THE leader of Scottish Labour has been branded “austerity Anas” after it emerged he backed £30 billion of Tory cuts while an MP – as his Westminster bosses plan on “imposing a new round of austerity on Scotland”.
Anas Sarwar was among Labour MPs who backed Tory spending plans which imposed strict caps on welfare spending during a vote in 2015 – sparking accusation of “hypocrisy” over his attacks on the SNP for budget cuts.
During a debate on the Charter for Budget Responsibility, former chancellor George Osborne gloated that Labour would vote with Tory and LibDem MPs “to support £30bn of spending cuts”.
He criticised Labour MPs protesting the then coalition Government’s fiscal policy saying their position was “totally chaotic and farcical”.
Osborne (above) said: “[Labour have] spent the first two weeks of this year complaining that the Conservative party is cutting too much and promising that it would not cut as much, but now Labour members are going to troop through the division lobby with us in support of a charter that requires £30bn of fiscal consolidation over the next couple of years.
“To be fair to the Scottish National Party, I think its members are going to vote against us, as too is the Green Party, but Labour members are sitting there in total silence. They are going to go through the division lobby with us to support £30bn of spending cuts.”
To protests from Labour MPs, the former chancellor said: “Cheer up, it is what the Labour front bench team has asked you to do. It is going to lead the party through the division lobby because it does not want to admit to the British people that its plans involve spending more money.”
Sarwar was among 198 Labour MPs who backed the plans and there were just five Labour rebels, including Katy Clark, now an MSP and Diane Abbott (below). The SNP’s five MPs voted against the plans.
The vote centred on whether the Government should implement rigid targets for reducing the deficit based on a squeeze on spending, specifically with a view to bringing down the welfare bill.
Scottish Labour on Saturday accused the SNP of presiding over “threats of further cuts”, adding: “It is simply wrong that Scots are being left to pick up the tab of SNP failure.”
The Scottish branch’s position on spending cuts north of the Border has previously come under scrutiny after Health Secretary Wes Streeting said “all roads lead back to Westminster” when challenged on poor performance in the Welsh NHS.
Kenneth Gibson (above), the SNP convener of Holyrood’s finance committee, told The National: “Anas Sarwar has form when it comes to toeing the Labour Westminster line, but this revelation reveals the true depths of his hypocrisy.
"Back in 2015, when he was a Labour MP, a Tory chancellor literally told Mr Sarwar and his colleagues that they were about to walk through the lobby in support of £30bn of Tory spending cuts – and rather than question whether Labour were on the right side of the argument, Anas Sarwar was happy to vote to cut public spending.
"Austerity Anas must acknowledge having voted for £30bn of Tory spending cuts, £3bn of which fell on Scotland, and apologise for his party imposing a new round of austerity on Scotland.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “The SNP is reheating nine-year-old Tory attack lines in a pathetic attempt to distract from the mess it has made of Scotland's finances, but no one is buying it.
“The cuts facing Scotland right now are entirely the result of the SNP's financial mismanagement and economic incompetence.
“It's time for the SNP to be honest with the Scottish people and take responsibility for the mess it has made.”
