LABOUR came under attack from both the SNP and the Greens yesterday as it launched its manifesto nine days before polling day.
Health Secretary Shona Robison warned Kezia Dugdale’s party would “short-change” the NHS by £800m by the end of the next Parliament, while Patrick Harvie accused it of “undermining what little credibility it had left” by copying his party’s ideas.
“Much of the language Labour have adopted such as the need to raise revenue for public services, the need for warm homes, a fracking ban and jobs of the future – these have all been consistent Scottish Green priorities, and what’s more we have done the work to deliver progress on these issues,” Harvie said.
“Labour are simply undermining what little credibility they have left.”
He insisted his tax income plans – which include a 60p rate for those earning more than £150,000 – went further than Labour’s which he said by including an extra penny on the basic rate would hit those on modest incomes.
“Their across the board income tax rise would penalise those on lower than average incomes, while the Scottish Greens’ proposal would ensure most people get to keep more of what they earn, tackling the inequality in our society,” he said.
“Holyrood is a mature parliament and Labour are offering baby steps when boldness is required...There will be many progressive voters looking at Labour’s offer and wondering what more we could be doing had they not blocked deeper devolution of welfare and employment powers during the Smith Commission.”
Meanwhile, Robison for the SNP warned that by only giving “real terms funding protection” to Scotland’s NHS, Labour would leave the service short-changed by almost £800m. “It is clear the Labour party are preparing to let down Scotland’s valuable health service,” said Robison.
“The SNP will invest to make our NHS fit for the future because we know how important the NHS is to Scotland – that means putting almost £2bn of additional spending into expanding community services by the end of the parliament, boosting cancer services, supporting health and social care, increasing specialist, GP and nursing staff, and building new treatment centres.”
She said that in contrast to Labour, the SNP manifesto pledges to deliver almost £2bn of increased investment – taking the NHS budget above both real terms increases and the expected increases from the Barnett formula, in order to transform NHS services.
By giving only the NHS budget inflationary increases, funding would reach just £13.6 billion in 2021-22. By delivering Barnett, it reaches £13.9 billion or an additional £800m over the Parliament and with the SNP it reaches £14.1 billion or almost £2bn of additional investment.
The leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie said: “Liberal Democrats have led the charge in setting out how Holyrood can use the new powers now at its disposal. Our penny for education will mean a transformational investment of half a billion pounds in education to make our nurseries, schools and colleges the best again.”
A spokesman for Scottish Labour rebutted the SNP’s claim that Labour would short change the NHS by £800m by the end of the next Parliament. He pointed to a research report by the IPPR think tank that said Labour’s proposals would raise more revenue for public services than any other party, bringing in around £1.2 billion a year for services including NHS services by 2020/21.
Long-awaited manifesto put in shade by Kezia’s dire poll ratings
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