Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has described the SNP government as "the real enemy" of vulnerable people in Scotland.

Speaking at a fringe event at the Scottish Labour conference in Perth, McDonnell responded to a question from a Labour councillor about cuts to local services and whether it was fair for trade unions to put pressure on local governments dealing with budget constraints.

The shadow chancellor said that, while trade unions had a right to protect their members, the SNP government should be blamed for shortcomings in local services in Scotland.

"Overriding all of this, to be frank, what we’ve got to do is actually focus upon who is the real enemy and, to be frank, in Scotland, the real enemy is an SNP government," said McDonnell.

"In terms of the UK overall it’s this Tory government."

McDonnell went on to say that some local services in Scotland were now "threadbare" or withdrawn completely, and "vulnerable people" have been left at serious risk due to local government cuts from the SNP government.

"What we’ve been trying to say to local authority leaders and trade unions and others, we should start now at looking at national mobilisations, both in Scotland and England and Wales, coming together to focus the issue of local government cuts on where the real responsibility rests – that’s on politicians in Holyrood and Westminster andI think that campaign could catch the wind.

"Up until now, people have almost acquiesced in the loss of the services but we’re getting so near the edge to barbarity in terms of some of the withdrawal of these services, there’s a potential for real anger.

"I think our job now is to try and unite and mobilise around that."