IAN Murray has suggested people "don't like honesty" after being pressed on polling which predicted a big win for the SNP at Holyrood next year.
The Scottish Secretary was quizzed on whether he felt the Survation polling for Holyrood Sources was indicative of how badly the Labour Government had performed in its first six months in power.
The poll put the SNP on 35% of the constituency vote – 13 points ahead of Labour on 22%.
But Murray said the UK Government warned people it would have to make tough calls and suggested that perhaps the public "don't like honesty after all".
He said: "I think it's indicative of how difficult the circumstances are. No government wants to make unpopular decisions but we were forced into that.
"The inheritance has been really difficult, the economic situation has been difficult.
"We were honest with the public back in July that it will be tough, maybe the public don't like honesty after all."
The Scottish Secretary also accused the Scottish Government of announcing it will scrap the two-child cap “without a policy”.
He told reporters at Holyrood that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is prepared to provide any data the Scottish Government requires in order to get rid of the cap, but he accused ministers of not being “quite sure what they’re asking for”.
The Scottish Government announced in its Budget before Christmas that it would work to get rid of the policy which limits the amount of benefits parents can claim if they have more than two children.
It was brought in by the Tory government in 2017 and has been controversially kept in place by Labour ministers, but the SNP plan to get rid of it in Scotland by April next year.
Murray said he had received an update from DWP officials this week and said civil servants would provide any data required as well as offer support with any policy development.
But he said the Scottish Government had not “fully developed what they’re thinking”.
He told journalists: “The DWP are clear no one has asked them for any of this data before.
“The Scottish Government have not fully developed what they’re thinking is so they’re not quite sure what they’re asking for.
“The DWP are going to provide anything they need but the policy development is at such an early stage they are not quite sure what data they require.
“The DWP have given a commitment to the Scottish Government that whatever policy comes forward not only will they supply the data, they are also willing to help develop the policy and they will make sure it interacts properly with the UK welfare system.”
Pressed further on the question of what data was required, Murray said it would be “very complex”.
“It’s not just the number of children but it’s family units, it’s geography, it’s everything else,” he said.
“We couldn’t be more supportive in terms of trying to help them deliver their policy outcome, but they have to develop the policy to tell DWP what they need.
“They’ve announced something without a policy, and that’s the issue. This was the number one announcement from their Budget and yet they’ve never before asked for any relevant data around the two-child cap, so they’ve made an announcement without a policy.”
Despite previously expressing opposition to the policy, shortly after coming into power Labour voted to keep the cap in place.
They proceeded to suspend seven MPs who rebelled and voted for it to be scrapped. These were former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Zarah Sultana, Imran Hussain, Richard Burgon, Apsana Begum, and Ian Byrne.
The suspensions were for six months, meaning the decision should be reviewed in the coming weeks.
The two-child cap has been described as “the biggest driver of rising child poverty in the UK today” by the Child Poverty Action Group.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison told MSPs when she announced the Budget that ending the cap in Scotland would lift 15,000 children out of poverty.
