AN SNP MP has lashed out at the Conservative party under Boris Johnson for its failure to change sick pay rules.

Kirsten Oswald, the SNP's deputy leader in Westminster, said the u-turn last week by the UK Government has hailed a return to the Conservatives' 'nasty party' image. 

Along with the sick pay u-turn, Ms Oswald pointed to the UK Government's decision not to keep the £20 uplift to Universal Credit for the most impoverished people in the country after September, and its cut to international aid. 

It comes after Labour announced today that it would reform sick pay if it were in government, with plans to introduce payments for some 6.1m gig economy workers and self-employed people.

READ MORE: Gig economy workers sick pay plans under Labour revealed

It is part of the party's drive to win back former voters, with further announcements due this week on proposals to reform employment and the economy post-pandemic. 

Last week the UK Government reneged on its promises from 2019 to reform Statutory Sick Pay for some two million workers, when a consuktation response concluded that "now is not the right time to introduce changes to the sick pay system.”

It originally said it would consider widening the system to make sure more people can access SSP, and make it "more flexible, simple and responsive". 

Ms Oswald, MP for East Renfrewshire, said: "Theresa May was the first senior Tory to accept that the party’s ‘nasty party’ image was a barrier to getting elected, but the hostile environment she introduced as Home Secretary, the Windrush scandal, and her handling of the Grenfell tragedy showed that she was no different to her predecessors.

"Boris Johnson likes to give the impression of being a ‘likeable rogue’, but the reality of his government is that they have little interest in helping those who fall on tough times in the UK, the vulnerable, or those living with poverty or conflict across the globe."

She said that despite the Prime Minisiter's "bumbling image" he was "as hard as it gets when it comes to favouring his chums over those who really need help or a hand up."

She added: "With each decision he makes to take money from the poorest while splashing out on vanity projects he confirms that the nasty party is alive and well."

Hitting out at the Scottish Conservatives, she added: "To their shame, the Scottish Conservatives have fallen in right behind the Prime Minister, and dutifully troop through the voting lobbies to impose these nasty policies that have no support here in Scotland."

The Conservatives have been contacted for comment.