LABOUR WILL BE HAUNTED AT HOLYROOD OVER VAT VOTE

LABOUR WILL BE HAUNTED AT HOLYROOD OVER VAT VOTE

FRAUD MURPHY URGES LIBERALS TO VOTE NO, WHILE LABOUR ABSTAIN

The decision by Scottish Labour MPs to abstain in a Commons vote to
stop the rise in VAT will haunt the party in the run up to the
Holyrood elections next year the SNP has warned.

SNP Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP branded Labour claims the
party would defend Scotland from Tory policies as a “fraud” by
pointing to a letter from Labour Scotland spokesperson, Jim Murphy, in
which he urged Scottish LibDem MPs to vote against the VAT increase,
before abstaining in a vote himself.

Just two Scottish Labour MPs – Michael Connarty and John Robertson –
voted in support of an SNP amendment to bring relief for households
and businesses from the coalition government’s VAT hike.

Commenting, Mr Hosie said:

“Yet again we have seen how Labour can’t be trusted to protect
Scotland from the Tories. Claims they would protect Scotland from
damaging Tory policies are a fraud by Labour.

“We know the Lib/Dems have sold out already, but for Labour MPs to sit
on their hands and do nothing to stop this VAT hike is unforgivable.
This failure will haunt the Labour Party in Scotland in the lead up to
the Holyrood elections.

“Jim Murphy talks the talk, but when it came to going through the
voting lobbies he didn’t walk the walk. Instead of letters to
Liberals, Jim Murphy should have been writing to his own Labour
colleagues telling them to vote against this VAT bombshell.

“Throughout the election campaign Labour candidates claimed that only
they could stop the Tories. Now, not only did they rush for the
comfort of opposition instead of building an anti-Tory alternative,
but these Labour MPs are standing back while the Tories and Liberals
impose savage cuts and painful tax hikes.

“Labour let the people of Scotland down. They promised to protect
Scotland from the Tories - instead they opened the door to a Tory
government in Scotland.”