Kezia Dugdale promises 'return to Labour's roots' as Scottish Labour manifesto launched

Scottish Labour’s manifesto “returns to Labour’s roots”, Kezia Dugdale said, as she made a direct plea to undecided voters to back the party in the Scottish Parliament election. 

Dugdale today became the last of the party leaders to unveil a manifesto as Labour ruled out backing a second independence referendum in the lifetime of the next parliament.  

The manifesto, which was launched in Edinburgh, commits the party to opposing the renewal of Trident “subject to a Defence Diversification Agency guaranteeing the retention of all existing jobs”, while a ban on fracking is also promised.

Health, education, policing and culture budgets will see real-terms protection, appointments at a GP surgery will be guaranteed within 48 hours, and 60,000 new affordable homes will be built, Labour pledged.

The party intends to introduce a 1p increase in income tax rates in an effort to avoid cuts to education and other local services, while a 50p top rate of tax for earnings over £150,000 a year is being backed as well.

Amid the threat of being overtaken by the Conservatives as Scotland’s second largest party, Dugdale said: “This is the most positive manifesto Labour have ever published for a Scottish Parliament election.

“We present this alternative programme for government, our prospectus for change, to the Scottish people with a simple message: if you want to use the powers to make the changes we offer, then you have to vote for it.

“As many as one in four voters at this election are undecided. I want to speak today directly to them as they make up their mind on how to use both their votes.

“If you are still unsure how to vote, here’s our plan: we’ll tax the richest 1 per cent so we can invest in our schools and stop the cuts to our NHS and public services. If you want that, you have to vote for it.”

The manifesto sees Labour rule out a second referendum on independence during the lifetime of the next parliament after the First Minister and SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, suggested the UK voting to leave the European Union in the upcoming EU referendum, combined with a Scottish vote to stay in, could trigger a rerun.

Dugdale said: “Scottish politics is moving on from the arguments of the past because however people voted in the past, I believe most are now united in one wish: that we use the powers we have now, that we use them to deliver real change, now, not to wait and wait for a distant promised land.

“Arguments about what we can’t do, have to give way to real plans for what we will do to make people’s lives better.

“We cannot afford to dwell on the arguments of the past when the challenges we face are so great, and the opportunities for change so exciting.”

She promised to start a “new revolution in childcare” after announcing plans to fund a breakfast club in every primary school and after-school sports for every secondary school.

Labour’s manifesto also raises the prospect of parliamentary reform as the party called for a non-SNP MSP to be appointed presiding officer should Sturgeon gain a second successive majority on 5 May.

“We need to return to the democratic, pluralist principles of the early Parliament,” the document states. “Scrutiny of government is critical to making good laws and ensuring democracy is transparent.

“If a party has a majority in the Parliament, then that party should not also hold the majority of committee convenorships and should not nominate a Member for the position of Presiding Officer. We will bring these proposals to Parliament when it returns.”