JOHANN Lamont will today call the SNP "Tartan Tories" who squeeze the poor to help the better-off, and she will accuse Education Secretary Michael Russell of hypocrisy over attacks on Labour's budget review.
The Scottish Labour leader will launch a fightback at the Labour annual conference in Manchester, which will also hear Ed Miliband declare that only Labour can save the United Kingdom from the Nationalist threat to break up Britain.
Last night, the UK Labour leader suffered a blow when a poll said only two people out of 10 thought he had what it takes to be a good premier.
Following last week's row over Ms Lamont's announcement of a budget review, which will look at the viability of the SNP Government's council tax freeze, free prescription charges and free university tuition, Ms Lamont was branded a pin-up girl for the Tories by Nicola Sturgeon, the Deputy First Minister.
Today, Ms Lamont responds directly, saying the cap did not fit someone who campaigned against Margaret Thatcher's cuts to Scotland in the 1980s and for the Scottish Parliament to protect Scotland from future Tory cuts.
She will add: "And I am not sure the cap fits with someone who sees in everyday life the consequences of a Tory government cutting too far and too fast while we have an SNP Government content to amplify the cuts rather than protect people from them."
She will argue it was the First Minister who said Scotland did not mind Mrs Thatcher's economic policies, who relied on the Scottish Conservatives to put through four budgets and who cheered David Cameron into No 10 because it suited his political argument, in full knowledge of the consequences.
"This SNP Government claims to be a progressive beacon but took George Osborne's cuts, doubled them and handed them to Scottish councils, impacting on our elderly care, our schools and our chances of growing local economies," Ms Lamont will declare.
She will add: "Scottish Labour is not afraid to be honest with the people of Scotland and not afraid to expose Alex Salmond and his Tartan Tories, who try to wear our clothes while punishing the people they should be protecting."
Mark McDonald, the SNP MSP, said: "The problem for Johann Lamont is that the Tory cap fits her very well."
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