Sarwar says Labour will ‘end austerity’ as he challenges SNP ministers on Budget

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first Budget will “end the era of austerity” and provide more cash for “vital” public services, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said.

With Mr Sarwar saying there will be “more money and new money” for services, he challenged the Scottish Government to ensure any additional cash for Holyrood  is not simply used to fill the “black hole” he said was caused by SNP “incompetence”.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s Budget, which will be the first Budget by a Labour chancellor since 2009, said it would be a “Budget that delivers for Scotland”.

Mr Sarwar said: “This will be a Budget that does turn that page on 14 years of Tory chaos, division and decline and does those things that we promised in the election and be a real game changer for Scotland.”

He spoke out as children’s charities, equalities groups and anti-poverty campaigners joined forces to demand the UK Government use the Budget to end the two child limit that exists on some benefits.

Members of the End Child Poverty coalition in Scotland, including the Child Poverty Action Group; charity Aberlour; One Parent Families Scotland; Barnardo’s and  Children 1st; as well as campaigners at Engender; Close the Gap; Save the Children; the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights; and the Poverty Alliance, said the controversial policy must be scrapped to “prevent more harm” to youngsters.

The cap, which means families can usually only claim some benefits for their first two children, has pushed 12,500 children across the UK into poverty since Labour won power on July 4, the groups claimed.

Speaking on behalf of members of End Child Poverty in Scotland, John Dickie said: “The two-child limit must be scrapped as a matter of utmost urgency.

“End Child Poverty members across Scotland and the rest of the UK see the terrible damage the policy is doing to families. Children being pulled into poverty really can’t wait any longer.

“We welcome the new UK Government’s commitment to develop a child poverty strategy, but the bottom line is that no strategy can be credible if the two-child limit continues to pull over 100 more children into poverty each and every day.”

But Mr Sarwar said Labour had “always been very clear that we can’t fix every problem straight away”.

He added: “People know the scale of the damage done by the Tories in the last 14 years, they know that it will take time to fix every problem.”

However, he said Labour was “choosing to put new investment and new money into our public services”.

The Scottish Labour leader, speaking during a visit to community groups at Easterhouse Parish Church in Glasgow, said the challenge was now for the Scottish Government as to how it spends the funds that will come to Scotland.

While he accepted SNP ministers at Holyrood had the “right to argue for more money” he added that they “also have to get better at how they spend money”.

With Labour “finally ending the financial mismanagement, the incompetence and the waste of the Tories”, Mr Sarwar said that “the SNP have to end their own financial mismanagement, their incompetence and their waste, which is losing opportunities for far too many Scots”.

The Scottish Labour leader added: “We’re choosing to put new investment and new money into our public services.”

But he added: “Any new money that comes to Scotland can’t be wasted on SNP incompetence. It has to instead be spent on those vital public services that people rely on and on growing our economy.”

The Scottish Labour leader continued: “I think people will expect new money for our NHS to be spent on our NHS, people expect new money for our schools to be spent on our schools.

“But what I fear will happen is that the SNP’s own financial mismanagement, their own incompetence and their own waste, means that new money that is meant for Scotland’s public services instead goes to fix their own mess, their own black hole, because of their own incompetence and that would be the wrong thing to happen.”

Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robison said First Minister John Swinney had been “clear on key priorities of tackling child poverty while growing our economy”.

But she added: “The fact remains the Scottish Government is currently spending £134 million in this year’s budget to mitigate policies put in place by the previous UK Government.

“I have written to the Chancellor to call for new rules in the UK Budget around borrowing that supports investment in public services. The UK Government should work hand in hand with the devolved administrations to provide the funding to deliver on our priorities.”

SNP Westminster economy spokesperson Dave Doogan hit out at Labour and said: “Anas Sarwar must think Scottish voters are buttoned up the back.

“During the election, he made the same false promise that the Labour Party would end austerity cuts but, within days of getting into power, they increased them – imposing billions of pounds worth of cuts to public services and household incomes.

“While Labour Government ministers have been busy lining their own pockets with freebies, Mr Sarwar’s Scottish Labour MPs voted to scrap the winter fuel payment for around 900,000 Scottish pensioners – and cut over £100 million from the Scottish Government’s budget in the process.

“They also voted to continue imposing punitive welfare cuts, including the two child benefit cap, which is pushing thousands of Scottish children into poverty.

“The real test for the UK Budget will be whether the Labour Government will reverse these damaging cuts and deliver the meaningful investment needed to support public services and put money back in people’s pockets.”