An independent Scotland faces public service cuts greater than under Margaret Thatcher’s government, according to Labour “bulldog” Lord Reid.
The former Scottish Secretary insisted that rather than “offering a vision of a socially just Scotland”, the reality was of billions of pounds axed from spending.
His speech in Midlothian yesterday was aimed directly at Labour supporters being targeted by the SNP in the referendum campaign.
Lord Reid said Scotland was one of the wealthiest countries in the world – the reason the SNP argue an independent Scotland could stand on its own two feet – because it has been part of the UK for 300 years and that should not be discarded.
When it came to social justice it was Labour that established the NHS and welfare state, passed the Race Relations Act, and stepped in to prevent the collapse of the banking system, he said.
The veteran Labour member said in 1979, the SNP brought down Labour when it threw its weight behind the Conservatives and Margaret Thatcher’s government “to suit their own purposes”.
Lord Reid said the Institute of Fiscal Studies forecast an independent Scotland would face £6billion in spending cuts in the first few years.
“Far from offering a vision of a socially just Scotland, the reality is that an independent Scotland would risk cuts to public services worse than even anything imposed by Mrs Thatcher,” he said.
Lord Reid said it was ironic to hear Alex Salmond speak this week in glowing terms of NHS founder Nye Bevan.
“He forgot to mention that Nye Bevan was a Welsh Labour politician, in a British government, and someone who spent his life opposing what he regarded as narrow nationalism,” he said.
A spokesman for Scottish Health Secretary Alex Neil said: “Lord Reid is on the same side as Margaret Thatcher’s party in the debate on Scotland’s future and Labour are paying a very heavy price for that alliance with the Tories, as hundreds of thousands of Labour supporters turn to a Yes vote.
“Labour voters are doing that in their droves because they know the only way to fully protect Scotland’s NHS from Tory Westminster cuts is to vote Yes.”