“TWO governments are missing in action” in Scotland, with both the Tories and Scottish National Party failing the Scottish people, Labour charged today.

The party’s deputy leader at British level Angela Rayner said the SNP were “just like the Tories” while its Scottish leader Anas Sarwar said the nationalist party were “asleep at the wheel.”
 
Both accused the Scottish and British governments of sowing “division and resentment” rather than taking measures to address the crisis.
 
Ms Rayner spoke out ahead of a visit to an employee-owned nursery in Edinburgh. Bank of England forecasts expect inflation to hit 13 per cent by the end of the year.
 
She said the country should not go “anywhere near” another Scottish independence referendum, claiming Labour would “make the changes we need.” Under Sir Keir Starmer, Labour has adopted an intransigently unionist position.

But SNP MSP Paul McLennan retorted that Scots deserved better than “a future controlled by barely distinguishable Westminster parties.”

“This is yet more evidence of exactly why Labour has absolutely zero credibility in Scotland, as it continues to ignore the reality of what is going on in Scotland,” he said.

The SNP had a mandate to hold another election since it was elected by the Scottish people pledging to do so, he argued, saying Scots wanted “a better, wealthier and fairer future as an independent country.”

Scottish Trades Union Congress general secretary Roz Foyer said workers in Scotland “aren’t interested in political sabre-rattling between Scottish and UK governments. 

“They just need to know how on Earth they’re going to be able to pay their bills as this cost-of-living emergency reaches fever pitch.

“The Scottish government can start by introducing an immediate cost-of-living pay increase for Scotland’s public-sector workers. The UK government, currently missing in action, carries the can for its shocking dereliction of duty on energy prices and inflation.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week asking that a September meeting be brought forward because of the “fast deteriorating” cost-of-living crisis, arguing that the powers to act on the appropriate scale lie with Westminster, not Holyrood.