Only Scottish Labour "offer a real anti-austerity alternative", the party's new leader has said ahead of the Scottish Budget.

Richard Leonard claimed the SNP has "taken Tory cuts and sharpened them for Scottish communities" as he set out his plans.

The new Scottish Labour leader is in London to address the Parliamentary Labour Party for the first time since his election last month.

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Left winger Mr Leonard is the fourth person to hold the post in the last three years after defeating rival candidate Anas Sarwar, following the shock resignation of Kezia Dugdale in August.

Polls carried out since his election have suggested that support for Scottish Labour has grown, putting the party back in second place behind the SNP.

Mr Leonard will held a series of meetings at Westminster before addressing Labour MPs on Monday evening, telling them he can make the party a genuine alternative to the SNP and Tories in Scotland.

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Speaking ahead of the meeting, he said: "People across the UK should not be fooled by progressive posturing on tax from the SNP - it has taken Tory cuts and sharpened them for Scottish communities. Only Labour will offer a real anti-austerity alternative for the people of Scotland.

"Local councils are bracing themselves for an effective cut of over £800million in the Scottish budget.

"We cannot have a fairer Scotland with these cuts. To end poverty in Scotland, we must re-empower and properly resource local government to deliver the services that the poorest rely on the most.

"The Scottish Parliament has the power to radically change Scotland for the better, but instead the SNP has been content to devolve Tory austerity to local communities while centralising power and decision making.

"The Scottish Parliament was supposed to be a bulwark against Tory austerity, not a conveyor belt for it.

"Inequality, injustice and poverty are not inevitable. Austerity is a political choice not an economic one. Scottish Labour will choose fairness and equality over austerity.

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"The poorest and most vulnerable Scots need a radical budget on Thursday - no one should be fooled into believing that tinkering around the edges of Scotland's tax system delivers the real and radical change Scotland needs."