THE SNP have said Labour are in disarray after an interview with a Scotland Office minister was branded “guff” as she was grilled on splits between Scottish and UK Labour.
Kirsty McNeill, MP for Midlothian and a minister in the Scotland Office, appeared on the BBC’s Sunday Show.
Host Martin Geissler put it to McNeill that she had voted to keep the two-child benefit cap, a move which has been criticised by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (below).
Asked if the MSP was wrong, McNeill replied: “The first ballot I ever cast was for there to be a Scottish Parliament.
“I am a child of devolution. This is an institution that’s now quarter-of-a-century old and in that time, devolution has matured.
“And that does mean that on different sides of the Border and at different levels of government and indeed at different levels of the Labour Party, there will be different points of view.
“That’s an entirely healthy sign that devolution is working. What at a UK Labour level we needed to do was fix this terrible inheritance we had, a £22 billion black hole.
“We made some difficult decisions to fix the foundations and then this coming year is about making sure we are going for growth and delivering on the promises we made at the election.”
Scottish Labour have also split from Keir Starmer’s party on the decision not to award Waspi women compensation, with Sarwar saying this was not the right move.
Geissler further grilled McNeill on the promise that Scottish Labour MPs would vote in line with Scottish Labour.
“What we said to the public is that we were standing on the manifesto,” the MP replied.
“We have in our King’s Speech and our subsequent Budget got on with implementing the promises that were in our manifesto.
“I’m a member of a UK Government and Scottish Labour and Scottish Labour MSPs will come up with the policy conclusions that they think are right for Scotland at the Holyrood level.
“But at the UK level, we had to fix the foundations.”
Geissler interrupted to say that Scottish Labour was now “diametrically opposed” to UK Labour on issues which could influence how they vote.
McNeill replied by pointing to GB Energy and a record settlement for Scotland at the Budget last year, saying her party had ended austerity.
Reacting to the interview, SNP MSP Kevin Stewart said: "Labour are in disarray with Anas Sarwar saying one thing, whilst his MPs at Westminster deliver the exact opposite.
"Whether it be keeping in place the two-child cap, axing the winter fuel payment for pensioners or failing to provide compensation for Waspi women, the public is already fed up with a party which has repeatedly broken its election promises.
"It is clear that Anas Sarwar has little influence over his London bosses - and it becomes clearer by the day that he has no influence over his own MPs who would rather back Keir Starmer than him.
"In contrast, the SNP under John Swinney's leadership, is focussed on delivering on the people of Scotland's priorities with a budget which focusses on what matters most to people - eradicating child poverty, supporting our NHS, growing the economy and tackling climate change."
Writing on Twitter/X meanwhile, the SNP’s deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart (above) said: “Poor Scotland Office minister Kirsty McNeill wishing she was anywhere other than in a studio with Martin Geissler.
“Trying to promote the guff that there’s somehow a distinction between Scottish Labour which she is in fact part of and UK Labour who she takes her orders from.”
