Scotland's first minister John Swinney has called on Sir Keir Starmer to commit to an emergency budget if Labour win the general election.
During a speech in Glasgow, the SNP leader said there was a broad consensus to "get rid of the Tories", but voiced concerns about who would replace them.
He added Scottish voters were likely to be in "disappointed" in the alternative being offered by the Labour party.
Mr Swinney reaffirmed his party's commitment to eradicating child poverty and stimulating economic growth.
He told the the crowd of media and SNP activists at Barrowfield community centre there were "stark choices" to be made during this election.
He said the choice was between SNP, who he said would fight to protect the interests of Scottish people, or Labour who would “take their orders from a London-based prime minister”.
The first minister said said: "On austerity the Labour party has made it clear that there will be no increases in income tax, no increases in corporation tax, no increases in national insurance, no increases in VAT.
"They've signed up to the tight fiscal limits of the Tories, they’ve signed up to tight borrowing that is austerity on steroids from the Labour party."
He called on Labour leader Sir Keir to commit to delivering an emergency budget “very swiftly” should he be elected prime minister.
Prior to the speech, the SNP leader spent the morning in the Glasgow south constituency, meeting the owners of Merry-Go-Round - a charity shop for baby clothes and toys, focused on helping families save money.
He accused the Conservatives of delivering 14 years of austerity in Scotland, which he claimed had "inflicted hardship" on people in communities like those in Glasgow.
The first minister said people across Scotland have had to "wrestle" with challenges of hyper inflation and rising prices for food and energy as a "consequence of Westminster mismanagement".
'Bodyblow' to Scottish jobs
Mr Swinney also responded to Labour's plans to create a publicly-owned renewable energy company.
He warned the plans for a GB Energy company would be a "bodyblow" to the Scottish economy".
He added the plans would not reduce household bills "any time soon", but "will reduce employment" in the north east of Scotland.
Great British Energy would be headquartered in Scotland, where much of the UK's oil and gas and offshore wind industries are based.
Sir Keir Starmer has said the move would bring a "huge number" of skilled jobs to Scotland.
During a speech in Glasgow, the SNP leader said there was a broad consensus to "get rid of the Tories", but voiced concerns about who would replace them.
He added Scottish voters were likely to be in "disappointed" in the alternative being offered by the Labour party.
Mr Swinney reaffirmed his party's commitment to eradicating child poverty and stimulating economic growth.
He told the the crowd of media and SNP activists at Barrowfield community centre there were "stark choices" to be made during this election.
He said the choice was between SNP, who he said would fight to protect the interests of Scottish people, or Labour who would “take their orders from a London-based prime minister”.
The first minister said said: "On austerity the Labour party has made it clear that there will be no increases in income tax, no increases in corporation tax, no increases in national insurance, no increases in VAT.
"They've signed up to the tight fiscal limits of the Tories, they’ve signed up to tight borrowing that is austerity on steroids from the Labour party."
He called on Labour leader Sir Keir to commit to delivering an emergency budget “very swiftly” should he be elected prime minister.
Prior to the speech, the SNP leader spent the morning in the Glasgow south constituency, meeting the owners of Merry-Go-Round - a charity shop for baby clothes and toys, focused on helping families save money.
He accused the Conservatives of delivering 14 years of austerity in Scotland, which he claimed had "inflicted hardship" on people in communities like those in Glasgow.
The first minister said people across Scotland have had to "wrestle" with challenges of hyper inflation and rising prices for food and energy as a "consequence of Westminster mismanagement".
'Bodyblow' to Scottish jobs
Mr Swinney also responded to Labour's plans to create a publicly-owned renewable energy company.
He warned the plans for a GB Energy company would be a "bodyblow" to the Scottish economy".
He added the plans would not reduce household bills "any time soon", but "will reduce employment" in the north east of Scotland.
Great British Energy would be headquartered in Scotland, where much of the UK's oil and gas and offshore wind industries are based.
Sir Keir Starmer has said the move would bring a "huge number" of skilled jobs to Scotland.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00So without further ado, the leaders in this campaign, the SNP leader, Scotland's First
00:23Leader, John Swinney.
00:35Thank you very much and it's an enormous pleasure to be here in Glasgow and to be surrounded
00:41by our excellent team of candidates for the city of Glasgow. It's made it more difficult
00:46for young people in this city to be able to move around Europe and to find new opportunities
00:52and for people from Europe to come to this city as they've contributed so magnificently
00:57over the period of free movement. And we've had, as David talked about, the cost of living
01:03crisis that's inflicted such hardship on people in these communities who have had to wrestle
01:10with the additional challenges of hyperinflation inflicted on us by Tory economic mistakes.
01:18For all these reasons, the Tory government deserves to be removed to vote SNP to remove
01:24the Tory MPs in Scotland, all six of them at this election. Because if we just look
01:30at those issues of austerity, Brexit and the cost of living, all the reasons why the Tories
01:36should be removed from office, we're committed to the transition to net zero and on our record
01:43alone we've transformed renewable energy in Scotland from a position when we came to
01:48office when 20% of Scotland's gross electricity consumption was coming from renewable energy
01:56and that is now the equivalent of 113%. That is us delivering the journey to net zero.
02:03We are the most attractive place for foreign direct investment for any part of the UK other
02:08than London and the South East. We bring investment into this country. We're about
02:12investing in the quality of life of people in our country. And we've also taken the tough
02:18decisions to do that. I'm proud to lead a government that's taken hard decisions on
02:24tax, where we've asked those on higher earnings to contribute more to the public funds so
02:30that we can invest in our schools and in the National Health Service. I'm very happy as
02:36First Minister of Scotland, as leader of the Scottish National Party, to work cooperatively
02:40with our United Kingdom Prime Minister. You've got to have somebody to reciprocate that with
02:46you, so I'm committing myself to do that today and I've spoken on the telephone to Rishi
02:53Sunak and I'm very happy to talk to Keir Starmer about his priorities. So I'm very happy to
03:01cooperate, but it's got to be on the basis that it delivers for the people of Scotland.
03:07I've got an election campaign and it does say a wee bit. The temperature goes up a bit.
03:12I think it would be impossible for the temperature not to go up in an election campaign. I think
03:17if you look at how I'm handling my interaction with other parties in Parliament, you will
03:22see that I am trying to reach out to others to find common ground.
03:31Thank you.