Labour in ‘chaos’ over pledge to scrap Barnett

seeing an increasing number of people prepared to back the prounion candidate most likely to win in their area, regardless of the political party they belong to.”

The analysis puts the Conservatives ahead in six seats including Perth and North Perthshire, Stirling, Moray, Dumfries and Galloway, and Aberdeenshire West.

The Tories are also found to be ahead in the seat of Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, and the seat of Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale.

In all other seats, the SNP are said to be ahead, by up to 27 per cent in some areas including Glasgow East, Glasgow South and the seat of Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch. The study is based on data and information from the Electoral Calculus website. Kezia Dugdale has come under fire after Labour’s First Minister in Wales pledged to scrap the funding system for Scotland and the other devolved nations.

The Barnett Formula allocates to spending to Holyrood, the Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland. It has resulted in Scotland enjoying higher public spending per head than the rest of the UK, including Wales, and political leaders in Cardiff have long demanded a rethink.

Setting out Welsh Labour’s election manifesto yesterday, Carwyn Jones insisted that Barnett must go. He said: “Nobody can defend a situation where we have a funding formula that is over 38 years old by now, that was based on the way things were in the 1970s.

“We need to have a fund- 0 Carwyn Jones announced the plan to axe Barnett ing formula that is fair to all the nations and regions of the UK.”

Scottish Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser branded the situation “total chaos”.

“Kezia Dugdale has actually said that scrapping it would lead to £4 billion in cuts for Scotland,” he said.

“The Conservatives have explicitly promised to keep the Barnett formula. Jeremy Corbyn needs to come clean – and quick. Will Labour keep the Barnett Formula? If they will, why is Labour in Wales saying they won’t?”