SCOTTISH Labour leader Kezia Dugdale warned yesterday the stakes “could not be higher” in the forthcoming general election as Labour fights to turf out the “cruel” Tories.

Speaking at the Scottish TUC Congress in Aviemore, Ms Dugdale told delegates only a Labour government would put “workers’ rights and the value of trade unionism at the heart of everything we do.”

She said “our country stands at a crossroads in this election” and that “more than ever, people here in Scotland and right across Britain feel left behind and marginalised” by a political system that does not work for them.