Read MY lips –Labour austerity agenda will hurt most vulnerable

We heard much from pro-Union commentators in the aftermath of the UK General Election claiming the political narrative had moved away from making independence even a possibility in the near future.

The SNP government, we were told, must now concentrate on running the country rather than campaigning for independence.

We can now understand how convenient an argument that is for Labour, which can use the devolution settlement to shift the blame for its return to austerity firmly onto Holyrood. It would be laughable were it not all too serious.

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It had been obvious all through Labour’s election campaign that we could not trust a single promise they made. Policy after policy was torn up under cover of its overarching message that it represented voters’ only realistic alternative to five more years of Tory rule.

Keir Starmer vowed as recently as June that there would be no return to austerity under his watch. “Poverty is a moral stain on our society,” he told The Big Issue, adding: “We will deliver the change our country needs, with an ambitious agenda to bring hope and opportunity to the next generation, and ensure everyone is better off with Labour.”

That same month Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told all those taking part in a Scottish leaders’ TV debate: “Read my lips … no austerity under Labour”, a firm promise made in response to John Swinney’s argument that independent experts had warned of £18 billion of cuts after the election. How hollow does that now feel in the wake of Labour’s announcement that Winter Fuel Payments will be made only to those pensioners who receive certain benefits?

In the middle of a cruel cost of living crisis, some of the most vulnerable people in our country will be robbed of between £100 and £300.

I say “our country” because the devolution settlement devised by Westminster will mean that Labour’s cut south of the Border will give up to £160 million less to the Scottish Government’s planned replacement benefit. According to Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, that represents as much as 90% of the costs of that replacement in “the most challenging financial circumstances since devolution”.

We need to remember that the Scottish Government uses our money to mitigate the worst effects of Tory cuts. During 2023-24, £84m protected families against the bedroom tax and the freeze to local housing allowance rates.

Indeed, more recently the Scottish Government found extra money to help increase local councils’ pay offer in response to a threatened bin workers’ strike.

We need to remember that the Scottish Government uses our money to pay for policies more in tune with Scotland’s distinctive political culture, including no university or college tuition fees and no prescription charges. It’s far from certain these policies are safe under Labour.

Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale (below) has said a future Labour administration in Scotland may have to scrap free tuition fees. Scottish Labour’s finance spokesperson Michael Marra has also suggested it would examine reintroducing charges.

(Image: Unknown)

There’s no doubt that many politicians south of the Border look at our free tuition fees with envy. They regard Scottish spending on public services as profligate, fuelled this year – as it is every year – by the publication of the GERS figures.

There is literally no possibility these annual figures can ever make the possibility of independence look financially attractive. They either show the Scottish balance sheet as positive, in which case they are used as an argument that the country depends on the Union for its success. Or they show it as negative, in which case they are presented as evidence that independence would plunge us into a financial catastrophe.

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This year’s GERS report purports to show that Scotland’s public spending deficit increased by £3.6bn to £22.7bn last year, due to falling oil and gas revenues. From a Unionist point of view – which, of course, is the point of view adopted by most of the Scottish news media – this has a double advantage.

Firstly, it depicts Scotland’s financial position as precarious and secondly, it once again makes Scotland’s income from oil look like a curse instead of a blessing. We must be the only country in the world which has discovered oil and emerged worse off.

In fact, the GERS figures tell us nothing about an independent Scotland’s finances. How could it, when all of the figures used reflect the position within the Union? This is a point made every year around the time they are published and ignored just as routinely. Why the Scottish Government condones this fiasco by continuing to publish them is a mystery to me.

The Labour Party will soon use this “rise” in public spending in Scotland as an excuse to attack free tuition fees in Scotland just as they are using it as justification for forcing the Scottish Government to adopt Labour’s means test on Winter Fuel Payments.

Labour have spent the last decade facing down demands for another independence referendum, a disgraceful denial of democracy. Now it is using an election victory based entirely on desperation to be rid of the Tories as evidence that independence is now off the table.

Of course, you can see why Labour want the political debate dragged away from independence and refocussed on the everyday issues of running the country. It can use its financial powers to limit the SNP’s ability to manoeuvre within devolution and then use its media attack dogs to persuade the public to blame the SNP for decisions it was not involved in making.

And all the time, suspicions of some SNP financial scandal continue to be fanned by a police investigation which we learned this week is still “ongoing”. You might think that after all this time, after those tents in gardens, those arrests, all that questioning, after the charging of Peter Murrell (below) in connection with embezzlement, we might be entitled to know why it’s still ongoing.

(Image: PA)

But no. So much about Operation Branchform has been put in the public domain but ask when we might know what exactly is going on now and for how long it might be going on you can expect all manner of threats about contempt of court. “Ongoing” seems to be all you will get.

Labour’s tactics should not be particularly surprising. Independence supporters knew what was likely to happen. Many of them gave Labour their votes anyway, so terrified were they that Rishi Sinak’s support in England would be strong enough to return him to Number 10. You can see their point. The trouble is, England’s lurch to the right seems to have been more pronounced than we thought.

It would be a mistake to think that Labour’s election victory represents a demand for more radical, left-wing ideas and it’s a mistake that Starmer’s unlikely to make. The new Prime Minister’s instincts are more centre-right in any case and that’s the direction in which he’s most likely to take the party to seal his support in England.

Where does that leave Scottish Labour voters who wanted to replace the Tories with a more progressive government in Westminster with a less hardline opposition to independence? Hopefully it leaves them thinking hard about their options for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.

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The SNP have been in power at Holyrood since 2007. That’s a long time. No government can stay in power for close to 20 years without making mistakes. But how do its achievements and failings compare with the Tories at Westminster?

How has its opposition to disastrous Tory policies compared to that offered by Labour, who when given the chance to mount real challenges mostly bottled it?

Even the lack of progress towards independence has been caused mainly by Tory and Labour determination to use Westminster powers to block it. If you are a frustrated independence supporter why vote in a Scottish election for a party responsible for blocking a route to that independence?

I want to see a refreshed SNP programme for government. I want to see a more energetic pursuit of independence. There is no chance of seeing either of these developments from any other party capable of leading a Scottish government. There is a far greater chance of them taking significant backward steps from policies which have worked well in Scotland. You have more than 20 months to weigh up the efforts of Labour to stand up for Scotland.

If you find them wanting – and they have certainly not got off to a good start – you surely know exactly what to do.