Kezia Dugdale promises 'most radical' Labour manifesto ever

Updated

Labour will fight the Holyrood election with its most radical manifesto ever, Scottish leader Kezia Dugdale vowed as she branded SNP rival First Minister Nicola Sturgeon "utterly arrogant".

While polls show Labour could be overtaken by the Tories on May 5 and become the third party in the Scottish Parliament, Ms Dugdale insisted there are "no foregone conclusions" in the election.

She accused the SNP leader of having "already declared victory before any of us have cast a single vote".

Ms Dugdale told the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow: "How utterly arrogant of her.

"We're here to tell the First Minister that there are no foregone conclusions in a democracy.

"We're here to tell her not take her power for granted. We're here to tell her not to take people for granted."

Ms Sturgeon is the "over-confident frontrunner" in the contest for the Scottish Parliament, Ms Dugdale said, but she warned the SNP leader she could be "surprised by the newcomer".

In her speech, she pledged Labour "will end austerity in Scotland".

If the party wins power at Holyrood, it will be guided by a fiscal rule that dictates there can be no tax cuts at the same time as public spending is being reduced.

This will "simply set out the path that must be followed in order to dispense with austerity and invest in our economy," Ms Dugdale argued.

She stated: "We will stand for the most powerful Scottish Parliament ever with the most radical Labour manifesto ever."

The Scottish Labour leader went on to call on voters to "make the next phase of devolution be about radicalism and responsibility".

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