JIM Murphy has been "hung out to dry" by the UK Labour leadership, opponents claim, after senior party figures shot down his claim Ed Miliband would not make sustained cuts in public spending as Prime Minister.

 

The Scottish Labour leader, speaking during a televised debate last Tuesday, said "we don't have to make further cuts after 2015 and 2016" as he clashed with Nicola Sturgeon over the economy.

Mr Miliband, shadow chancellor Ed Balls and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna lined up to refute the suggestion yesterday.

Speaking in two other televised debates, Mr Murphy also said his party could grow its way out of the deficit, while also admitting some benefit payments, such as winter fuel payments for wealthy pensioners, would be cut alongside the defence budget.

However, the UK leadership were far more explicit about the need for continued cuts yesterday, as they sought to portray Labour as the party of fiscal competence.

Ms Sturgeon accused the Scottish Labour leader of making "false claims" during the TV debates and said they had been rubbished by his party bosses, while the Scottish Conservatives said Mr Murphy's party appeared to have "given up on Scotland".

Mr Umunna, asked whether Mr Murphy's suggestion that there would be no need for further cuts after next year were true, replied: "The leader of the Scottish Labour Party will not be in charge of the UK budget.

"Ed Miliband will be in charge of the UK budget and he's just answered that question... He was absolutely clear there will be the need for further consolidation and cuts throughout the rest of the parliament."

Earlier, Mr Balls had said: "I can't say to Scotland that you're going to be exempt from spending cuts in the unprotected areas". He added that while extra funding for the NHS through the mansion tax would be passed to Holyrood, generating £800m, so would spending reductions in other areas meaning the total budget for Scotland may be reduced overall.

Mr Miliband, after being challenged over Mr Murphy's comments during a question and answer session, said: "I can't, I'm afraid, say to Scotland that you're going to be exempt from spending cuts in unprotected areas."

The comments were leapt on by Labour's opponents, who claimed that Mr Murphy had been humiliated by the UK party leadership. Ms Sturgeon, who has proposed spending increases over the course of the next parliament, said "the truth was out" over Labour's intention to slash budgets.

She added: "Jim Murphy's false claims in the TV debates have been rubbished by his own party bosses at Westminster, who have hung him out to dry. Labour would impose swingeing spending cuts on Scotland and the rest of the UK, carrying on with austerity where the Tories left off - that is the core aspect of the manifesto they have published. It sweeps away Jim Murphy's pretence, and leaves him devoid of any credibility in this campaign.

"Ed Miliband, Ed Balls and Chuka Umunna have just confirmed that Labour in Scotland continue to be no more than a branch office of Westminster Labour."

Scottish Liberal Democrat Party President Sir Malcolm Bruce said "the left hand of Labour doesn't know what the right hand is doing" and argued "frenzied attempts" at restoring economic credibility had backfired.

Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: "On Sunday, Jim Murphy said there would be no further cuts for Scotland. Yesterday, Ed Balls has pulled him short and confirmed there would be.

"Jim Murphy has had the rug pulled from under his feet by a panicking and shambolic party which seems to have given up on Scotland."

A spokesman for Scottish Labour refuted the suggestion, saying that Mr Murphy had always been clear that the books would be balanced through "sensible savings" alongside tax rises on the wealthy and boosting treasury revenues.

He added: "Jim has said this several times before and the Tories and Nationalists have reacted this way each time. They are doing it again because their own plans for fiscal austerity and for unfunded NHS spending are falling apart.

"Only Labour will end Tory austerity and we won't impose austerity-max on Scotland in the way the SNP would with their plans to cut Scotland off from UK-wide taxation and spending. We will invest an extra £800 million in Scotland - fully funded without extra borrowing - so that we can improve our NHS, guarantee a job for young Scots and invest in future generations."