Labour cuts ensure those with the least will be hurt most

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

The point was raised that, based on their spending plans, a minimum of £18 billion worth of cuts would have to be enacted regardless of whether there was a Tory or Labour government after the election. Anas Sarwar replied: “Read my lips: no austerity under Labour.”

These last few weeks those words will no doubt be haunting a Scottish Labour Party that is now tanking in the polls, in no small part thanks to the shameful direction of Keir Starmer’s leadership.

It is unimaginable that a Labour Party in Scotland would do well from stripping the basics from society’s most vulnerable, instead of taking the fight to the super rich and the billionaire bankers who have been raking it in since Covid. But that is what they are doing.

With a reported £6bn worth of social security cuts on the way, what we are seeing is a continuation of rotten Tory austerity.

The response to Donald Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine has seen some European governments promising to double or triple their military spending. Keir Starmer has decided to plug that financial gap by targeting the poorest, the disabled and those who cannot work.

It comes only days after they announced they will also be slashing foreign aid, handing a death sentence to some of the most marginalised people in the world.

Far from being an end of cuts and austerity, Labour is happy to go even further than their Tory predecessors did in ensuring that it is the people with the least who will be hurt the most.

They don’t need to do this. There is more than enough money in the UK to end these cuts and ensure that everyone can live well. But so much of it is in the hands of a small number of wealthy people.

By introducing wealth taxes, such as a tax on private jets, Labour could stop these cuts, remove the cruel two-child benefit cap and build a fairer and greener society.

Poverty and poor health are expensive. The evidence from around the world is conclusive. Using taxation to ensure the banishment of poverty, and to ensure robust healthcare and public services, creates happier and healthier societies.

Labour was supposed to do things differently – that’s what Anas Sarwar promised on the debate stage. Instead, they are choosing to continue with some of the worst Tory legacies. Scotland deserves better than this.

​Lorna Slater is Scottish Green Party co-leader