RICHARD Leonard will today attempt to capitalise on Nationalist splits over the SNP Growth Commission, accusing Nicola Sturgeon of aligning with the Tories on austerity.
The Scottish Labour leader will use a speech in Glasgow to advocate redistributing wealth and pushing a radical agenda in the UK instead of “the austerity economics of nationalism".
The intervention comes amid continued divisions in the Yes movement over the Growth Commission, which Nicola Sturgeon was again forced to defend yesterday.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon branded 'delusional' amid Growth report splits
It led to the First Minister being branded borderline “delusional” after claiming the response to the 354-page document was “heartening”, despite an intense backlash from the Left, particularly over plans for years of tight public spending and keeping the pound.
Ms Sturgeon said publication had “shifted political debate in a very positive direction”, and predicted the report would help convert No voters to independence.
However her comments coincided with Dennis Canavan, who chaired the Yes Scotland campaign in 2014, criticising the report as over-reliant on the “Scottish establishment”.
The Scottish Socialist Party, which was part of Yes Scotland, also issued an open letter urging the wider Yes movement to reject the “divisive, conservative document”.
The report has also been called a “suicide note” by a former adviser to Alex Salmond, and “the last redoubt of crude austerity economics” by the commentator Iain Macwhirter.
Mr Leonard is expected to say: “We need to stop dividing people on the basis of nationality and start uniting people on the basis of class to bring about real change.
“Austerity is a political not an economic choice, and it is the choice being taken by both Ruth Davidson and Nicola Sturgeon.
“That’s the new dividing line which has opened up in Scottish politics; the SNP and the Tories on one side promoting another decade of austerity and cuts and Labour on the other promoting a decade of real and sustainable investment in public services and our economy.”
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: “Nicola Sturgeon clearly wants to gloss over splits among independence supporters ahead of the SNP conference later this week. "But to describe the reaction to the Growth Commission report as ‘heartening’ is bordering on the delusional.
“The SNP have alienated many hardcore separatists, but the bigger problem for Ms Sturgeon is that the people of Scotland have no interest whatsoever in another referendum.”
Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie added: “It takes a deluded confidence to suggest a report that divided nationalists will manage to unite No voters.
“The First Minister’s relentless defence of this paper on Twitter and in the papers reveals the panic in the SNP leadership. They’re desperately trying to present a positive front to the economic case for independence, which has ultimately disappointed the membership just in time for their conference.”
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The SNP said the Tories were “rattled" and reduced to hurling insults.
A spokeperson said: “Yet, it is clear that the Growth Commission has opened a lively, wide-ranging discussion from all sides of the debate. We know that some within the independence movement have expressed a desire for a different approach - their views are welcome and we look forward to key figures and bodies like trade unions and businesses playing a full part in the debate over the summer about the kind of country Scotland can be.”
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