JIM Murphy will take aim at the super-rich when he launches Scottish Labour's manifesto today.
(fri)
The party leader will spell out plans to raise the minimum wage, ban zero hours contracts and make a series of pledges over the NHS.
The Labour candidate for East Renfrewshire, who has come under fire after suggesting his party would not have to make cuts after 2016 before the claim was dismissed by his London-based colleagues, is expected to say: "We will be honest: someone has to pay."
He will add: "We will reverse the Tory tax cut for millionaires. We will end non-dom status. The Scots crowded onto buses and trains who go to work every day pay their taxes. It is time the super- rich flying in from Monaco on their private jets did the same."
The document will also include pledges to end the bedroom tax, prevent the need for foodbanks, promote the living wage and regulate bus companies.
On the topic of the health service, Mr Murphy will promise new mental health and cancer funds, which he would be able to implement if he becomes First Minister next year.
"As I have spoken to people in this election they always raise the NHS," he said. "And the people who have used the NHS lately always say two things. They say: the staff were brilliant. Then they say: but there weren't enough of them.
"Labour will invest an extra £1 billion in Scotland's NHS by asking the wealthiest home owners to pay a bit more through a mansion tax on properties worth over £2million, by taking money from the tobacco companies and making sure the hedge funds pay their fair share. Because we can't get a world-class NHS on the cheap."
Deputy First Minister John Swinney called on Labour to spell out "where the axe would fall" after the UK leadership said there would be cuts throughout the next parliament."
He said: "Failure to do so today would be nothing less than an attempt to mislead people in Scotland before they go the polls."
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