Scottish Labour government would maintain and boost devolution success – Sarwar

The Scottish Labour leader has said his party is committed to maintaining the “successes of devolution” should it come into government.

On Monday, Anas Sarwar said his party would build upon Scotland’s free tuition fees, free prescriptions, bus passes and the Scottish child payment.

Ahead of the annual Scottish Labour conference, Mr Sarwar said a future Scottish Labour government would not only keep the current “successes” of devolution, but would also do “much more to improve outcomes for Scots”.

He said: “Over the 25 years of devolution, successive Scottish governments of different political parties have introduced a range of measures that symbolise some of the real successes of devolution.

“When my party was last in government in Scotland, we introduced the ground-breaking policy of free personal care and the current Government scrapped prescription charges for Scots.

“A Scottish Labour-led government refused to introduce tuition fees on Scottish students and this has been maintained by following governments.

“Scottish Labour was proud to introduce free bus passes for older and disabled people in Scotland which has since been expanded and now also enables free travel for Scotland’s young people.”

He added: “These polices, alongside others including the Scottish child payment, baby box and free school lunches have been a success and would be maintained by a government that I lead.

“These are important policies that an incoming Scottish Labour government will maintain, but we also need to do much more to improve outcomes for Scots.

“Free prescriptions are welcome but they need to be tied to better health outcomes, and free tuition is positive but we need to make sure the education on offer is world class for all.

“That’s why a Scottish Labour government will never use these positive policy decisions as fig leaves to hide poor outcomes for Scots and that is why Scottish Labour will set out its plans for better outcomes for every Scot.”

Mr Sarwar drew comparison to the new UK Labour Government, stating that a Scottish Labour government would deliver the change he says the country needs.

He said: “The UK Labour Government ended Tory austerity and delivered the largest budget settlement for Scotland in the history of devolution.

“This additional £5.2 billion would help us to maintain these policies, but they are just one part of the answer – if we want to fundamentally improve people’s lives and tackle structural poverty then we need to fix our NHS, change the way we deliver public services and create an economy that works for every Scot.

“A government I lead will deliver the new direction Scotland needs.”

Speaking on BBC Reporting Scotland on Monday evening, the First Minister responded to Mr Sarwar’s claims, stating UK Labour has been a “disaster” in government.

John Swinney said: “Anas Sarwar spent last week pretending that he was an ally of Nigel Farage, this week he is trying to pretend to be the SNP by adopting lots of SNP policies.

“What that demonstrates is that Anas Sarwar is ashamed of being a representative of the Labour Party, and no wonder because they have been a disaster in government.”

The UK Government was approached for comment.