Pure contempt
Time and time again, during the general election, Scottish Labour told us they would be better able to protect Scotland's interests. With each passing day the evidence stacks up against that boast as Labour shows a remarkable contempt for Scotland.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown implored us to vote Labour and tackle child poverty. Yet the 37 Scottish Labour MPS tripped dutifully into the lobbies to defeat the SNP amendment to the King's Speech. The major charities and IFS had long said that the child payment cap was the greatest driver of poverty affecting 1.6m children. In Scotland it is mitigated by the child payment.
Another back of the envelope proposal emanated from Dame Jackie Baillie. She received considerable, deserved publicity for an eminently sensible proposal that Labour was open to a Scottish Visa, meaning we could match much-needed immigration to areas of severe skills shortage, notably the care sector, hospitality and farming. With the votes cynically garnered, Sir Keir Starmer closed down such talk within days.
Now we have the wretched, unexpected withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Payment. The statement by Rachel Reeves, a woman from Lewisham, clearly ignorant of life in a harsh Scottish winter, beggared belief. Like Ian Murray she claims this is unavoidable due to the financial black hole Labour knew nothing about; yet one can read the bulletins from the IFS and OBR. One had to remind oneself we were listening to a Labour Chancellor!
One does not have to be a Corbynite to be aware of the extremes of wealth and income inequality in the UK. The top 10 per cent have 57 per cent of the wealth; the top 1 per cent have 23 per cent, while England has 2.85 million millionaires, many of whom attained that status during Covid. Yet Reeves targeted Scotland’s 1m pensioners. Age Concern has pointed out that one third of those entitled to Pension Credit do not claim it.
To his credit Ivan Mckee, the Public Finance Minister, would like to mitigate Labour's austerity measures, but £100m would be needed to fund the new Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, and such a drastic change in policy, with neither warning nor consultation, has shown utter disdain for the poorest in our society.
This will come back to haunt Scottish Labour as much as the Nick Clegg tuition fees pledge.
John V Lloyd Inverkeithing, Fife