ALL Labour national policies at the next General Election will have been rigorously tested to see how they would affect Scotland party leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged.
Talking exclusively to the Sunday Herald Corbyn and his deputy John McDonnell promised that no economic policy or spending commitment will appear in UK Labour's manifesto until it had been assessed in detail how it will benefit public services, the economy, environment and defence in Scotland.
The two said the policy platform would be based on an "anti-austerity" agenda, the redistribution of wealth, massive investment in job creation and the rights of workers.
The plan is aimed at winning back support for Labour, which lost 40 of its 41 seats in Scotland to the SNP at the 2015 General Election, leaving it with just one MP, compared to the 56 won by Nicola Sturgeon's party.
Corbyn sees the move as a major attempt to reach out to left-leaning pro-independence voters in Scotland ahead of the next Westminster election.
Corbyn said: “We are committed now to a policy programme that will have a beneficial impact for all the people of our country and we will provide evaluations of that impact for Scotland.
"Our plans to make tax fairer and to grow our economy will provide the means by which we can allocate the resources that our public services need, leading to an increase of investment in vital public services.
“This additional investment across all our public services will see Scotland receive an increased share of public expenditure, via Barnett. Our economic plans will also improve the pay of our front-line public sector workers, protect existing jobs and create new ones.
"This increase in pay will see more resources allocated to public services which will again be passed to Scotland via Barnett.”
He added: “Our economic policies, in Scotland and elsewhere, will help create an economy where no one and no community is left behind and which places fairness, dignity and equality for all our people at the centre of our politics.”
McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, said the move showed UK Labour was serious at providing an anti-austerity and socialist alternative to the SNP, Tories and Liberal Democrats.
He said: “We are committed to an economic plan and policy programme that rejects austerity and which will invest in all the areas that matter to people in Scotland and indeed across the rest of the country.
"For example, health, education, local government, housing and rights in the workplace will improve under Labour.
"We are also committed to showing people across Scotland that only a Labour economic programme offers people the hope for a better future where no one is left behind.”
The Labour leadership's latest olive branch to independence supporters comes weeks after Corbyn previously told the Sunday Herald that many anti-Tory and working class Scots who voted Yes in 2014 were motivated by a “sense of anger at the way their communities have been treated”.
When asked, whether he saw people who back independence because of their hatred of the anti-Westminster establishment as part of the progressive push for politics, Corbyn said "absolutely I do. I absolutely do and I want to reach out to everyone”.
The Labour leader said that working class people who supported Yes in 2014 such as in Glasgow, where the majority backed independence, had been alienated by austerity and devastating job losses in industries such as mining and steel.
In an attempt to woo Scots who see support for independence as a chance to break with a Tory dominated Westminster, Corbyn said: "Of course I understand the issue of identity”.
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