(Tuesday 21 April 2009)
LABOUR's deputy leader Harriet Harman affirmed to the STUC congress on Monday that "you cannot cut your way out of a recession" and promised to ensure that "help in difficult times must go to those who need it most."
Ms Harman told delegates that the priority for government at all levels must now be to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past."
She said that the recession in the 1980s and '90s had "left Scotland with a legacy of lives ruined by persistent economic inactivity and communities decimated by the hollowing out the industrial core.
"Scotland continues to pay a very high human and economic cost for the policy failures of the past. We are determined not to repeat those mistakes," she said.
Ms Harman also argued that, while Labour had been in government, it had striven to cut unemployment, helped the poor with tax credits, child benefits and extra for pensioners, introduced the national minimum wage, legislated for trade union recognition, invested in health education and transport and enacted laws to protect people from discrimination.
"Those are all things that couldn't happen while Tories were in government but we know we need to do more," she added.
The speech also argued the case for the Union in the recession.
"As well as the strength that devolution has brought, we need to stand together throughout the United Kingdom - Scotland, Wales and England," she said.
STUC general secretary Grahame Smith welcomed Ms Harman's statement, saying that he had hoped that political speakers would address the changing economic times and the need to assist those hardest hit in the recessions.
"The STUC looks forward to this proactive agenda being fully reflected in Wednesday's budget," he said.
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