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Watch: Jackie Baillie’s disastrous Sunday Politics interview — ‘to call that a “car-crash” would show a lack of respect to automotive accidents’

With the Scottish Parliament elections set to take place in May, the SNP are expected to once again top the polls. As for the other parties, Kezia Dugdale’s beleaguered Scottish Labour will be attempting to fight off Ruth Davidson’s conservatives for second place.

So, with Dugdale desperately needing to win back disillusioned voters, she may live to regret sending Jackie Baillie, the Scottish MSP, onto yesterday’s Sunday Politics. In an interview with Gordon Brewer, Baillie attempted to put forward her party’s new economic policy which claims to offer a way to end austerity which is not ‘prescriptive’. Alas Brewer was unconvinced, suggesting that the policy amounted to promising to put people’s taxes out without knowing what the money will be spent on:

JB: The critical thing is that this is a pledge to end Tory austerity, to use the powers that we now have.

GB: Let me quote you something that Kezia Dugdale said, she said the pledge to end austerity won’t be prescriptive, about what the next government spends — it will simply set out the path that must be followed in order to dispense with austerity. What does that mean?

JB: Well, what it means is that in normal circumstances we know what the Scottish government spending plans already are, we know what the UK government spending plans are, we have based are calculations on those and we have set out the usual tax measures in place.

GB: But what does not being prescriptive about spending mean?

JB: Because you need to account for say if it’s a very deep recession we enter into, no-one wants that to happen. You need the flexibility to respond to that so for example, Alastair Darling when he was last chancellor made a cut in VAT, we would want to ensure that businesses and the economy can be responded to.

GB: I understand that, but you are in effect saying to voters in Scotland that we are going to put your taxes up in order to spend more money on the public sector but we’re not that bothered about what the money is spent on?

JB: No, that’s not the case at all, if you look at our proposal for having a 50p top rate, that is entirely going to go onto education for a fairer start fund.

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Steerpike
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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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