Scots counting cost of two years of ‘disastrous’ Labour government, Tories say

Labour has been accused of forcing “chaos, broken promises and U-turns” on Scots as the country marked two years since the party’s landslide election victory.

The Scottish Conservatives said Sir Keir Starmer’s time in office had been “disastrous”.

The party accused the Prime Minister of betraying voters’ trust by hiking taxes and “declaring war” on the North Sea.

Rachael Hamilton, deputy leader of the party, said: “Ordinary Scots are counting the cost of two years of disastrous Labour government.

“Voters put their trust in Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, but it’s been chaos, broken promises and U-turns ever since.

“Labour’s national insurance hike and war on oil and gas is costing thousands of jobs every month, their family farm tax has wrought havoc in rural areas and they betrayed pensioners with their cuts to winter fuel payments.”

Hamilton said Sir Keir was a “dud Prime Minister with appalling judgement”, but added that “the real problem is the Labour Party, not its leader”.

She said: “Things won’t improve for the country unless Andy Burnham stands up to Labour backbenchers by reining in out-of-control welfare spending and ditching Ed Miliband’s net-zero madness, which is destroying livelihoods and our energy security.

“Scots are suffering a double whammy because, with the SNP at Holyrood, we have two left-wing, anti-oil-and-gas governments that continually raise taxes to fund a spiralling benefits bill.

“In contrast, the Scottish Conservatives would cut household bills and get Britain drilling again.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said: “It takes some brass neck for the Scottish Tories to lecture anyone when they oversaw 14 years of crippling austerity, five prime ministers, and broke our economy under Liz Truss.

“They should have some humility and apologise for their atrocious record in government before attempting to point the finger elsewhere.”

SNP MSP Laura Mitchell said: “The Tories destroyed 70,000 oil and gas jobs and their hated windfall tax is ruining 1,000 jobs a month – that’s their legacy in Scotland.

“Let’s not forget it was Liz Truss who crashed the economy and the Tories’ Brexit that has punished Scottish businesses.

“That cosy consensus between the Westminster parties has created a UK state in terminal decline and only the SNP offers an escape from the chaos through a fresh start with independence, rejoining our European allies and building a wealthier Scotland anew.”