Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar will brand his SNP rivals as “knackered, desperate and incompetent”, claiming that they are “embezzling opportunities” brought about by record Holyrood funding.
Mr Sarwar will use his keynote address to the UK Labour conference in Liverpool to attack his rivals.
It comes with less than eight months to go till next May’s Holyrood elections, where Mr Sarwar hopes to oust the SNP from power after almost two decades in charge in Scotland.
But Labour still has to regain the popularity it had amongst voters in last summer’s general election – while the party in Scotland has had to suspend two of its MSPs in the last few weeks.
Mr Sarwar however will use his conference speech on Sunday to turn his fire on the SNP, accusing John Swinney’s party of “embezzling Scots’ opportunities with their incompetence”.
He will insist that after a “decade and a half of Tory misrule” the Labour Government at Westminster has “ended austerity once and for all” and delivered record funding for public services.
The Scottish Labour leader will tell the conference: “Since the election, the Scottish Government has had an extra £5.2 billion to spend.
“But while things are getting better with Labour in England, the same is not the case in Scotland.
“Because the truth is that we are being held back by a knackered, desperate and incompetent SNP government.”
Despite Scots “paying their taxes” and the Scottish Government “receiving record funding” he will say that “when Scots need healthcare, they are let down”.
Mr Sarwar will add that while this is “unacceptable” it is also “characteristic of an SNP government that cannot be trusted with your money”.
Turning his focus to public services in Scotland, Mr Sarwar will say: “They are receiving record funding, but what do Scots see every day?
“Cuts to police numbers, rising violent crime, falling educational standards, high numbers of homeless children, and Scots being forced to emigrate to get jobs as doctors, teachers and nurses.
“Scots are working hard, paying their taxes, but they are getting worse and worse services in return from the SNP.”
The Scottish Labour leader will blast: “The SNP is embezzling Scots’ opportunities with their incompetence.
“That’s why the choice before Scotland in just seven months is so clear – more failure and decline with the SNP or a new direction with Scottish Labour.”
However, SNP Westminster deputy leader Pete Wishart accused Mr Sarwar of making a “desperate attempt to deflect from the Labour Party’s abysmal failure in government and the constant scandals, sleaze and chaos engulfing Keir Starmer’s crisis-hit party”.
Mr Wishart hit back and said: “Voters were promised change but, under Starmer, the UK has gone from bad to worse.
“The cost of living is soaring, unemployment is at a four-year high, the UK economy has been downgraded, public finances have deteriorated, child poverty is at record levels – and families are struggling to get by as energy bills, food prices and inflation all rise by more than expected.
“In contrast, John Swinney’s SNP government is delivering for Scotland – with the best cost-of-living support for families anywhere in the UK.
“Scotland is the only part of the UK where child poverty is falling thanks to SNP policies like free school meals, free childcare, the Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant and Baby Box – ensuring all children get the best start in life.”
The SNP MP insisted: “The SNP is delivering for all families with free tuition, free prescriptions, free personal care, lower council tax, lower water bills, and the scrapping of peak rail fares. While the Labour Party has hammered families with cuts and the absolute mess it’s made of the economy.
“The only direction the Labour Party is going in is backwards, as Keir Starmer makes broken Brexit Britain even worse.”
