Scottish Labour leadership contender accuses party of ‘sitting on sidelines’ over budgets

A Scottish Labour leadership candidate has criticised his party’s previous approach to Scottish budget negotiations.

Joe Fagan, who formally launched his campaign in Glasgow on Friday morning, said Labour put “politics and tactics ahead of real outcomes” during the last two budget processes.

Under Anas Sarwar, the party abstained from the vote – giving the SNP government the numbers required to pass a budget without a deal with any other party.

Despite this, the Scottish Government did win the support of the Greens and/or Lib Dems in both years.

Fagan – who only became an MSP in May – said Labour had “sat on the sidelines” rather than engaging with the process.

He said: “If I am elected leader, we will take a different approach and it starts with a serious offer to John Swinney and the SNP Government.

 “I will set five clear tests for the coming Budget, five tests of whether it will make a real difference to the lives of working people across Scotland. If you make serious progress on them, we will work with you to pass a Budget.”

The first of his asks would be to make the legislative and funding changes required to deliver publicly controlled bus services, “with communities deciding the routes, fares and standards, rather than private operators deciding what is most profitable”.

He will set out his four other calls at a later date.

He refused to be drawn on whether this would mean he would instruct MSPs to vote down the Budget if those five “tests” were not met – arguing Labour’s “weakness was defining our position before the Budget process had concluded”.

The Scottish Government is required to pass a budget every year. As the SNP does not have a majority, that requires making a deal with at least one other party. If it cannot do so within a given timeframe, an early election is forced.

Labour has never voted for an SNP budget – the only party not to do so, aside from Reform, which is new to the chamber this year.

Fagan’s main rival for the leadership, Michael Marra, was the party’s finance spokesperson during the most recent rounds of budget negotiations. However, he insisted his comments were not a “dig” at Marra specifically.

The contest was started following the resignation of Sarwar, who quit as leader and an MSP to take up a position in the House of Lords and a ministerial role in the UK Government under Andy Burnham.

It means the party is looking for its 11th leader since devolution.

Monica Lennon is the third declared candidate, though it is as yet unclear whether she has sufficient parliamentary support to make it onto the ballot. Nominations close on Monday.

The new leader takes over the smallest group of Labour MSPs the party has had at Holyrood following a difficult defeat at the latest election. They will have less than a year to go until the Scottish local government elections.

Asked if he was confident he would be able to turn the party round before then, Fagan said he was “realistic…about the challenges that lie ahead” but he would “do [his] level best” to ensure his party was in a good place to fight them.

On the possibility of coalitions after those elections, Fagan said he did not want to set “arbitrary rules” about who Labour would do deals with.

He added that he thought it unlikely that his party would do any deal with Reform, decisions should be taken locally and policy-sharing proposals taken to the Scottish Executive Committee for approval would be tested on their individual merits.

He added: “I believe in devolution… so I want local Labour groups to have maximum control over the power-sharing arrangements that they enter into. I trust them to do the right thing.”