Labour to warn UK voters that the SNP are no ‘anti-austerity allies’
Scottish Labour chiefs will embark on a drive to warn UK party members that the SNP are “not allies” in the fight against austerity.
It comes after Jeremy Corbyn his week refused to rule out granting a second referendum if he becomes prime minister.
The SNP insisted it was the last Labour government which introduced austerity and that independence will provide a “bright future”.
UK Labour delegates are to receive a briefing from the Scottish party at its conference in Liverpool this week, setting out how the SNP’S recent Growth Commission would be a recipe for widespread cuts under independence. It will be distributed to delegates at key points of the conference.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: “We need now to stop dividing people on the basis of nationality and start uniting them on the basis of class, and only Labour is able to do that.”
Mr Leonard will address a Labour list rally tomorrow night, then give the Scotland report to delegates on Monday, and share a stage with former Labour leader Ed Miliband on Sunday.
The Growth Commission set out a more sober economic case for independence, warning of spending restraint for up to a decade to get public spending under control and bring down Scotland’s deficit.
“When Nicola Sturgeon launched her latest blueprint for Scottish Independence she billed it as a ‘Growth Commission’, but in reality it is a cuts commission,” Mr Leonard said.
“It offers a vision of Scotland that people do not want and cannot afford.
“A vision of another decade ruined by needless austerity, with people living, surviving, struggling under the dogma of another deficit reduction plan.
“It offers a vision of Scotland that people do not want and cannot afford”