Scottish Labour will abstain on budget vote, says Sarwar

Scottish Labour will abstain on the budget vote, Anas Sarwar has said, meaning the Scottish Government should have the numbers needed to pass its tax and spending plans.

The Scottish Labour leader said he would vote for the budget if the SNP committed to ending the two-child benefit cap on April 1.

Mr Sarwar said First Minster John Swinney would have to offer the country a “new direction” if he wanted the backing of his MSPs.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison set out her ambition to end the policy – which limits benefits to only two children in most circumstances – during the Scottish budget on December 4.

But any changes to the system would not happen until at least 2026.

The SNP – which is running a minority government – needs the help of at least one other party to pass its budget.

Appearing on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Tuesday, Mr Sarwar said he would not actively vote against the budget.

But he said he could not vote for it as it currently stands.

Mr Sarwar said: “At this current stage, we will abstain from this budget, because this budget is going to pass anyway.

“It has the votes of another political party, at least one other opposition political party.

“So we are not going to vote against this budget. We will abstain from this budget.

“But if the Scottish Government wanted us to support the budget, they should have set up a new direction. They didn’t.”

Mr Sarwar said he wanted the nearly £5 billion in additional cash from the treasury over the next two years – announced in the Chancellor’s first budget last year – to be “game-changing”.

But he said “it was clear” that a new direction would now have to come from the 2026 Holyrood election and not from this year’s budget.

He added: “If they want us to vote for this budget, and they’re not giving us a new direction, what they can do is stop pretending that this budget contains an ending of the two-child benefit cap.

“If they actually put the ending of the two-child benefit cap into this budget, and lift it on April 1, then we’ll vote for the budget.”

The First Minister has warned MSPs that failing to pass the budget would play “right into the hands of Elon Musk and other populists”.

He said that “thwarting the budget may make some politicians feel good but it will be at the expense of Scotland’s NHS”.

He added: “It will be at the expense of Scotland’s pensioners. It will keep more children in poverty. It will be a political wrecking ball when what Scotland needs is recovery.”

Ms Robison said: “Only a few months ago, Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour MPs were queuing up to keep the two-child cap in place – yet now he agrees it should be mitigated in Scotland as soon as possible.

“Mr Sarwar has said that Scotland needs change – but he seems to have reflected over the holidays and decided that it is he who needs to change.

“However, people in Scotland will never forgive the Labour Party if it does not vote for the reintroduction of a winter fuel payment and the ending of the two-child cap.

“Labour has gone from calling for a new direction to seemingly having no direction.”

Tory MSP Craig Hoy said: “This is a spineless act from Anas Sarwar who has clearly caved to John Swinney. Labour’s leader is all talk and no action when it comes to standing up to the failing SNP.

“He and his party are part of the cosy left-wing consensus at Holyrood which has repeatedly raised taxes and left our public services and businesses struggling.

“Scottish Labour and its weak leadership are so disconnected from the Scottish people and communities that they are unwilling to vote against an SNP budget that once again fails to do anything to address their failures over the last 18 years.

“The Scottish Conservatives are the only party who are committed to delivering tax cuts for Scots workers and businesses and giving people more power over their own lives.

“Meanwhile, Labour is happy to be complicit in continuing with the same old approach that has failed Scotland for decades.”