had been changed from £4 a week for pensioners and vulnerable people to £11 an hour under the SNP/Liberal Democrat council.

Mr Roy hopes to win the seat made vacant by the death of John MacDougall.