The last five years of Tory-led government have been marked by a rise in foodbanks and in-work poverty – stains on our society hugely aggravated by continued austerity and a rhetoric which demonises welfare, benefits and those on lower incomes who need tax credits. Last week many of the most vulnerable across Scotland and the rest of the UK will have watched with trepidation as the Chancellor of the Exchequer revealed the first budget from a majority Tory Government since 1996.

We were right to be wary – this budget is a slap in the face of single parents, the disabled, young people, those on zero hours contracts and so many others who struggle to get by every day.

Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and architect of the welfare cuts aspect of this budget, brayed and cheered on the side-lines while the Chancellor announced another £12 billion in cuts. These cuts include a freeze in many working age benefits, limiting the availability of tax credits to the first two children in any family, and an even lower benefit cap than expected – £20,000 a year. I wonder how many Tory toffs could live on £20,000 a year.

This was less a budget from a Chancellor, more one designed by an illusionist who took from one hand then gave a lot less with the other. George Osborne tried to herald the introduction of a “living wage” – unfortunately for him, changing the name of the National Minimum Wage doesn’t magically convert it into a “Living Wage”. While we absolutely welcome the plans to increase the Minimum Wage from £6.50 to £7.20 p/h over the next year, that is nowhere near the Living Wage in Scotland, which is currently £7.85. Add to that the fact that many working families will still be significantly worse off once you factor in the Tax Credit freezes and restrictions, and the full con-trick of the so-called “Living Wage” presented by Osborne is fully exposed.

There was even worse news if you are a young person in the UK, to paraphrase Neil Kinnock, I warn you not to be young and poor under this UK government. Young people have been hit with a quadruple whammy in this budget – not only have they made it more difficult for 18 to 21-year-olds to qualify for housing benefit, but the minimum wage increase will not apply to under-25s and students in England will see the maintenance grant and £9000 tuition fee cap scrapped.

Despite the Scottish Government’s best efforts to mitigate and provide support, many poor and vulnerable are stretched as thinly as possible as it is; we as a society simply cannot afford this other round of cuts. We knew it was coming, they didn’t try to hide it, they told us there were more cuts to come. Even Labour tied itself to the austerity agenda and promised a “crack down” on benefits, if put in power.

That is why we in the SNP, and the majority of people in Scotland, know that we need Full Fiscal powers devolved to the Scottish Parliament. I don’t want our country to just mitigate those policies we don’t like, how much better could our society be if we were in charge of our own destiny and shaped the kind of society we wanted.