ANAS SARWAR would “absolutely not” take an axe to disability benefits should his party come out top in next year’s Holyrood elections, the Scottish Labour leader said.

Waiting until PM Sir Keir Starmer’s welfare cuts Bill had passed its first parliamentary hurdle to break his silence, Mr Sarwar sought to distance himself from the plans which, even after last-minute “concessions,” the Westminster government’s own analysis predicts could plunge 150,000 people into poverty.

Those changes to the Bill, offered just 90 minutes before the vote to assuage concerns of Labour rebels, included only implementing new restrictions to eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (Pip) as people had their cases reviewed.

The shift may have been enough to secure the result, but not enough to persuade 49 Labour rebels, or to convince Mr Sarwar that the cuts should be replicated in Scotland’s Adult Disability Payment (ADP), now being phased in with the devolution of Pip.

Challenged on whether he would follow the Westminster government’s cuts plans, Mr Sarwar said: “No, absolutely not.”

But turning his fire on the SNP Scottish government, he added: “The SNP has not got a leg to stand on here.

“This is an SNP government that is embedding structural poverty here in Scotland.

“There are 10,000 children homeless on the SNP’s watch, stuck in temporary accommodation, when we have a housing emergency here in Scotland, and they’re wholly responsible for housing in Scotland.”

SNP MSP Colette Stevenson hit back: “SNP-run Scotland is the only part of the UK where child poverty is going down rather than up, we’re scrapping the two-child cap, and we’re protecting disabled people by maintaining the ADP here in Scotland, rather than passing on Labour’s proposed cuts in England.

“Anas Sarwar has proven he won’t stand up to Starmer — he’ll rubber-stamp anything his Westminster bosses tell him to.”

One Labour MP who voted against the cuts plans, Alloa and Grangemouth’s Brian Leishman, told the Star: “I welcome Anas Sarwar’s comments, but that’s only words.  

“It should feature in the Scottish Labour manifesto for 2026.  

“That manifesto has to be a living document, one that will show how we will transform Scotland and make the country a more equal place after nearly two decades of the SNP which has seen inequalities in education, health, wealth and life expectancy between the least and most advantaged grow."