SNP leading ‘race to the bottom’ says Miliband

LABOUR leader Ed Miliband has claimed that independence for Scotland would lead to “a race to the bottom” in tax and service cuts.

The accusation came yesterday as he poured scorn on claims by SNP First Minister Alex Salmond over the weekend that independence would lead to an end of child poverty north of the Border.

In a press conference Mr Miliband argued that the only known economic policy the SNP had for an independent Scotland was to reduce corporation tax for big business to 12.5 per cent.

He said: “If you want to plan a fairer economic policy it’s much easier to do it in one United Kingdom rather than a separate country. Because in such an integrated market you’ll always get a race to the bottom.

“The idea that Salmond wants to abolish child poverty, the one priority we know he has is to cut corporation tax. Now I don’t really think that is a first step to tackling child poverty.

“They’ve done very little on child poverty, the reality of the SNP is you look at their policies and how they are pursuing them and they’re not made for a fairer Scotland. If you look at separatism it would not make for a fairer Scotland.”

But last night the SNP hit back, arguing that it was the only main party to push progressive policies.

SNP Westminster Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP said: “The SNP government have been delivering a progressive policy platform since 2007 – something New Labour failed to do in government at Westminster – and people in Scotland well understand that the more powers we have, the more we can do. For example, independence is the only way to get Trident out of Scottish waters, and deliver welfare reform which reflects Scotland’s circumstances and values of fairness.”