SCOTTISH Labour leader Richard Leonard says he wants to bring new powers to Holyrood that “would make a real difference” in tackling the problems Scots face.
Leonard will announce he has set up a working group to explore “Scotland’s options for change that delivers more devolution”.
As part of that he will say the unelected House of Lords “should be abolished” – suggesting this could be replaced by a Senate of the Nations and Regions for the UK that could “begin the process of shaking up our political system that for centuries has served the political establishment not the people”.
Labour politicians have been pledging to abolish the House of Lords for more than a century.
Leonard will also say Holyrood needs “borrowing powers fit for a Parliament” rather than the limited ability to borrow funds that it currently has. By reforming devolution, but keeping Scotland in the UK, he will argue Labour is “tapping into an understanding, which is clear to many people that the UK state needs to be reformed”.
But the Scottish Labour leader will also insist the current SNP Government in Edinburgh could make better use of existing devolved powers.
Speaking in Motherwell, Leonard will promise a Labour Government at Holyrood would “use the existing powers more effectively”.
He will claim: “Despite the Scottish Parliament becoming one of the most powerful devolved institutions in the world, it has failed to tackle some of the biggest issues facing Scotland.”
The Scottish Labour leader will highlight problems including child poverty, homelessness, health inequality and the gap in life expectancy between rich and poor, as well as issues such as land ownership and the “narrowing elite” who control manufacturing and service industries.
“The current Scottish Government has had the powers to prevent or at least mitigate the worst of these assaults but failed,” he will claim.
Meanwhile, Gordon Brown is piling pressure on Jeremy Corbyn with a call to “eliminate” anti-Semitism from Labour’s ranks.
The former prime minister says the party owes the Jewish community an “unqualified apology” amid bitter criticism of the way it has dealt with the issue.
In a speech tomorrow, he will call for a “radical change” of policy with automatic expulsion in any case where there is “irrefutable” evidence of anti-Semitism or other forms of racism.
His intervention comes amid widespread anger at the decision last week to readmit left winger Chris Williamson – a strong supporter of Corbyn – after he said Labour had been “too apologetic” in the face of criticism.
The Derby North MP was swiftly re-suspended following a furious backlash, but many MPs remain deeply unhappy at the way the case was handled by the party - which is already under investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Brown will argue that tackling anti-Semitism is about the “moral soul” of the Labour Party.
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