Scottish Labour MP urges party to adopt wealth tax and deliver 'left-wing solutions'

Brian Leishman, the Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, claimed a 2 per cent tax on the net worth or assets of the wealthiest could help fix growing inequality, and was a policy popular with voters.

Urging Scottish Labour to adopt the policy at its coming conference in Glasgow, Mr Leishman’s call comes despite opposition to the policy from Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

Speaking exclusively to The Scotsman, Mr Leishman challenged the argument the move would see the biggest companies leave Britain. He insisted the economic policies of the past 17 years had failed to support the most vulnerable.

Mr Leishman argued his party must come up with their own ideas and warned falling to deliver would encourage the far-right.

“We ran on a platform and a complete manifesto of change last summer,” he said. “Change is not enacting Conservative policies - for example what’s happened with the Waspi women.

“Even the idea of ‘for economic growth, let's invest in green freeports’ - another Conservative idea. We should have our own policies, our own ideas, and when we look at the problems that face society across the UK right now and the world, it is left-wing solutions that will give the answer.”

Mr Sarwar has warned a wealth tax could put off investment, but Mr Leishman dismissed the idea the policy’s introduction would see big companies leave Britain.

He said: “I would challenge that. I would say that billionaires with their assets and multi-millionaires with their assets in the UK, the UK is still open for business. The meek acceptance of just allowing them to not pay their tax, that makes no sense.

“I think over the last 40 to 50 years, I think we've seen classic neoliberal trickle-down economics and the inequality that we have right now in the country, that shows that the last five decades haven’t worked.”

There was also a broadside delivered at the SNP, after it emerged Scottish ministers may ask the UK government for the power to introduce wealth taxes after the next Holyrood election.

Mr Leishman said: “When we look at the last 17 years, we've seen inequality in Scotland grow, and we've seen the death of our public services. So the SNP pitching themselves as a left-wing alternative - what, to their own politics they've had for 17 years? The SNP have proved that they have no left-wing socialist party.”

The Scottish Trades Union Congress has modelled a 2 per cent wealth tax for families with wealth of more than £5 million, estimating this would raise £1.4bn.

Labour failing to address inequality through bold measures would only encourage the rise of the far-right, Mr Leishman argued.

He said: “We can see that across Europe and in America, and even in South America and Argentina. People are in desperate need of having their living standards improved.

“Any government will be judged on whether they improve people's living standards. And [on] the quest for economic growth, while I agree economic growth would be great, people cannot afford to wait years down the line. We have to enact politics and policies that will improve things right now.”