Cost of Living Scotland: Kate Forbes says Gordon Brown paints "wildly inaccurate" picture of Scottish Government during energy and fuel crisis

Gordon Brown has created a “wildly inaccurate” picture of the SNP Government in Scotland by “lumping” it in with “callous austerity attacks” made by UK Conservative Governments, the Scottish Finance Secretary has said.

Writing in the Daily Record, Ms Forbes also accused the Former Prime Minister of “blatant mendacity” in an article he wrote for the same paper this week in which Mr Brown accused both governments of “snubbing the poor”.

It comes Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown revealed the results of poll he said demonstrated people want “a serious plan to change Britain rather than independence” as he called for joint UK and Scottish Government action on the cost of living crisis.

The poll showed nearly half of Scots (48%) think remaining part of the UK should help the economic recovery from Covid and say a plan to change Britain is more attractive than independence as 2.5 million Scots are estimated to be in fuel poverty this year.

One of the Scottish Government’s policies is a £150 rebate for households living in bands A-D properties. Brown dismissed the initiative as a “carbon copy” of Tory plans from UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Yet, Forbes said Brown was guilty of a “shoddy mishmash of false equivalencies, political misdirection and blatant mendacity”.

She added: “Bluntly, Gordon Brown is the very last person anyone in Scotland can trust on these issues . He told people to vote No in 2014 promising respect for Scotland and equal partnership. Instead we have had continued Tory austerity, Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, and Brexit imposed on Scotland against our will – a Brexit which Brown's Labour party now supports.”

Public finance minister Kate Forbes said Gordon Brown has created a “wildly inaccurate” picture of the SNP Government in Scotland by “lumping” it in with “callous austerity attacks” made by UK Conservative Governments (Photo: Jane Barlow/PA Wire).

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