SCOTTISH Labour's benefits review is not a betrayal of the party's values but an attempt at an "upfront, honest and progressive" debate about what Scotland's priorities should be, Margaret Curran insists today.

The Shadow Scottish Secretary, speaking exclusively to The Herald ahead of the start of the Labour Party conference tomorrow, decries what she brands the SNP Government's fantasy politics and insists Scottish voters will not be fooled by Nationalist "electoral bribes".

The Glasgow East MP strongly denies she is "a poster girl for the Tories", making clear she will be "taking the fight to the Conservatives very forcefully" in Manchester over their failing economic and welfare policies in Scotland.

On internal matters, Ms Curran urges her party to "stop living in the past" and argues it needs to create a new generation of John Smiths and Donald Dewars to fulfil the "promise of Scotland".

She also insists Scottish Labour's turf wars are over and the party has turned the focus from itself to the needs of the electorate.

The party has come under heavy SNP fire in the past week for reviewing policies such as free prescriptions and free university tuition, with claims the move mimicked the Tories, while indicating Johann Lamont had lost touch with the people of Scotland.

However, Ms Curran defends her leader, saying the decision to instigate the review brought a "level of maturity" to the economic debate.

She says: "We have to move away from fantasy politics in Scotland. We are getting constantly told by the SNP Government everything is fine and that's just not true.

"If we serve our constituents, we have a duty to flag up the true costs; 30,000 workers have been lost in the public sector and services are being squeezed constantly."

The Shadow Secretary of State denies reviewing benefits is a betrayal of Labour values and says: "That's a complete misunderstanding of what is being said. Very few people would couch it in that language other than our political opponents, who have obvious motives for saying that."

She adds: "Labour has always said we have to be effective guardians of public resources because the money does not belong to us but the people of Scotland.

"We need to deploy those resources effectively and based on the values that they work for all the Scottish people."

Ms Curran insists voters should see the Nationalists for what they are. She says: "They are trying to close down this debate and not have this discussion because they want it all to be wrapped up in voter popularity."

She adds: "Voters are more sophisticated than that. They know when an election bribe is an election bribe. Let us put our policies to them and they'll decide what is a popular policy and what isn't."

At an eve-of-conference public question-and-answer session later today, Ed Miliband will warn that Britain faces an economic emergency and the risk of a decade-long decline in living standards. He will call on the nation to summon up the "spirit of '45" to overcome the crisis.

"We will need the same spirit to

overcome this crisis as Britain showed then and in our gravest moments through history; the same spirit, the same determination, the same sense of national mission that there was as our parents and grandparents rebuilt Britain after the Second World War," he will say.

The Labour leader has received a pre-conference boost with a poll giving Labour a 16-point lead and showing the Conservatives falling below 30% for the first time since the 2010 General Election.

Labour is placed on 44%, the Tories on 28% and the Liberal Democrats on just 8%.