Labour hopeful pins hopes on lower tax and dearer drink

the front-runner to become leader of the Scottish Labour Party has unveiled a radical new agenda to win back voters, offering to cut income tax, almost double minimum alcohol prices and prioritise spending on higher education.

In an interview with The Scotsman, Ken Macintosh said he wanted to reach out beyond the core Labour vote with “a progressive programme” that would rewrite much of the party’s old certainties.

With a change agenda dominating the party leadership campaign, his main rival for the job, Glasgow Pollok MSP Johann Lamont, said she and the whole party needed “to challenge our old certainties and look again at what we stand for”.

She added: “We can’t blame the voters for what happened. We need to look at what we offer them and their families, and how we get that message across.”

The two candidates were setting out their stalls to take over from Iain Gray in a new beefed-up role as Scottish leader at the UK party conference in Liverpool, as delegates voted to accept proposals for the party to become more autonomous north of the Border.

Mr Macintosh cited his commitment to his wife and six children as one of the reasons he had not taken on a ministerial role in the first eight years of devolution.

But he added: “I think the fact that I haven’t got my hands dirty as a former minister means I can present something fresh and a new start.”

Along with MP Jim Murphy, Mr Macintosh has helped turn the former Tory stronghold of Eastwood into a Labour powerbase, and his move to pull the Scottish party to the right and out of its old comfort zone could shape the leadership debate. He said he believed Labour had “failed to have a proper strategy for 12 years” and that the party had been “too oppositional” after the SNP won the Holyrood election in 2007. It needed to take a more consensual approach, he said.

He accepted he was partly to blame as, in his former shadow education role, he took on the SNP over its plans to reduce class sizes in P1-3 to 18. “It sounded like I opposed small classes, when what it should have been was criticism of the SNP for not delivering that promise,” he said.

He also spoke of his frustration at the fact it took two years for his party to support the SNP policy of freezing council tax.

He also highlighted Labour’s opposition to minimum alcohol pricing, which he said he would be willing to consider supporting. But he added: “The main problem was that the 40p [a unit] level was not meaningful. It sounded like a middle-class solution which would only affect the working classes.

“If the SNP present something like a 75p [a unit] minimum price, which would make a genuine difference, then I would consider supporting it.”

On other policy areas, he said the Scottish Parliament should be more willing to consider using its tax-raising powers. Mr Macintosh said that if he became First Minister in 2016, he would have the new Calman proposals at his disposal, which allows for a 10p variation in the rate.

He said: “I don’t think it would be right to put up taxes, especially at the moment. We spent a lot of time trying to get away from the image that we were a tax-and-spend party.

“But I would certainly be willing to use them, although my instinct would be more for an income tax cut, not an income tax increase.”

He also made clear his priority was to fund higher education at the expense of other public services and that he was concerned at the gap between funding for Scottish universities and their English counterparts since higher tuition fees of £9,000 a year were introduced down south.

Although he is not in favour of tuition fees, he said he believed higher education funding was one of “Scotland’s greatest challenges” and attacked the SNP for being “anti-progressive by effectively trying to close down three universities”.

He went on: “We need to tell people that we have to make choices. We all want things like free prescriptions for all or free school meals for all children, but we can’t afford everything. We need to prioritise.

“I think that higher education needs to be a top priority, and I would take money out of other areas to fund it. Our future economic wellbeing is dependent on our children going to university, so we need more students not less.”

Mr Macintosh said he would order a major reorganisation of Labour’s strategy and communications team. He would want a director of communications, similar to First Minister Alex Salmond’s chief spin doctor Kevin Pringle, with experience in the media.

Mr Macintosh has the support of many MSPs and MPs. He has also won the backing of Fife MSP and former Scottish election co-ordinator John Park, once touted as a possible leader, who brings in trade union support.

However, Ms Lamont also has influential support and could bring in more backing from the unions, especially if Mr Macintosh’s more centrist message goes down badly with them.

The other declared candidate, Glasgow South MP Tom Harris, is understood to be still looking for enough people to nominate him, while there is pressure on former Scottish secretary Mr Murphy, who represents East Renfrewshire, to stand.

But Mr Macintosh had this message for those looking for a big hitter to solve the party’s problems: “Nobody is going to come riding in on a charger to save us. There isn’t anybody like that out there.”

Mr Gray yesterday gave his swansong speech at the UK conference, which included a scathing attack on the SNP. However, he insisted the party needed to find a positive message for the coming battle over the independence referendum.

He said: “I tell you, we are in that debate now and we must win it.

“Not because I think Scotland is too small to stand alone, but because I believe with all my heart that Scotland is big enough, smart enough and rich enough in talent to stand with our comrades, friends, neighbours, workmates and family all across these islands.

“I do not believe that a strong, fair and equal Scotland in a strong, fair and equal Britain is the only possible future for Scotland – but I am sure that it is the best possible future for Scotland. I believe, we believe, that we are stronger together.”

Shadow Scottish secretary Ann McKechin also addressed conference and challenged the SNP to “come clean” over its plans for a referendum.

She said: “Are we seriously to believe that the First Minister, who has spent most of his waking hours for the past 30-odd years on how to achieve separation, doesn’t know the question to ask the Scottish electorate?

“Does anyone in the Scottish Government believe that this constitutional uncertainty is a good thing for Scotland?”

The SNP described Mr Gray’s speech as lacklustre. SNP business convener Derek MacKay said: “People across Scotland want to see more job-creating powers for Scotland. They support the SNP in taking action now to boost our economy with help for business, investment in capital projects and access to borrowing powers. And as May’s result shows, the people of Scotland trust the SNP to offer a referendum and the opportunity for Scotland to step forward as an independent nation.”