PRESSURE is piling on Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar as his MSPs call out the UK Government's cuts to disability benefits, with one branding it the "wrong decision".
Labour MSP Monica Lennon has joined her colleague Carol Mochan in calling for colleagues in Westminster to block the proposed reforms.
Their comments come after a former Scottish Labour MSP resigned from the party after 35 years over the cuts.
On Tuesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said that the Labour Government would cut Personal Independence Payments (PIP) by £5 billion per year by 2030, leading to widespread condemnation from charities.
Neil Findlay, who represented Labour at Holyrood for a decade until 2021, said in a furious letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer that he was “betraying Labour's proud history and lay[ing] waste to any claim of moral principle”.
In response to Findlay's resignation, Lennon wrote: "Extremely sorry Neil Findlay has left the Labour Party after 35 years of membership. The UK Government is going in the wrong direction on welfare.
"For the sake of my constituents, I urge ministers to stop the cuts to disabled people."
Mochan, Scottish Labour's public health spokesperson, also called out her own party's stance.
She said the UK Government "cannot balance the books on the backs of people who require benefits just to have a passable standard of living".
She added: "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.
"These reforms are a mistake and should not go ahead."
Scottish Government Culture Secretary Angus Robertson replied to Lennon on Twitter/X, questioning if Sarwar would stand by his colleagues in Holyrood.
He wrote: "Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon and frontbencher Carol Mochan MSP are calling for UK Government to scrap welfare cuts. Ex-MSP Neil Findlay has resigned from the party.
"What will Anas Sarwar do to stand up against the savage Westminster Labour austerity cuts to the sick and disabled?"
Sarwar previously hit back at claims that UK Government welfare changes will amount to austerity, and insisted Keir Starmer’s Government had to act to deal with the “broken approach” to social security payments left by the Tories and to “put our finances on a sustainable footing”.
The decision will not directly impact those receiving the adult disability payment – Scotland’s devolved version of PIP – but is likely to result in reduced funding for Social Security Scotland.
Scottish Labour MP Brian Leishman has also described the cuts as “wrong”, saying the move represents a “race to the bottom of relentless cuts and austerity".
MSP George Adam said: “Anas Sarwar’s silence on the Labour government’s cruel austerity cuts is astounding. He needs to find a backbone and oppose these draconian cuts. “The senior Labour figures who have called out this decision – some of whom have ditched their Labour membership - reflect what so many are feeling about Labour’s vacuous values. “This decision will be a hammer-blow to the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on social security support and will impact the funding available for Social Security in Scotland. “Anas Sarwar needs to come clean - will he back these cuts or will he join the SNP to stand up for Scotland’s most vulnerable, who will be hit hardest by them?"
