Ben Chacko
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SCOTTISH Labour will abstain on the Budget, its leader Anas Sarwar said today.
Mr Sarwar said Labour could not support the Budget unless the SNP adds a commitment to end the two-child benefit cap, which is ironic given that the cap, which the SNP opposes, has been kept in place by the Labour government at British level.
Abstention ought to leave the minority Scottish National Party government with the numbers for its Budget to pass.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison set out her ambition to end the policy, which limits benefits to only two children in most circumstances, during the Scottish Budget on December 4.
But any changes to the system would not happen until at least 2026.
Appearing on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme today, Mr Sarwar said he would not vote against the Budget but could not vote for it as it currently stands.
“At this current stage, we will abstain from this Budget, because this Budget is going to pass anyway,” he said.
“If they want us to vote for this Budget, and they’re not giving us a new direction, what they can do is stop pretending that this Budget contains an ending of the two-child benefit cap.
“If they actually put the ending of the two-child benefit cap into this Budget, and lift it on April 1, then we’ll vote for the Budget.”
Not everyone was convinced by Mr Sarwar’s manoeuvre. Former Labour MSP Neil Findlay tweeted that a similar non-position from former leader Richard Leonard would have led to “emergency meetings of Labour MSPs, greetin’ meetings lasting hours and calls for his resignation.
“The harsh truth is Scottish Labour have no plan, no strategy and no policies,” he concluded damningly.
Ms Robison said: “Only a few months ago, Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour MPs were queuing up to keep the two-child cap in place, yet now he agrees it should be mitigated in Scotland as soon as possible.
“However, people in Scotland will never forgive the Labour Party if it does not vote for the reintroduction of a winter fuel payment and the ending of the two-child cap.
“Labour has gone from calling for a new direction to seemingly having no direction.”
