Labour’s working-people policies will transform lives for the better – Rayner

Angela Rayner was campaigning in West Lothian with Anas Sarwar.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar at Broxburn Family and Community development centre in Livingston (Andy Buchanan/PA) (PA Wire)

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has said her party’s manifesto offer for working people is not “timid” and will “transform working people’s lives for the better”.

She was campaigning in West Lothian on Saturday with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, meeting parents at the Broxburn Family and Community Development Centre.

Labour says tens of thousands of young people in Scotland will benefit from its policies to increase the living wage for those over 18 and scrap the lower minimum wage bands for workers aged between 18 and 20.

The SNP has repeatedly accused Labour and the Conservatives of offering austerity, claiming both parties are refusing to level with people that £18 billion of spending cuts are required.

Speaking to journalists, Mr Sarwar said: “There will be no austerity under a Labour government and John Swinney can do all the scaremongering he likes, that’s not going to happen.

“We’ve always been clear, this (manifesto) is our first steps for change, a key part of what we’ll be able to achieve is if we get our economy growing again, that’s why economic growth is front and centre.”

He said the SNP and Conservatives had made “big, massive promises” which they had failed to deliver on.

Ms Rayner also emphasised her party’s message on economic growth, saying confidence in the UK had been undermined by the “chaos of the Conservatives and the SNP”.

She said: “We can’t tax our way out of this problem, the Tories have shown us what high tax and unfunded commitments have made to our economy, working people have paid the price.”

She continued: “My new deal for working people is not timid, no-one’s ever called me timid in my life.

“I come from a trade union background, I know that will transform working people’s lives for the better.

“Those 40,000 more appointments in the NHS a week, bringing down the waiting lists, that will change people’s lives, who are currently waiting years.”

She said Labour are “fixing the foundations after Labour and the Tories have smashed them to pieces”.

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “Labour and the SNP are intent on putting tax up for young people and everyone across Scotland.

“Their plans to hike tax on working Scots would damage our economy and put jobs at risk.”