Welfare system overhaul does not amount to cuts, insists Scottish Labour leader
Anas Sarwar said the UK Government proposals will still see welfare spending increase.
Anas Sarwar has denied that Labour’s decision to slash £5 billion a year from the welfare budget amounts to cuts.
The Scottish Labour leader rejected claims – including from within his own front bench – that the benefits system overhaul amounts to austerity because overall spending on welfare is still set to increase.
He said it is right that the UK Government focuses on encouraging more people into work and he criticised the Scottish Government for an “inefficient” benefits system north of the border which he said had wasted tens of millions of pounds.
UK Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced on Tuesday £5 billion worth of proposed welfare changes, largely stemming from a big reduction in support for those off work due to disability and ill health.
Around a million people are expected to lose their disability benefits as part of the welfare overhaul, experts believe.
Speaking to reporters at Holyrood, Mr Sarwar denied the move amounts to cuts, and he said it will not come into effect this year.
Told the UK Government is cutting the welfare budget by £5 billion, he said: “No, you’re wrong actually because currently welfare spending across the UK is £50 billion, and the new proposals will mean it’s projected to be £64 billion.”
Asked if he accepts people will lose out on payments due to the changes, Mr Sarwar said: “Well, of course, any new system is going to mean they’re going to be reassessments and they’re going to be different impacts in different parts of the country.”
Asked if he will cut benefits in Scotland if he becomes first minister, Mr Sarwar said “No”, but added he cannot write a budget a year before the next election.
Criticism has mounted over the UK Government’s proposals from disability and poverty charities as well as from MPs and MSPs.
Carol Mochan, Labour’s public health spokeswoman at Holyrood, said: “Austerity has never been a sustainable path to growth. We cannot balance the books on the backs of people who require benefits just to have a passable standard of living.”
But that claim was contradicted by Mr Sarwar, who said the welfare budget is still rising, adding: “That’s an increase in spending – the very opposite of austerity.”
On Wednesday, First Minister John Swinney accused Scottish Labour of breaking a general election promise. During the campaign, Mr Sarwar had told voters: “Read my lips: no austerity under Labour.”
But the SNP leader said the welfare proposals, which he said will “punish” the most vulnerable people in the UK, do amount to austerity.
He said: “We now know that Anas Sarwar’s words count for absolutely nothing.
“This is the return to austerity that I told everybody would happen unless some of the hard realities of the public finances were addressed.”
Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, dismissed Mr Swinney’s claims as “desperate scaremongering”.
