STEPHEN Flynn called out a Labour minister live on the BBC, suggesting she was supporting a Conservative-inspired policy that “goes after the poorest in society”.
The SNP Westminster leader’s comments came during Tuesday’s broadcast of Politics Live, with the discussion focused on the Labour Government's employment and benefits reforms.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has stood by Tory plans to cut the cost of welfare by £3 billion over five years.
In a press release published on Tuesday, the UK Government said there would be “clear consequences” for people who do not engage with training programmes aimed at getting them into work.
Questioned on what those consequences would be on the BBC, Labour minister Catherine McKinnell twice declined to answer the question.
Asked for a third time, she said the consequences would be the same as the ones which “have always been there”.
She went on: “If you receive out-of-work benefits and out-of-work support, and if you don't undertake the steps necessary to get yourself into work, then the consequences flow from that that you lose entitlement to your benefit.”
Responding, Flynn accused the Labour Government of targeting young people rather than addressing fundamental issues with the UK economy.
“If this was a Conservative press release, if this was a Conservative tactic, then Catherine would be absolutely outraged,” he said.
“She’d be in the House of Commons demanding that the UK Government don't do this – because this is what governments always do when they're in a sticky spot, they go after the people who have the least, instead of addressing the big, fundamental problems which lead to people not being in work and living in poverty.”
Asked if the SNP would like to have “no sanctions on anybody that continually refused to go to work,” Flynn suggested bringing in a more “compassionate” system.
“So we have a social security system in Scotland where we, of course, have responsibility for some devolved benefits,” he said, “and every single person who's looked at that has said that we deal with things in a compassionate manner.
“This isn't compassionate. This is exactly what the UK establishment does. It goes after the poorest in society instead of addressing the big fundamentals in the UK economy, which has been driven, particularly for young people, by austerity, by Brexit, by Covid.
“My entire working life, my entire adult life, has been dominated by the UK economy failing. That’s why young people are in a terrible position.”
McKinnell said she agreed that young people had lost out on opportunity due to years of economic decline under the Tories, but argued that Labour were looking to turn this around with job training for out-of-work people.
Labour's plans to cut benefits has also drawn anger from the Scottish Greens, with MSP Maggie Chapman accusing Starmer of "morphing into a Tory before our eyes".
"He was elected by promising change but has opted for even more of the same punishing policies that have already caused so much damage and cost too many lives," Chapman said.
