Scottish Labour leader calls on Rachel Reeves to scrap two-child cap in Budget

Mr Sarwar said he wanted to be “really open about the demands” he would make to the Chancellor and Prime Minister in private, which rounded up into three key priorities: tackling child poverty; improving living standards; and an urgent appeal to avoid austerity.

The Chancellor will return to the dispatch box to deliver her budget on Wednesday 26th November, a year after her first statement attempted to make up for a £22 billion black hole blamed on the ousted Conservative Government.

The unpopular announcement saw sweeping changes to inheritance tax, winter fuel payment and employer National Insurance contributions.

Following a press conference last week, Rachel Reeves all but confirmed she had been forced into an income tax rise to make ends meet in this year’s budget, but since then she has backed off from the idea.

Anas Sarwar has said that “it’s really important that this budget delivers for the country” with the reception of last year’s statement still fresh in the mind for those affected.

He suggested that people need to see what “Labour choices” mean for the average person.

“For example,” he said, “the average mortgage being £1,500 lower, the average wage being £1,800 higher and the fact that £5.2 billion of additional revenue has been made available for the SNP Scottish Government to make different choices here in Scotland.

“The tragedy is they have squandered that opportunity and wasted that money with no tangible benefit for the people in Scotland.”

Earlier in the week confusion descended on the Westminster press when journalists were briefed by some of Keir Starmer’s allies that some of Ministers - including Health Secretary Wes Streeting - were involved in plotting a coup, but that the leader would take any challenge to his leadership head on.

Downing Street has since made clear that its Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, was neither “directly or indirectly” behind those briefings, but some have accused the PM's top aide of losing control of the situation.

Mr Sarwar was keen not to become entrenched in the “tittle tattle of personalities” from the briefings confusion, but stated plainly that he considered the episode “deeply unhelpful” for the Government.

“I think if you look at the briefings - and actually I would also include the speculation leading up to the budget - I think it has been unhelpful,” he said.

“I think all that’s been deeply unhelpful and the sooner we can get to this budget and demonstrate the different Labour choices and move forwards, the better it would be for everybody.”

Though Rachel Reeves has (for now) shelved her plans to announce an income tax rise at the end of this month, Scottish First Minister John Swinney has been accused of misleading the Scottish Parliament over SNP income tax claims.

In Holyrood on Thursday, Scottish Conservative Craig Hoy reviewed the nationalist 2021 manifesto pledge to not increase income tax rates by more than the rate of inflation, but tax rates have since risen higher in the years that followed the SNP's re-election.

Mr Hoy wrote the First Minister on Friday, saying: “If you had forgotten that one of your own budgets increased taxes, then you should take this opportunity to correct your answer given to parliament.”

He continued, “You have increased people’s taxes – in breach of your own party’s promise.

“You should be upfront to the public and admit that to parliament.”

Mr Hoy also addressed the First Minister and Finance Secretary’s claims that the majority of Scots pay less tax than they would elsewhere in the UK, but asserted that Scottish Fiscal Commission report said this week it was not possible to come to say definitively if this is true.

The Scottish budget will be heard in Parliament on December 4, one week after Rachel Reeves takes to the despatch box in Westminster.