SCOTTISH nationalists accused Labour of “suffocating optimism” in the election campaign today with fiscal caution leading to £18 billion of spending cuts.

Writing in the Daily Record, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said: “The other strange thing about this election is that the crippling caution of Sir Keir Starmer is suffocating any sense of enthusiasm.

“Starmer’s status quo, his choice to change the guard but not to change course, won’t deliver real change.”