Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar speaks to The Scotsman's David Bol

The Scotsman

Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar speaks to The Scotsman's  deputy political editor, David Bol.

Transcript

00:00Look, we've engaged in good faith on the budget process. Michael Marra has several meetings

00:14both with Ivan McKee and also with the Finance Secretary Shona Robison and the point that

00:19we've expressed to them privately but also publicly is they need to focus less on the

00:23inputs and more on the outcomes. We need to see a new direction from this government and

00:28you heard it today from the Audit Scotland report. No leadership, a lack of a strategic

00:32plan, no delivery plan and what does that mean? That means poorer outcomes for the people

00:36of Scotland. So it's less about where they spend the money, it's more about how they

00:40spend the money and the how is sadly still missing.

00:43You're quite close to Alec O'Hampton, you've talked about maybe working with him in the

00:47future. Would you prefer him to back a deal to get this budget through or surely you don't

00:52want an election that will give the polling isn't too strong for Labour?

00:56Well, let me say two things about that. One, it's for the Liberal Democrats to decide

00:59how they choose to vote in any vote in Parliament including on the budget. And the second one,

01:04I'll take an election tomorrow. I'm ready for an election, the country's ready for an

01:09election, the country's desperate to get rid of the SNP, the country's desperate for a

01:12new direction. And for all the SNP who might want to point at any individual poll, let's

01:17look at the polls that have actually happened. All the by-elections have happened since the

01:21general election where the SNP is losing in every part of the country and they've actually

01:26lost 18 by-elections in a row. So, I don't fear an election, I relish an election, I'm

01:31desperate for an election, I can't wait for another election.

01:34You must appreciate the polls had you quite far ahead of the SNP at Holyrood and some

01:39of the tough decisions at Westminster have meant that that isn't the case anymore. Surely

01:43you'd be going to an election not favoured to win?

01:46Well, look, I'd put it this way. As a former dentist, I've been the first to recognise

01:51that there's been teething problems in the early days of a UK Labour government. But

01:55I think people can see that all the UK's problems didn't start four and a half months ago with

02:00the election of a Labour government and not all the UK's problems will be solved with

02:03one Labour budget or indeed with four and a half months of a Labour government. And

02:07when it comes to the choice, in 2026, perhaps even before, when it comes to the choice of

02:13what happens in the future of Scotland, we will have a decision to make. Do we want to

02:16carry on with what will be almost two decades of SNP failure and decline or do we want to

02:21take this country in a new direction? And I'm confident that a new direction is what

02:25will win and the only way we deliver that new direction for Scotland is if we elect

02:29a Scottish Labour government.

02:30On tax, you've been quite clear that you think the tax burden is too high in Scotland. Do

02:33you think that SNP ministers should start to bring that tax burden down to have a level

02:38playing field with the rest of the UK?

02:40I think we've got to get the balance right. I think given that we have £5 billion of

02:43additional money coming for the Scottish government to spend, then I don't think they

02:47need to look at income tax as a way of raising additional revenue. I think we also have to

02:52look at how we have end waste in the government and we spend money better. And I do want to

02:57see the tax burden come down in Scotland but I think we've got to get the balance right.

03:00So we've got to get growth into the economy, we've got to use the fruits of that growth

03:04to reform our public services, to take that new direction we need as a country and then

03:08of course to bring down the tax burden as well. So I think all of this has to be done

03:12in a balanced approach and it wouldn't be appropriate, it wouldn't be right in fact,

03:15for me to write a budget for what I hope will be an incoming Scottish Labour government

03:19probably in 2026. I hope it's up to the good people of Scotland though.

03:22And on council tax, obviously the threes last year was very controversial, you opposed it

03:26as did many people. Should SNP ministers let councils raise that unlimited amount? Obviously

03:32councils, some of them are planning to raise it by sort of 10% double figures. Should there

03:37be limits on what councils could raise?

03:40So again what's really important here is this all depends on the quantum and the deal

03:45that goes to local government. So what's happened in recent years is the SNP has cut local government

03:51budgets year after year after year and then imposed a council tax freeze on those same

03:56local authorities meaning that they had to make even deeper cuts to local public services.

04:01So if we want to keep council tax bills low, and I don't think it would be appropriate

04:05to have a freeze this year, but if we do want to keep council tax low, then the Scottish

04:10government has to give a fair funding settlement to local government and they have £5bn of

04:15additional money to spend over the course of this year and next year. So give a fair

04:20funding deal to local government, meaning that they don't then have to pass on huge

04:25increases in council tax to local people.

04:27And finally on winter fuel, the SNP have kind of got your number here haven't they? They've

04:31put forward their plans for next winter. Is this quite embarrassing for Scottish Labour

04:36having to sort of defend what's happened in Westminster?

04:38Look I've always said that I think the threshold of pension credit is too low. I've always

04:43thought that we could do it differently here in Scotland given that this was supposed to

04:46be a devolved benefit this year. We identified a new approach that could have been taken

04:50in Scotland, we even identified the money. £41m of household support fund money that

04:55is designed to go to low income households to support them with their bills that isn't

05:00actually passed on in Scotland. We could have used that money to take a different approach

05:04here in Scotland but instead the SNP chose to hand the power back to Westminster. So

05:08I've been really clear that the Scottish Labour government would take the power back from

05:11the DWP, would reinstate the winter fuel payment and create a system that guarantees all those

05:16that need support get it. That's a new approach we could take here in Scotland. It's meant

05:19to be a devolved benefit, it's a fair deal for pensioners, it's a fair deal for Scotland

05:23that I'm interested in fighting for.

Category

Transcript

Recommended