Having taken every opportunity to grab the spotlight during the general election campaign, Anas Sarwar was the voice of Labour in Scotland. He said loudly and often that there would be no austerity under a Labour government in Westminster, and that Labour would cut your energy bills.
Today, as Scottish Labour MPs in the Commons voted to strip pensioners of their vital winter fuel payment while energy costs are set to rise 10%, it’s clear Labour misled Scottish voters time and time again.
Anas Sarwar was even unable to give a straight answer as to whether or not he faced up to Rachel Reeves on the fuel payment cut.
With the mask slipping and his authority rapidly draining away, he must be feeling pretty betrayed by Sir Keir Starmer.
Why the Winter Fuel Allowance matters
Nearly a million pensioners in Scotland could miss out on lifeline support thanks to this move by the UK Government.
Money saving expert Martin Lewis warned that even with the pension uplift – guaranteed thanks to the triple lock, which sees pensions linked to inflation, pensioners will be £500 worse off.
Pensioners face a difficult winter – especially with energy bills set to rise by 10%, despite a much feted promise to cut the cost of gas and electricity.
Scottish Labour MPs had the chance to stand up for Scottish pensioners – and they blew it.
It’s Labour’s austerity now
“Read my lips,” Anas Sarwar promised during one televised election debate. “No austerity under Labour.”
Since that fateful statement – which will likely haunt Anas Sarwar for the next five years of slashed spending, tax hikes and screeching u-turns – Sir Keir has embarked on a brutal programme of austerity.
He has confirmed that Labour will not abolish the rape clause, which forces women to prove they were raped to claim tax credits.
He has rejected calls to scrap the bedroom tax – which taxes the most vulnerable families in (often inadequate) social housing, simply for having spare bedrooms.
He has refused to listen to think tanks, charities and impoverished families on the two-child cap – a benefits measure that has been found to directly keep thousands of children in poverty.
And now, as Labour votes to withdraw the winter fuel payment for pensioners, it must be becoming clear to even Anas Sarwar that his boss has taken him for a ride.
What Scotland? Labour MPs serve Sir Keir Starmer
Even Anas Sarwar’s own MPs don’t listen to him.
From the two- child cap to the winter fuel payment, he might get the chance to lay out his thinking – often after a lot of dithering and dodging the issues.
But it must be dawning on even Anas that his MPs belong to Sir Keir Starmer now.
He might have misled the public to get them elected and humiliated himself on the airwaves, but his MPs will vote as a block.
Not to stand up for Scottish communities – or even to toe the line that Anas sets for Labour’s Scottish branch office. They’ll vote as a block to protect Sir Keir Starmer, selling out the activists, staff members and voters who wrongly thought they’d be a strong voice for Scotland.
The SNP will always stand up for you and your family
No political party gets everything right all of the time.
But Anas Sarwar and Labour either foolishly or deliberately misled Scottish voters to elect 37 Labour MPs – all of whom will fail to stand up for Scotland and serve Sir Keir instead.
Scotland’s MPs should be fierce advocates for their communities and defenders when need be.
Of course politicians need to be flexible – but Labour’s own research suggests that Sir Keir’s austerity policies will put pensioners in harm’s way this winter.
Labour MPs were vocal when similar research was just as damning about the austerity of Cameron, Osborne and the Tories. Will they be brave enough to find their voice when it’s their own party’s policies putting people as risk? Judging from today, it looks like they’ll offer nothing but stony silence.
Those 37 MPs could have been relentless fighters for Scotland. Instead they caved to their London bosses and voted to cut support for 900,000 Scottish pensioners.
Both Angus’ SNP MPs, Stephen Gethins and Dave Doogan, voted against the cut to the Winter Fuel Allowance, alongside their SNP colleagues.
We will continue to hold their feet to the fire, keep Starmer accountable, and speak up for Scotland.
Always.
