LABOUR would not have the money to bin draconian Tory welfare rules – but want to cut taxes, Anas Sarwar has said.
The Scottish Labour leader said his party remained opposed to the two-child cap, which limits the amount parents can claim in benefits, but would not be able to reverse it immediately if it wins power at the election.
But he said the party would like to see the “tax burden for working Scots” to fall.
Speaking at the launch of Scottish Labour’s manifesto at Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh on Tuesday, Sarwar accused the SNP of “using income tax as a substitute for economic growth”.
He reiterated Labour’s focus on growing the economy to pay for public services and insisted that this coupled with previously announced tax pledges including ending the VAT exemption for private schools would be enough to avoid a return to austerity budgets.
The Scottish Labour leader said: “The UK manifesto and indeed our manifesto here in Scotland makes commitments not to raise income tax, not to raise National Insurance, not to increase VAT, of course income tax is completely devolved here in Scotland but we have to recognise the damaging consequences of the SNP using income tax as a substitute for economic growth.
“Because right now what’s happening is because of their failure to grow our economy, they’re asking Scots to pay more and get less. And that’s why there is such deep frustration across the country.”
He said the SNP were using income tax in Scotland as a “political performance tool”, claiming that people would move to avoid higher rates north of the Border.
Sarwar added: “In terms of our own view here in Scotland, we want to grow the economy and use the fruits of that growth to invest in our public services and eventually bring down the tax burden for working Scots because we think it’s far too high under the SNP.”
But he ruled out an immediate reversal of Tory welfare policies – despite experts saying this would lift children out of poverty.
Sarwar said the economic circumstances did not currently allow the party to promise this.
He said: “We all want to see it go. But we have to recognise the economic circumstances we currently find ourselves in. So I honestly believe we’re pushing at an open door rather than trying to be frustrated by our colleagues across the UK. They want to defeat child poverty, that’s why having an anti-child poverty strategy is a centrepiece of our programme.”
David Linden, the SNP’s Glasgow East candidate, said: “By promising to keep the two-child cap, Anas Sarwar and the Labour Party are making a political choice to keep children in poverty.
“The Labour Party's excuse that scrapping the cap is unaffordable is blown apart by their own manifesto figures – they have £2.5 billion in spending headroom which is exactly the amount needed to scrap the two-child cap.
“The Labour Party has drifted so far to the right that they no longer remember what they used to believe in, and it shows just how out of touch they are with Scotland’s interests."
