The SNP has slammed Scottish Labour for their shameful “betrayal of Scotland’s workers” following this afternoon’s Member’s Debate in the Scottish Parliament, where Scottish Labour MSPs refused to sign the motion calling for employment law to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Despite the devolution of employment rights being a Scottish Labour policy- and included in their 2021 Manifesto- not a single Scottish Labour MSP joined the SNP in calling for increased powers to be devolved to the Scottish Government to better protect the rights of working people in Scotland.
This latest let-down of working people in Scotland follows an incriminating pattern of the Labour Party backtracking on key pledges to improve conditions for workers, from rowing back on their commitment to scrap zero hours contracts to abandoning plans to increase sick pay and parental leave pay.
Commenting, Keith Brown MSP, who led the Member’s Debate, said:
“This cowardly U-turn from Scottish Labour is an outright betrayal, not just of workers in Scotland, but of the Labour members who voted them into office on a ticket to improve conditions for workers and devolve employment rights to the Scottish Government.
“Scotland has a proud history of trade unionism, but these hard-won rights are under threat from the Westminster Tories and their increasingly draconian anti-strike and anti-union legislation, while Labour MSPs stick their heads in the sand.
“If Scottish Labour cannot even follow through on their own commitments to voters, then how can they be trusted to stand up for the people of Scotland against Westminster cuts and clawbacks.
“Only the SNP has shown it will continue to fight tooth and nail to protect the rights of working people in Scotland.”
