Rebellion shows Scottish Labour cannot deny punishing the poor

ON Tuesday in Holyrood, the most remarkable thing happened.

Two Labour MSPs grew a backbone and rebelled against their own party's decision to make the winter fuel payment for pensioners means tested, a decision which at a stroke slashed £160 million from the Scottish budget, with the UK Treasury giving the Scottish Government just 90 minutes notice of the decision.

MSPs voted by 99 to just 14 to support a motion put forward by the First Minister calling on Holyrood to oppose the Labour Government's decision to make the payments means-tested for the first time with the result that millions of pensioners across the UK will no longer be eligible, many of whom are either just a few pounds over the income threshold or do not claim the benefits which would make them eligible due to fear of the DWP's Kafkaesque and cruel assessment system.

Even the Tories voted to oppose the cut, with new Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay saying it is “shocking” that Labour have failed to carry out any assessment of the impact the change will have.

READ MORE: Anger as Keir Starmer 'excludes' Scottish cities from key meeting

That's where Labour are now, defending austerity cuts that are a step too far even for the Tories.

That's like Attila the Hun tutting disapprovingly at your casual disregard for innocent victims.

All 14 MSPs who voted to support the cut to the incomes of the elderly and vulnerable were from the Labour Party, but two Scottish Labour MSPs, Alex Rowley and former party leader Richard Leonard, rebelled and backed the SNP motion calling on the UK Government to reverse the cuts.

In a statement on Twitter after the vote, Leonard said: "I voted to keep the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance. No return to austerity. Tax wealth instead."

That's the kind of traditional Labour sentiment that makes you persona non grata in the Labour Party of Keir Starmer, even if Leonard had slapped a few Union jacks on his tweet.

The Thatcherite Starmer has as much intention of introducing a wealth tax as King Charles does of admitting that he's selfish, greedy, and entitled.

Scottish Labour MSP Richard Leonard (Image: PA)

Richard Leonard and Alex Rowley are belatedly learning the bitter lesson many other Scots learned during the Blair and Brown era.

We didn't leave the Labour Party, the Labour Party left us.

Under Starmer, the Labour Party is now a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate interests and multi-millionaire donors.

An amendment tabled by Scottish Labour group leader Anas Sarwar looking to amend Swinney’s motion fell by 96 votes to 16.

Leonard and Rowley had both backed Sarwar's motion.

Sarwar's amendment demanded that the Scottish Government spend £41 million to mitigate Starmer's austerity cut - as is typical for Sarwar without saying which other parts of the Scottish Government's spending should be cut in order to find the money.

READ MORE: Tories pit pensioners against asylum seekers in bus travel debate

Sarwar insisted that the Labour government didn't want to make this decision, blaming the financial mismanagement of the Tories and accused the Scottish Government of wanting to minimise the damage the Tories have done.

But as has been repeatedly pointed out, there are many other options available to Starmer and Reeves which would have allowed the government to avoid making the elderly and the poor pay for the consequences of Tory misrule.

But those options would have entailed real 'tough choices', making the rich and the powerful pay up.

Starmer and Reeves chose not to do that, just as Anas Sarwar chooses to deny that his party is punishing the poor and the elderly in order to defend the greed of the rich.

Scottish council leaders shut out as English mayors get seat at the table

In more evidence that Starmer treats Scotland with the same high handed contempt as the Conservatives before him, representatives of Scotland's cities have been excluded from the first meeting of the Prime Minister’s Council of Nations and Regions which is set to go ahead in Edinburgh on Friday, even though English mayors have been invited.

The only Scottish representatives will be the Scottish Government.

Glasgow council leader Susan Aitken said that this means Starmer was effectively “ignoring and excluding” not only Glasgow but other Scottish cities.

The Glasgow council leader wrote in a tweet: “Not just Glasgow but all of Scotland’s cities and city regions are ignored and excluded, while our English peers are invited to a meeting taking place in Scotland.

She added: “Scotland’s city regions are among the leading drivers of investment into these islands. We seek only equal treatment."

READ MORE: Keir Starmer's council of nations and regions an 'insult' to Scotland

Susan Aitken told The Herald that she only discovered yesterday that representatives from Scotland's cities were being snubbed.

She has written a letter to Scotland Secretary Ian Murray demanding an explanation and a rethink.

She told The Herald: “Keir Starmer and his team have talked up this new council as some sort of big reset of the UK Government’s relationship with local leaders.

"We’ve been promised change, we’ve been promised respect - but Labour’s first decision has been to shut the door on Glasgow.

“It is extraordinary. Starmer is bringing England’s local leaders to a meeting in Scotland, but not allowing any of their Scottish counterparts to join them around the table.

“Three months ago, Glasgow’s six new Labour MPs promised communities across this city that they would be at the heart of this new government. They’re not even in the same room.”

The Scottish local government association Cosla has also hit out against the snub, telling The Herald: “We acknowledge that a letter has been sent to the Secretary of State for Scotland seeking clarification of why Scottish local government was not represented on the new Council of the Nations and Regions.

"We hope for an early response and further constructive discussion with the Secretary of State over how local government is better represented in these discussions going forward.”

This snub is very much in line with the lack of consultation with Scotland on a myriad of issues, from Brexit to the winter fuel axe and many more.

How many times does this kind of high handed contempt have to happen before the penny drops that it's not an accidental oversight but a defining feature of Westminster's view of Scotland and our elected representatives - from any party.

This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.

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