Commenting on today’s King’s Speech, outlining the UK Labour Government’s plans for the coming term, Keith Brown MSP, Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Clackmannanshire & Dunblane constituency, described the plans as “truly timid” and “lacking in real change”.

Speaking this afternoon, Keith said:

“These plans are truly timid, particularly given the size of the majority the Labour party were given, sadly lacking in the real change that was promised throughout the election campaign and that is sorely needed to counteract the impact of the Cost of Living Crisis and the consequences of Brexit. There certainly wasn’t much that will be of immediate and meaningful benefit to my constituents in Clackmannanshire & Dunblane.

“There was a mish-mash of stuff that was coming anyway through cross-party agreement, a commitment to bringing rail operators into public ownership – we have done that in Scotland already – but the glaring gap was the absence of any mention of removing the two child cap for benefit payments.

“Not only is that a total abandonment of some of those in our society most in need of support, it shows up the truth that Anas Sarwar and the Scottish branch office of the Labour party have, far from taking the promised central role in government, clearly been sidelined and ignored.”