Kezia: We’ll take fight to Sturgeon
SNP under attack for ‘disgracing this nation’
KEZIA Dugdale yesterday launched a comprehensive demolition of the SNP’s record in government as she sought to revive her ailing party following its General Election rout.
In her first Scottish Labour conference speech since she was elected leader, the Lothians MSP claimed that the SNP’s record in education ‘disgraces this nation’ and launched a deeply personal attack on Nicola Sturgeon, who she accused of being ‘arrogant’ and ‘complacent’.
She also took a major gamble by vowing to oppose some of the SNP’s populist vote-winning policies, which she decried as ‘made to fit on an election leaflet’.
But she unveiled plans to raise taxes for wealthier Scots, warning that someone would have to pay for Labour’s ‘socialist’ approach. And her deputy Alex Rowley also revealed that the Scottish Labour leadership is considering calling for an end to the SNP’s council tax freeze, to allow struggling councils to boost their finances.
Miss Dugdale announced a series of Left-wing policies yesterday as she attempted to win back Labour voters who have defected to the SNP in recent years.
But her first speech since Labour lost all but one of its Scottish MPs in May’s General Election was dominated by her criticism of the SNP’s record. She said: ‘Next year’s elections will be hard, but I have no intention of making it easy for the SNP either.
‘But you know what? The SNP are starting to make the kind of mistakes we did when we dominated Scottish politics. They see the reasons not to act, rather than the way to make change. The dominance of one party in all Ministerial positions, a major-
ity in our parliament, in parliamentary committees, across public life and civil society – that was not the pluralistic vision of the Constitutional Convention.
‘While the SNP went from strength to strength, the increasingly arrogant way in which they exercise that strength – well, that has been their choice. Freedom of information requests are refused, parliamentary questions are stonewalled, journalists come under attack for simply asking difficult questions.
‘At First Minister’s Questions, whatever issue I raise, the response has been the same complacent answer – look at our poll ratings. Friends, in a modern democracy we need a government in Scotland that spends more time explaining itself and less time congratulating itself.’
On a Perth Concert Hall stage emblazoned with a giant logo saying ‘Change’, Miss Dugdale, 34, conceded Labour had failed to ‘win the argument about the future’ in May’s election, but said that the SNP’s sole purpose was ‘to get to the next elec- tion, the next referendum’ and warned: ‘Governing is only ever a staging post, never a purpose.’
She said the SNP’s record on childhood literacy ‘disgraces this nation’ and claimed its plan to increase the number of hours of free childcare was a cynical attempt to win votes ‘with little care about quality, affordability and flexibility’.
Miss Dugdale also mocked former SNP leader Alex Salmond for unveiling a monument to himself containing his pledge to maintain free tuition fees, saying: ‘You won’t find me carving complacency and self-congratulation in stone.’
Yesterday’s policy announcements, designed to outflank the SNP on the Left, included a £78 million-a-year ‘attainment fund’ for 72,000 school pupils from poorer families.
Miss Dugdale also promised to reverse tax credit cuts in Scotland if George Osborne presses ahead with his plan. Care workers would be paid a ‘living wage’, while children leaving care who go on to university would get a grant of £6,000 a year to help with living costs.
But the policies would be funded by top earners paying more tax. The UK Government intends to raise the threshold for the higher rate of income tax to £50,000, but Miss Dugdale would retain this at £43,000 when the Scottish parliament gains full control of income tax in 2017, and would also oppose SNP plans to cut air passenger duty.
On the council tax freeze, Mr Rowley told The Scottish Mail on Sunday: ‘There has to be a solution to the financing of local government. The current situation cannot continue.’
An SNP spokesman said: ‘Labour’s position is confused and lacking in any credibility. It is less than a week since Labour was claiming to have blocked the Tory tax credit cuts – now they appear to be running up the white flag.’