Welcome to this week's Branch Office Updates! Steph Brawn here stepping in for James Walker this week.
The big word that was paraded around by Labour during the General Election was “change”. Change from cronyism, change from governments not sticking to their pledges, and – in the words of Anas Sarwar – “no more austerity”.
But it would appear as the weeks go on that Scottish Labour are a party who enjoy going back on their promises.
Waspi compensation hopes dashed
There was once a time when Scottish Labour shouted a lot about their support for Waspi – the women born in the 1950s who lost out due to sudden changes to the state pension age – but it looks like that commitment is now on a shoogly peg.
Scottish Labour MP and energy minister Michael Shanks appeared to pour cold water on hopes for a universal compensation scheme this week.
He told a constituent that he believed that the amount of compensation recommended by the Parliamentary Ombudsman – between £1000 and around £3000 – would be “insulting” to victims.
The letter also revealed that the Treasury, which is asking departments to make swingeing cuts ahead of next month’s Budget, is in “fresh discussions” with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) about compensation.
But he argued strongly against a universal scheme saying: “I’m not convinced a one-size-fits-all approach is right, or a good use of public money.”
There are hopes among some Waspi campaigners that the new cohort of Labour MPs will be more sympathetic to their cause – but Shanks’s letter is seen as evidence the new Government will “badly let these women down”.
Waspi women have campaigned for years to be compensated after missing out on their pensions when the eligibility age was increased.
They argue the changes, which were accelerated after they were first announced, were not adequately communicated to those affected.
Shanks (above left) said he wanted to make sure the Government was “not paying out thousands of pounds of compensation to women who were well aware of the changes”, but at the same time not “insulting” those badly affected with “a mere £1-3000”.
SNP MSP Clare Haughey said Labour have clearly decided previous promises on Waspi “don’t matter to them anymore.”
Labour MSP’s boozy reception
Elsewhere, Scottish Labour frontbencher Daniel Johnson has been criticised over hosting a boozy reception with banking giants at Holyrood.
He hosted an event earlier this week which gave politicians the chance to mingle with major players in the financial sector, with critics accusing him of bringing corporate giants “even closer to policy making”.
But Scottish Labour took umbrage with the “desperate attack” on the event, insisting financial services have an important role to play in Scotland’s economy.
The drinks reception was held with the Payments Association, an industry body which recently argued for banks and credit card companies to be let off the hook for fraud compensation.
It represents some of the biggest names in the financial sector including three of the Big Four accountancy firms, major credit card companies like Mastercard and Visa, the international payments company Swift and banks such as Lloyds and NatWest.
The Scottish Greens said the drinks reception was further evidence of Labour cosying up to fat cats.
“The Labour Party have been far too close to big business for far too long, including a lot of the companies that are represented by the Payments Association,” said MSP Maggie Chapman.
“If we are to build an economy that works for people and planet then we urgently need to move away from the failed policies of the past and support the industries and communities who are working to build a fairer, greener and better future.”
Austerity Anas
The Scottish Labour leader will surely be sighing at how much this title clearly has a ring to it.
It’s the label he was branded with this week by the SNP’s Kenneth Gibson after it emerged he backed £30 billion of Tory cuts while an MP.
He was among the 198 Labour MPs who backed Tory spending plans which imposed strict caps on welfare spending during a vote in 2015 – sparking accusations of “hypocrisy” over his attacks on the SNP for budget cuts.
There were just five Labour rebels at the time, including Katy Clark, now an MSP and Diane Abbott. The SNP’s five MPs voted against the plans.
Gibson said: “"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.”
Scottish Labour described the SNP comment as “pathetic” and asked them to be “honest” with people.
