Both Tories and the SNP must stop playing politics with the constitution at the expense of working class families, says Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy as he launches his party’s manifesto on Friday morning. With a pledge of £1bn of new investment in the Scottish NHS, Murphy will insist that change for working-class Scots can be brought about only by a Labour government “that believes in redistribution between both rich and poor, and south and north”.

David Cameron described the prospect of Labour-SNP cooperation after the election as “a coalition of chaos” when he introduced the Scottish Conservatives’ manifesto in Glasgow on Thursday. In advance of his own manifesto launch, Murphy said that the prime minister has “turned himself into the SNP’s cheerleader in chief”.

“David Cameron is a panicking prime minister who is running away from debates, running away from his own record and running out of time,” says Murphy. “He’s pinning his hopes of staying in No 10 on the SNP, because he knows he can’t win seats in Scotland.”

While Ed Miliband on Monday sought to portray Labour as the party of fiscal responsibility, Murphy’s Scottish manifesto emphasises redistribution, with a backbone theme that “Scotland succeeds when working-class Scots succeed”.



Commitments include guarantees of a job and training for the long-term unemployed; abolishing zero hours contracts and increasing the minimum wage to at least £8 an hour (both of which SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon matched in her conference speech last month); and establishing a £200m Mental Health Fund and a £200m Cancer Fund as part of £1bn extra investment in Scotland’s health service.

Launching the manifesto in Glasgow, Murphy will insist that the choice in May’s general election is between unlocking or blocking change in Scotland. “The plan we present today offers not just a change to how our countries are governed. It offers a change to how our economy works and rewards our people. How Scotland votes in the election will decide whether we unlock change or block change for millions of Scots. We cannot go on with rewards for the few and insecurity for the many.”



While Murphy launches his manifesto, Liberal Demcorat leader Nick Clegg will visit the key battleground of Gordon to appeal directly to Labour and Conservative supporters to vote tactically for his party, as they face potential electoral wipeout in Scotland.

In Gordon, where the former first minister and leader of the SNP Alex Salmond is standing against Christine Jardine for the Liberal Democrats, Clegg will say: “In 11 Scottish seats, you face a simple choice: do you want an SNP MP or a Liberal Democrat MP?”

The popular sitting MP Sir Malcolm Bruce is retiring after 32 years in the Commons, leaving new candidate Jardine, a former journalist and party media adviser, to face what Ashcroft predicts will be a 15.5% swing to the SNP.

Clegg will urge wavering Labour and Conservative voters: “In these seats the Liberal Democrat candidate is the only one that is in a position to beat the SNP.”

So if you are someone who is considering voting for the Conservative or Labour candidate, my message to you is this: lend us your vote and we can stop the SNP winning in your constituency.”

Over the past few days, the campaign in Scotland has been dominated by constitutional questions. Murphy reacted angrily on Tuesday when he described as “a brutal betrayal of Scotland” the Tory manifesto commitment to an English rate of income tax, suggesting it amounted to “the official barring of Scottish Labour MPs from the UK budget” and put at risk the continuation of the Barnett formula.

“There’s a real danger in this election that Scotland will be trapped in a pincer movement between the Tories and the SNP,” says Murphy. “The Tories promise an England-only income tax system and the SNP want to cut us off from taxes from the rest of the UK [with their flagship policy of full fiscal autonomy]. This is more than just the politics of the constitution; it’ll hurt working class families across Scotland by extending brutal austerity where the poorest families and the poorest kids will suffer the most.”

It was notable that the Scottish Tory manifesto included a proposal for pilots of alcohol sales at football matches, territory which the famously football-mad Murphy has previously made his own. With the Conservatives now pitching themselves as the party of working people, is he at all concerned about Glasgow Man – the traditionally Labour-supporting working class demographic who supported independence and who he believes are key to his party’s victory in May?

“No,” he jokes. “There’s more chance of Glasgow man converting to Edinburgh’s famous salt and sauce than the Tories.”

Earlier this week a TNS poll – which found that the SNP had almost doubled its lead over Labour in Scotland – also suggested that 29% of Scottish voters remained undecided. Murphy acknowledges that many of those are previous Labour voters now thinking about voting for the SNP, and believes that there may be up to 40% of them in Glasgow, where Labour faces devastating losses in seats once considered monolithic majorities. What is his manifesto pitch to those voters?

“There is still a lot to play for in Glasgow,” he insists. “Scottish Labour are the only party being honest and upfront with voters by funding our plans through fair taxes on those at the top, and that we’ll use those taxes to deliver additional investment, with an extra £1bn in our NHS and £1bn in our young people. Elections are about choices. The choice in this one is clear. Glasgow can protest against the Tories by voting for lots of different parties but the city can only help change the government by voting Labour.”