Labour To Reiterate 'Vow'

Powers to vary and top up welfare benefits will be devolved to Scotland if Labour are elected in May, that's the pledge from Scottish leader Jim Murphy.

He'll be joined by Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP Gordon Brown today where they'll promise to extend the vow made before the independence referendum.

The party pledged to fund 1, 000 extra NHS nurses here last month using cash raised from the UK-wide Mansion Tax on homes.

Jim Murphy will also say that Scottish Labour will publish a distinct Scottish manifesto for the General Election in May.

Scottish Labour Leader, Jim Murphy, will say: 

"Scottish Labour's commitment to delivering the Vow is absolute. Every Scottish Labour MP elected stands on a promise to introduce a bill to implement the Smith Agreement within 100 days of the Election.

"However delivering The Vow is a starting point not an end point for Scottish Labour. Smith was a consensus between 5 parties. A Labour approach to powers, and to the use of powers, will reflect our different values and different ambitions for Scotland.

"We have different values from the Tories on welfare and different values from the nationalists on redistribution. 

"The Smith Commission gives Scotland significant new spending and tax powers. The excuse used again and again, that the Scottish Government can't act because it is a “pocket money parliament, is gone.

"If in Scotland we want to do more on social justice we will have the ability to reallocate funds or raise more money. However, a Scottish Labour party would ensure that the Parliament also has the power to spend more on tackling poverty and unemployment."

Gordon Brown will say: 

"So within 100 days a Labour Government will introduce a bill not just to implement The Vow and the Smith Agreement but that we will go further than The Vow and further than Smith in five important areas, offering distinctive Labour change in Welfare:

"First we will maintain the security of the UK benefits system, with UK benefit rates, underpinned by the pooling and sharing of resources across the UK. 

"That will always be there as a minimum for people in Scotland. If you are starting a family, approaching old age or unemployed the social security of Child Benefit, the State Pension, and unemployment benefit will always be there as a minimum for Scotland. 

"But we will go further by ensuring that the final say on benefit levels remains in Scotland by giving the Scottish Parliament a wider power to top up UK benefits. This will ensure that Scotland is protected from:

• Tory welfare cuts – there could never be another bedroom tax in Scotland 
• and from benefit cuts caused by a fall in Scottish funding due to, for example, the collapse in the oil price, the inevitable consequence of the nationalists plans for full fiscal autonomy. 

“Second we will go further by ensuring that the Scottish Parliament has the power to introduce new benefits, funded from Scotland, to meet different circumstances and different choices we make in Scotland. These would be on top of the guarantee of the UK benefit and pensions system minimum. 

“Thirdly, while the Tories cut welfare and the SNP cut colleges, we would bring employment and welfare policy together with a positive vision for tackling the low skills, numeracy and literacy problems that hold back adults trapped in long term unemployment. 

"In particular we would seek to end youth unemployment in Scotland with a guarantee that every young person will be in a job, in an apprenticeship or in college.

"This makes sense because the support unemployed people need to get back to work, for example skills support from local colleges, has already been in the control of the Scottish Parliament for 15 years. 

“The fourth area where we will go further is in Housing Benefit. 

“We will fully devolve the housing benefit. A massive £1.8 billion in housing benefit is spent in Scotland every year. This is a huge sum that should be used not to indefinitely subsidise the private rented sector but to invest in new housing in Scotland.

“And the fifth and final area we will go further is in devolving welfare to local communities."

SNP Depute Leader Stewart Hosie said:

"This is absolutely farcical from Labour. Having claimed authorship of the vow, declared it delivered and called for everyone to move on from the debate they are now admitting that what is on offer is woefully inadequate and scrambling around trying to make it sound more substantial. But they are 'offering' nothing now that they haven't previously said was already being delivered through the Smith proposals.

"The SNP has consistently argued for devolution of the minimum wage, along with all working age benefits and employment programmes – and if Labour truly wanted progress, they would back our calls. But they refuse.

"And now the sheer panic setting in at the heart of Scottish Labour is palpable. Having spent the last two years in alliance with the Tories trying to stop Scotland getting the powers we need, they know that no-one trusts them on more powers. The only way that Scotland can guarantee more powers is to vote SNP, and it is little wonder that we are the only party trusted to stand up for Scotland."