Ed Miliband says ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ are real issue

LABOUR leader Ed Miliband will today tell Scots the constitutional issue is not the “real divide” in society, but that the gulf between the “haves and have-nots” is, in a keynote defence of the union.

He will be joined by new Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont for the event in Glasgow where he will set out the “progressive” argument for rejecting independence.

Mr Miliband will tell an audience in the City Hall’s that he visits Scotland with “humility” after the party’s disastrous defeat to the SNP at Holyrood nine months ago.

And he will offer his support to Ms Lamont’s “long campaign” for the United Kingdom.

He will said: “I say let us confront the real divide in our society. Not between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom, but between the haves and the have-nots.

“So, I am not here to tell Scots that Scotland cannot survive outside the United Kingdom.

“But I am here to tell you that we need to make Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland a fairer, more just, place to live.

“And we can do this best together.”

Labour said the leader will concentrate his speech on “fairness”, highlighting the benefits of staying within the union.

When Ms Lamont assumed the revamped leadership role last month, she became the leader of the entire Scottish Labour party – a role which had been previously been held by Mr Miliband, as UK leader.

Ms Lamont’s predecessors had only been head of Labour MSPs at Holyrood.

Mr Miliband’s intervention comes five days after First Minister Alex Salmond launched his consultation on the staging of the independence referendum, which he wants to hold in autumn 2014. But the SNP’s plans to cut corporation tax, if Scotland gains full economic powers, in an effort to attract businesses to relocate north of the Border have come under fire from Labour’s Scottish deputy leader, Anas Sarwar.

“It tells you everything that you need to know about Alex Salmond’s priorities that one of the big reasons he wants separation is so he can cut taxes for big business,” Mr Sarwar said.

“Scotland is strongest when we work positively and constructively with our neighbours, not when we are putting up barriers and competing against them.

“By spreading the risk and sharing the benefits of being part of a strong United Kingdom we are all better off.”

But SNP Glasgow Anniesland MSP Bill Kidd insisted that Labour’s popularity is at “rock bottom” in Scotland.

“The attitude of UK leaders like Mr Miliband to Scotland’s ambitions to run our own affairs and take responsibility for our own decisions is just one of the factors holding them back in Scotland,” Mr Kidd said.

“Perhaps Mr Miliband has forgotten that the Welfare reform proposals by the Tory/Lib Dem government at Westminster right now are the real threat to undo all the recent progress on child poverty.

“How on earth can Mr Miliband reconcile his acknowledgement of that threat without realising that Scotland requires those powers?

“As the official figures from Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) show the reality is that Scotland is actually better placed to fund pensions and welfare compared to the UK as a whole.

“On the basis of taxes raised in Scotland, and once our welfare protection expenditure and state pensions are paid, Scotland subsidises the rest of the UK.”