SNP and Labour governments are avoiding petty squabbles – so far, at least

Labour will work ‘constructively’ with the SNP in its efforts to abolish the two-child benefit cap in Scotland

The two-child benefit cap is a hugely controversial policy and a serious bone of contention between Labour and the SNP.

Clearly, in an ideal world, both parties would like to abolish it. But Finance Secretary Shona Robison made it fairly clear this week that, if Labour votes against her Budget, which contains an unfunded commitment to abolish the cap, then the nationalists will seek to make it a big issue at the next election. And, if the Budget does not pass, that could be early next year.

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Despite this friction between the two parties, John Swinney revealed that Keir Starmer had agreed to work “constructively” with the SNP government to abolish the cap in Scotland “which is welcome, because I need the co-operation of the United Kingdom government to enable us to achieve our objectives”. Westminster controls benefits data that the Scottish Government would need to access.

Keir Starmer shares a lighter moment with John Swinney and Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan earlier this year (Picture: Andy Buchanan/WPA Pool)Keir Starmer shares a lighter moment with John Swinney and Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan earlier this year (Picture: Andy Buchanan/WPA Pool)
Keir Starmer shares a lighter moment with John Swinney and Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan earlier this year (Picture: Andy Buchanan/WPA Pool) | Getty Images

Tories ‘could not have been more awful’

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has also said his party will “work constructively” with the SNP on ending the two-child cap, while pointing out it was “a policy without a penny” to fund it.

This is how relations between governments of different parties should be. Disagreements are fine, but there needs to be a basic level of respect from both sides and an understanding that each has a right to pursue its own agenda, within the established boundaries.

The First Minister also said that relations with Starmer’s Labour government were “incomparably better” than with the previous Conservative administrations, which, he said, “could not have been more awful”.

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‘A good old-fashioned rammy’

Tory ministers would doubtless blame the SNP for the poor state of relations. As evidence, they could point to a WhatsApp message sent during the Covid pandemic to the then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon by Liz Lloyd, her long-serving chief of staff, saying she wanted a “good old-fashioned rammy" with the UK Government so she could "think about something other than sick people".

Petty fights will probably always be a part of political campaigns but, when in government, politicians have a duty to rise above them in the national interest. Childish, self-interest squabbling will get the country precisely nowhere.

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