Labour hope removing the two-child cap is a vote shifterpublished at 12:32 GMT
12:32 GMT
Phil Sim
Scotland political correspondent
This was a pre-election budget, and Scottish Labour are
clearly keen to grasp onto any measures they can put to the electorate.
The abolition of the two-child cap is the big headline that they hope will
shift voters behind them.
Interestingly the turning point in the polling fortunes between the SNP and
Labour was actually last year’s budget, when John Swinney’s government took the
opportunity to act themselves on the two-child cap.
It was after that budget, when Swinney pivoted to a message of “hope” and investment,
that the SNP started to recover in the polls following their general election
drubbing.
So Anas Sarwar will be hoping to make a similar move, by promoting his core
message – that there is extra cash for Holyrood, but that the SNP can’t be
trusted for it.
John Swinney was in punchy form today, but the exchanges with Anas Sarwar were
on another level – both between the two leaders and in the volume in the
chamber as backbenchers got involved.
Both parties see this as the key contest of the coming election.