BENEFIT CAP BATTLE

Labour & SNP in war of words over hated Tory policy as by-election fight begins

- ANDREW QUINN

LABOUR involved and the SNP were in a war of words on the day the parties kicked off their campaigns for the crucial Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.

Labour candidate Michael Shanks said he would vote against the two-child benefit cap and the bedroom tax, even though his UK leader Keir Starmer has said he would not scrap them.

But SNP leader and First Minister Humza Yousaf said Shanks "will do whatever, I'm certain, Keir Starmer tells him to do".

The clash came only a day after the by-election was confirmed, with former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier removed by a recall petition on Tuesday. Nearly 15 per cent of constituents signed the petition after Ferrier received a 30-day suspension from the House of Commons for breaking Covid rules.

Schoolteacher Shanks admitted Scottish Labour and Starmer have "differences of opinion" when speaking in the constituency yesterday. Starmer has been criticised by his own MSPs for not committing to scrapping the two-child benefit cap and for "undermining the Scottish party's stance on gender recognition reform.