RICHARD Leonard has attacked the government's two-child cap on welfare.
The left-winger said were he to become First Minister, the policy, which was responsible for the rape clause, would be mitigated by a Labour Scottish Government.
Leonard said: “The benefit cap is a callous policy that punishes the most vulnerable and poorest in our society. The fact that children are disproportionately hit by the benefit cap is a disgrace. In essence it is a policy that punishes people for being poor by making them even poorer. This is morally wrong.
“When leader, I will ensure Scottish Labour introduce a Bill to mitigate the impact of the benefit cap for the thousands of Scottish households impacted and pay them the money they are losing as a result of the cap.”
Yesterday his rival Anas Sarwar was under fire over claims made during a debate on STV that he was a living wage employer.
Reports in the Herald suggested the multimillionaire only officially registered as an accredited living wage employer after entering the leadership race.
Though that does not mean Sarwar has ever paid his parliamentary employees less than the living wage, the fact he did not register until a year after his election was seized on by opponents.
SNP MP James Dornan said: “It’s good to see Anas Sarwar finally join the long list of living-wage accredited MSPs.
“But his hypocrisy has been exposed, and it would have been welcome if he’d embraced the real living wage earlier for his family firm.”
A spokesman for Sarwar said: “Anas pays all his employees more than the real living wage and has done so since being elected in 2016. He believes it should be mandatory.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here