THE government’s £5 billion cuts to welfare benefits amounts to a return to austerity, a Labour MP has said, in sharp contradiction to the party’s leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar.

Speaking to Holyrood Magazine, Alloa and Grangemouth MP Brian Leishman said: “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that these cuts are going to impoverish already vulnerable, disadvantaged people living in our society today.

“These are the people that we should be throwing our arms around and helping.

“It’s a measurement of any society how the government treats those who are in need, and by cutting that much from the welfare budget there is no doubt in my mind that we cannot claim there is no austerity under Labour.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told reporters on Friday: “You’re asking about austerity. Austerity means that public spending goes down.

“Public spending is going up — the very opposite of austerity.”

Mr Sarwar has faced attacks over his pre-election pledge — “Read my lips: no austerity under Labour” — since the party got into power.

Mr Leishman also criticised the party’s handling of the closure of the refinery at Grangemouth.

Some 400 workers are set to lose their jobs later this year following the announcement by owners Petroineos last year.

Mr Leishman said that Labour has not done enough for workers at the site and that the redevelopment of Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium should be used as a bargaining chip.

The club — part-owned by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chairman and chief executive of Ineos, one half of the refining giant Petroineos  — is looking for government support to regenerate the surrounding area.

The MP said that regeneration funding should be withheld to keep Grangemouth open.