Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Scotland needs a Budget to end austerity and ‘deliver investment and growth,’ Sarwar says
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar during First Minister's Questions at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh, October 10, 2024

SCOTLAND needs a Budget to end austerity and “deliver a plan for investment and growth,” Labour’s leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar said today.

He said Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget tomorrow “must continue the work of turning the page on those lost Tory years, fixing the foundations and rebuilding our country.”

“Scots know how bad the Tories were, the damage they caused, and why it was so important to remove them from power,” Mr Sarwar said.

He argued that any tax increases “must fall on those with the broadest shoulders, not on working people,” and called for “a significant increase in capital investment” to improve infrastructure, healthcare and education and support sectors such as clean energy, innovation and tourism.

While he accepted SNP ministers at Holyrood had the “right to argue for more money,” he added that they “also have to get better at how they spend money.”

SNP Westminster economy spokesman Dave Doogan hit back at the comments, saying: “Anas Sarwar must think Scottish voters are buttoned up the back.

“During the election, he made the same false promise that the Labour Party would end austerity cuts but, within days of getting into power, they increased them, imposing billions of pounds worth of cuts to public services and household incomes.”

Mr Doogan said that Scottish Labour MPs under Mr Sarwar voted to end winter fuel payments for 900,000 Scottish pensioners and reduce the Scottish government’s budget by over £100 million while also supporting welfare cuts such as the two-child benefit cap, deepening child poverty in Scotland.

He said the real test in the Budget will be if Labour “reverses these damaging cuts and deliver the meaningful investment needed to support public services and put money back in people’s pockets.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
A view of Kingston Crown Court, Kingston-Upon-Thames, Surrey
Britain / 26 June 2025
26 June 2025
A woman showing signs of depression (picture posed by a model)
British Medical Association Conference 2025 / 24 June 2025
24 June 2025
Similar stories
Roz Foyer General Secretary of STUC ahead of Scottish Labour
Britain / 30 October 2024
30 October 2024
But general secretary Roz Foyer says decision to keep two-child cap and winter fuel payment are ‘especially disappointing’
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves leaves 11 Downing
Britain / 30 October 2024
30 October 2024
‘Labour’s plans to spend more on the NHS, schools and housing welcome. But budget falls far short of what a real government for workers should do’
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves speaks during the
Features / 5 October 2024
5 October 2024
In light of its retreat on green investment, DIANE ABBOTT MP dissects Labour’s economic priorities, questioning whether the promised ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ will materialise amid signs of continued cuts and massive spending on war