Scottish Labour leadership candidate Joe Fagan MSP has said Scottish Labour must stop “sitting on the sidelines” and set clear tests for the SNP Government’s next Budget.
Mr Fagan said Scottish Labour had suffered a painful defeat and must be honest about the lessons it needs to learn.
He said one of those lessons is that Scottish Labour cannot reduce itself to “a party of commentators”, warning that while other parties forced concessions from the SNP in the last two Budgets, Labour too often put “politics and tactics ahead of real outcomes for working people”.
If elected leader, Mr Fagan said he would take a different approach by setting five clear Budget tests for John Swinney and the SNP Government.
He said Scottish Labour would be prepared to work with the Scottish Government to pass a Budget if serious progress was made on policies that would improve the lives of working people across Scotland.
Today he set out the first of those tests, giving communities the powers and funding to build the publicly controlled bus networks they need.
Mr Fagan said that a Scottish Labour party he leads will demand the Scottish Government help build publicly controlled services, with communities deciding routes, fares and standards rather than leaving decisions to private operators.
In Strathclyde, SPT has already chosen franchising as its preferred way forward, but Mr Fagan said the process is too slow and too expensive.
He called on the SNP Government to provide the funding and legal changes necessary to make public control of buses possible in Strathclyde and across Scotland, and to accelerate the process.
Candidate for Scottish Labour Leader Joe Fagan MSP said: “We have suffered a painful defeat. We have to be honest about that, and we have to learn the lessons of where we have lost.
“One clear lesson is this: we cannot reduce ourselves to being a party of commentators.
“For two Budgets in a row, while other parties forced concessions from the SNP, we sat on the sidelines.
“We put politics and tactics ahead of real outcomes for working people.
“We stood in the middle of the road and should not be surprised that we got run down.
“It is time now for Scottish Labour to be bold, to be confident and to shape what happens next.
“So if I am elected leader, we will take a different approach and it starts with a serious offer to John Swinney and the SNP Government.
“I will set five clear tests for the coming Budget. Five tests of whether it will make a real difference to the lives of working people across Scotland.
“If you make serious progress on them, we will work with you to pass a Budget.
“Today, I am setting out the first test.
“Hundreds of thousands of Scots rely on buses every day to get to work, to school, to hospital appointments and to see their families.
“But too many communities are losing out on services, with buses cut and passenger numbers down.
“Our first Budget test is simple. Will the Scottish Government give communities the powers and the funding to build the bus networks they need?
“We already have the legal framework that allows publicly controlled services, with communities deciding the routes, fares and standards, rather than private operators deciding what is most profitable.
“In Strathclyde, SPT has already chosen franchising as its preferred way forward. But the process is slow and it is expensive.
“So our first test is this – the Scottish Government must use some of its £67 billion, including the more than £500 million of taxpayers money that props up Scotland’s bus network to build the public network.
“We are calling on the SNP to provide the funding and the legal changes necessary to make taking buses back under public control here in Strathclyde and across Scotland possible, and to accelerate the process.
“Where public money is being spent, passengers must feel the difference.
“That means better routes, more reliable services and affordable fares, including a permanent £2 cap on single bus journeys within regions.
“So that is our first test for the Budget.
“Give communities the power. Give them the funding. Let them build the publicly controlled bus networks Scotland needs.”
Image: Kevin.B, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0