Anas Sarwar has promised to introduce an Amazon tax and homes for £1 as he pitched Labour as an alternative Government to the SNP.
The Scottish Labour chief unveiled the policies after urging voters to dump the SNP and rubbishing the contenders tipped to take over from Nicola Sturgeon.
It came as an opinion poll of Westminster voting intentions found Labour almost neck-and-neck with the SNP.
In a speech to Scottish Labour conference, held days after Sturgeon’s shock resignation, he started by paying tribute to Sturgeon’s public service:
“Nicola Sturgeon has been at the forefront of public life in Scotland for more than 20 years.
“Despite our profound disagreements, that is an incredible achievement.”
But he took aim at the senior SNP figures tipped to succeed her, including Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson, Justice Secretary Keith Brown and Finance Secretary Kate Forbes.
“Who do they now want you to believe can fix this mess? The Health Secretary who has delivered the longest waiting times in our history?
“The air-miles Culture Secretary jetting around the world while cutting services here at home?
“The Finance Secretary who has decimated local communities?
“The Justice Secretary who won’t give police officers the equipment they need?”
He also fired the starting gun on the next general election and his own bid for Bute House by pitching Labour as the party of unity:
“In the weeks ahead, the SNP will only be talking to themselves, about themselves.
“But our country, now more than ever, requires politicians focussed on delivering the change Scotland needs.
“By uniting Scotland and not dividing it. So now we need to reach out to the country.”
Labour is targeting SNP voters and Sarwar made an explicit pitch for their support at the general election:
“I want to make a direct appeal to people who have voted SNP in the past. We understand your desire for change. We share it.
“We recognise your desire to get rid of the Tories. We share it. We know you dream of a brighter future. It’s a dream we share.
“Because this isn’t as good as it gets. You deserve better. Scotland deserves better. Change is possible.”
He said of the decision facing Scots: “It’s a choice between a Labour Government led by Keir Starmer, or another five years of Tory incompetence. It’s as simple as that. The Conservatives have nothing to offer.
“They have wrecked the country and crashed the economy. Created instability with the revolving door at Number 10. Made a mockery of the rules that people in our country abide by.
“They have inflamed division in our society. They have looked out for nobody but themselves.”
Central to his policy offering was an Amazon tax, which amounts to higher business rates for firms like the online retailer.
His £1 house scheme would apply to the estimated 27,000 long-term empty homes in Scotland.
He said: “We believe these need to be put back into use to create new homes and revitalise and re-energise communities.
“This radical policy would buy up these neglected houses and sell them on, for just £1, to future home owners.
“It would give them a government-backed loan to transform them into homes that will be lived in and loved.”
He also announced plans for massive council tax rises, of up to 500 per cent, on homes that have been empty for over twelve months.
His put downs of the likely contenders to succeed Sturgeon echoed earlier attacks by his deputy Jackie Baillie on Yousaf.
She said: “I hear the most astonishing news! Having been the worst health secretary on record, his condition has deteriorated further.
“He now aspires to be the worst First Minister on record. The lack of self-awareness might be considered by clinicians to be delusional.”
Meanwhile, shock figures have found the SNP slumping to a two point lead over Labour on the eve of Nicola Sturgeon resigning.
The YouGov snapshot put the Nationalists on 29 per cent for a general election, compared to Labour on 27 per cent.
In the 2019 Westminster election, the gap between the two parties was around 27 points.
SNP Depute Leader Keith Brown said: “Anas Sarwar is making it crystal clear that he is happy to ignore the needs and voice of people across Scotland by backing Keir Starmer’s pro-Brexit agenda, which makes Labour indistinguishable from the Tories.
“The gall of Sarwar claiming to be an alternative to the Tories whilst bragging about the dodgy deal his party has made with the Tories in Edinburgh is staggering – they even suspended members who refused to team up with the Tories.
“Not one iota of Sarwar’s speech demonstrates that he is capable of tackling the challenges facing people across Scotland right now – as a results of an economic catastrophe created by Westminster – or that he is willing to stand up for Scottish democracy which is facing its biggest threat in the history of devolution as a result of Westminster attacks.
“Fundamentally, Anas Sarwar is openly showing people across Scotland that it makes no odds whether its Labour or the Tories in number 10 – Under Westminster control, Scotland faces a bleak future underpinned by Brexit and a right wing agenda. Independence is the only way for Scotland to chart a better future.”
Tory MSP Craig Hoy said: “Anas Sarwar is taking voters for fools if he expects them to swallow his claim that Labour will stand up to the SNP and protect the union.
“Is this the same Anas Sarwar who ignored the concerns of the vast majority of Scots and whipped his MSPs to vote for Nicola Sturgeon’s reckless GRR Bill?
“The same Anas Sarwar who broke his own pledge not to do deals with the SNP by allowing his councillors in Dumfries and Galloway to strike a backroom deal to lock out the Scottish Conservatives?
“If that were the case, he should ask himself why pro-independence strategists view a Keir Starmer government as their best route to securing another divisive referendum.
“It’s because they know, as the public know, that Labour can’t be trusted to protect Scotland’s place in the UK.”
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