SCOTTISH Labour deputy Jackie Baillie has claimed her party is not “in trouble” ahead of the Holyrood elections due to the impact of Westminster decisions.
Following Labour’s win at the 2024 General Election, the party has come under fire over policy decisions relating to the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners, refusal to grant compensation for Waspi women and looming cuts to benefits.
Subsequent polling has suggested Scotland could vote for a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament. Another predicted that Scottish Labour could be set for its worst election result since devolution.
However, Baillie disagreed with BBC Scotland’s Martin Geissler that Scottish Labour are now “in trouble” ahead of the vote.
“I don’t agree with you,” she told the Sunday Show programme.
Asked if she believed her party would be fine at the election, she added: “No no, I think every election is a challenge and should test people.
“We are taking nothing for granted. But I have to say, when people look at 18 years of the SNP, look at their record, where we have huge waiting lists, delayed discharge at record levels, our children being failed by the education system and the economy flatlining, people will want a different choice.
“The only people that can beat the SNP, who are frankly, tired, divided and out of ideas, is Scottish Labour.”
Geissler pointed out that the argument worked until Labour took power in Westminster and the SNP will now be able to gain ground due to the decision of Keir Starmer’s party.
Baillie responded: “We've seen what the SNP have done over 18 years.
“They are out of time, and I think increasingly, the people in Scotland want shot of them.”
Polling by Survation published in March predicted that the SNP would win 34% of the constituency vote share and 29% of the regional vote at Holyrood, while Scottish Labour would come second with 23% and 20% respectively.
Meanwhile, figures from Norstat published in February for the Sunday Times, showed that just 18% of voters intended to back Scottish Labour at the ballot box.
This could leave Anas Sarwar’s party tied with the Scottish Conservatives with only 18 MSPs each, a drop of four seats.
Polling expert John Curtice said the figures showed Sarwar’s hopes of becoming Scotland’s next First Minister seem to be “fading fast”.
Earlier in the programme, Baille refused to explicitly say she supported the £5 billion in welfare cuts being implemented by Westminster.
It comes after Health Secretary Neil Gray clashed with Geissler over the issue and the definition of “Labour austerity”.
Asked if she believed too many Scots were on benefits, Baillie said: “I think we want as many people to be in work as possible, and it is the casEe now that there are 300,000 people in Scotland economically inactive. That's highest in proportional terms to the rest of the UK.”
On the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) analysis that showed the cutest would push a quarter of a million people, including 50,000 children, into relative poverty, Baillie claimed this would be offset by people going back to work.
She said: “First, the OBR models the impact of the changes. What they didn't model was the impact of people going into employment, and that needs to be seen as the counter balance to what's going on.
“I'm old enough to remember when Labour was in government in Scotland, we lifted 200,000 children out of poverty, and the reason we did that was because we put people back to work. Their parents got back to work.”
Baillie added that Personal Independence Payments (PIP) cost £50bn each year and are forecast to grow to £75bn in the next five years, which are “not sustainable”.
The Labour Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan refused to back the UK Government welfare cuts announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Asked if she supported the cuts, Baillie said: “I would support getting people into work. I think that is the right objective, spending an extra 75 billion pounds, if we don't do anything about getting people back into work is the wrong approach.
“It's not sustainable. Getting people back into work is key.
“None of these changes take place until November 2026 there is time to focus on an additional one billion pounds going towards employment support, which frankly, the SNP have cut.”
