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Throughout this election campaign, Keir Starmer’s Labour have been desperately trying to hide their plans for £18 billion of spending cuts. During the BBC Scotland debate Anas “Read My Lips”

 Sarwar emulated an American President whose words came back to haunt him – except in Anas Sarwar’s case it only took one day! But with Sir Keir Starmer’s manifesto now locked in, a range of

experts show the truth has caught up with Labour and they have been well and truly caught out. It used to be the Tories who said they were sick of experts – clearly the same now applies to

Labour, who have been dismissing repeated warnings that Keir Starmer’s plans involve massive spending cuts to public services. Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist of the Institute for Government

(IfG), said: “_LIKE THE CONSERVATIVES, LABOUR HAS DONE LITTLE ROW BACK ON THE SPENDING CUTS ALREADY PENCILLED IN FOR THE NEXT PARLIAMENT_.” She continued by saying that given that the

government has not been upfront about the ‘_IMPLAUSIBILITY_‘ of its spending plans, “_IT’S NOT SURPRISING THAT THE OPPOSITION HAS NOT BEEN EITHER_“, and that “_THE ELECTORATE ARE IN FOR A

NASTY SHOCK WHOEVER WINS THE ELECTION_“. Her colleague, Nick Davies, Programme Director at the IfG warned that Labour “_DOESN’T YET HAVE SOLUTIONS THAT ARE EQUAL TO THE TASK_“. Paul Johnson,

head of the INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES(IFS) described Labour as part of a ‘CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE‘ along with the Tories and Lib Dems on spending cuts: “DELIVERING GENUINE CHANGE WILL

ALMOST CERTAINLY ALSO REQUIRE PUTTING ACTUAL RESOURCES ON THE TABLE. AND LABOUR’S MANIFESTO OFFERS NO INDICATION THAT THERE IS A PLAN FOR WHERE THE MONEY WOULD COME FROM TO FINANCE THIS“. He

 added that Labour’s manifesto has “_ALMOST NOTHING IN THE WAY OF DEFINITE PROMISES ON SPENDING DESPITE LABOUR DIAGNOSING DEEP-SEATED PROBLEMS_“. Labour’s spending plans were described as

“_TINY, GOING ON TRIVIAL_” and any tax rises were “_EVEN MORE TRIVIAL_“. And then Mr Johnson concluded by saying: “_THE BOOKS ARE OPEN. A POST-ELECTION ROUTINE OF SHOCK-AND-HORROR AT THE

STATE OF THE PUBLIC FINANCES WILL NOT CUT IT._” With all the Westminster parties’ manifestos published, DAVID PHILLIPS, economist on local & devolved public finance at the IFS, wrote 

that the manifestos had “_NOTHING ON _[council] _FUNDING LEVELS … _[with]_ __… INSUFFICIENT FUNDING FOR SOCIAL CARE PLEDGES_“. On pledges to reform social care, he said of the Westminster

parties that “_NONE HAVE ALLOCATED SUFFICIENT SPECIFIC FUNDING FOR THESE PLANS_“. With experts exposing how Labour’s manifesto effectively confirms the need for £18billion of cuts, voters

have a right to know where the axe will fall. Labour’s plans mean less money for Scotland’s NHS and schools, less money to tackle poverty, and less money to help families with the cost of

living. Scotland has been made to suffer 14 years of austerity it didn’t vote for, topped off with Brexit and a cost-of-living crisis. We need an escape from this, not more of the same. But

with Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour dancing to the Tory tune on spending cuts and Brexit it’s clear they offer no real change at all. With the Tories already toast, the real choice at this

election is whether we give Sir Keir Starmer a free pass to impose more public service cuts, or whether we have a strong Scottish voice to stop him. With experts  confirming Labour are

engaging in a “conspiracy of silence” on public sector cuts, it’s clear only a vote for the SNP will send Keir Starmer the message that Scotland says no to public sector cuts.