ANAS Sarwar has said a wealth tax is the “wrong solution” to the issues of economic insecurity and financial inequality facing Scotland and the wider UK.
In an interview with Martin Roche on the Glasgow local Glad Radio, the Scottish Labour leader refused to support proposals for a tax on wealth which campaigners say would help to level the playing field in a society which has become more and more unequal.
Tax Justice UK has proposed a 2% annual tax on assets above £10 million, which they said would affect 0.04% of the UK population and raise £24 billion a year.
Last month, various Labour MPs spoke in support of a wealth tax, saying the proposals were preferable to the £5bn in annual cuts to disability benefits outlined by the UK Labour Government.
Kim Johnson, the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said: “You cannot cut your way to growth. A wealth tax of 2% on assets over £10m would raise £24bn per year.
“When the Government talks about ‘tough choices’ – why is this choice never on the table?”
Speaking to Sarwar for Glad Radio, Roche raised similar concerns.
“An issue of inequality and growing financial inequality…,” he said, only for Sarwar to interrupt: “Economic insecurity, financial inequality, social inequality, absolutely.”
“Many of the arguments, of course, are that the rich have sucked up vast sums of wealth from around the world, and those in the middle and those at the bottom are now finding things that were accepted to be normal, unaffordable, but yet Labour refuses to introduce a wealth tax.”
Roche said it was “difficult to reconcile” a lot of what Sarwar had been saying about financial inequalities with Labour’s refusal to countenance a wealth tax.
The Scottish Labour leader responded: “I think you've identified the right problem, and the right feeling after a solution is found, but I think it's the wrong solution.”
“Taxing the rich is the wrong solution?” Roche asked.
Sarwar replied: “No, no, no, no. I, because I think you've oversimplified it. So if you look at the last budget, so I'm all for progressive taxation. I believe in progressive taxation.
“If you look at the last budget, for all the criticism people make of Rachel Reeves's budget, it actually was the most redistributive budget in probably two decades, if you look at who got the most and who paid the most.
“But what has not yet creeped through into people's lives is how it impacts them in terms of the cost of living crisis, how it feels in terms of their own level of security or insecurity, and how it, what it means for their communities and their children.”
Sarwar said there was “a generational promise that's currently being broken” and that Scottish parents were no longer able to guarantee that their children would have better life opportunities than they did.
He insisted that “how you sort that is not a ‘you're in government for nine months, you've got the magic potion and the magic potion is delivered and everything is fine’”.
Sarwar went on: “It takes time, it takes difficult decisions, and I think this UK Labour Government is making many right decisions and is putting us in a firmer direction, but there is still work to do, and there's loads of work to do in Scotland.”
Elsewhere on the radio interview, Sarwar was asked about recent polling which has found a major lead for Yes – and questioned on why support for the Union is not “solid” after Labour’s sweeping General Election victory in 2024.
Sarwar said he had some “serious questions about that poll, but it's for pollsters and pundits and commentators to talk about that”.
He went on: “I've not focused for the last four years on opinion polls, I’ve focused on winning. People may remember that when I took on this job four years ago, we were 32 points behind the SNP.
“No one gave us a hope in hell of beating the SNP in the General Election last year, let alone having a Labour government.
“Not only did we beat them, we beat them decisively and I'm confident we'll do the same again next year, but we've got to do the hard work and earn people's trust and earn their support and continue to re-earn their trust and re-earn their support.”
