SNP ministers could learn from Britain’s shopworkers how to balance a till, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said today in a speech to retail union Usdaw’s annual delegate meeting.

Addressing members in Blackpool, the Glasgow Region MSP hit out at scandal-hit governments in both Edinburgh and London for “failing to deliver the change that working people need.”

His intervention came amid open calls from some Tories to “politicise” the Civil Service following Dominic Raab’s forced resignation from the posts of deputy prime minister and justice secretary after an independent investigation found that he had acted in an “intimidating and aggressive way” towards officials across Whitehall.