SCOTTISH Labour leader Kezia Dugdale warned yesterday the stakes “could not be higher” in the forthcoming general election as Labour fights to turf out the “cruel” Tories.

Speaking at the Scottish TUC Congress in Aviemore, Ms Dugdale told delegates only a Labour government would put “workers’ rights and the value of trade unionism at the heart of everything we do.”

She said “our country stands at a crossroads in this election” and that “more than ever, people here in Scotland and right across Britain feel left behind and marginalised” by a political system that does not work for them.

The Labour Party is committed to supporting and developing high-paid and secure employment with “rights and protections, guaranteed by trade unions,” she added.

Ms Dugdale also denounced the Tories as the party of the bedroom tax and “cruel” sanctions which penalise the sick and disabled.

She said that the Scottish Conservatives’ decision to support Prime Minister Theresa May’s rape clause in the child tax credits overhaul demonstrated that they were “no different” from the Tories at Westminster.

The clause forces women to fill out a form to claim credits for a child born out of rape.

Ms Dugdale warned that if elected, Ms May would use Brexit negotiations to turn Britain into a “bargain basement tax haven” which would lead to “job losses and even more austerity than we’re already facing.”

She denounced the Tories for using EU nationals living and working in Britain as “bargaining chips” in negotiations and reaffirmed Labour’s promise to “unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU migrants on day one of a Labour government.”