Scotland is counting the cost of two years of failure, broken promises and U-turns by a “disastrous” Labour government, it was claimed today (Saturday).
Speaking on the second anniversary of Keir Starmer’s General Election victory, the Scottish Conservatives said Labour had betrayed the trust of Scottish voters by hiking taxes and declaring war on North Sea oil and gas.
Deputy leader Rachael Hamilton cited the National Insurance rise, the family farm tax, cuts to winter fuel payments and the Peter Mandelson scandal as the lowlights of the last 24 months.
And she warned that replacing Starmer with Andy Burnham would make no difference to voters unless and until the new PM drops Labour’s addiction to welfare spending and opposition to oil and gas drilling.
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: “Ordinary Scots are counting the cost of two years of disastrous Labour government.
“Voters put their trust in Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, but it’s been chaos, broken promises and U-turns ever since.
“Labour’s National Insurance hike and war on oil and gas is costing thousands of jobs every month, their family farm tax has wrought havoc in rural areas and they betrayed pensioners with their cuts to winter fuel payments.
“Starmer is a dud Prime Minister with appalling judgment – as his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador demonstrated – but the real problem is the Labour Party, not its leader.
“Things won’t improve for the country unless Andy Burnham stands up to Labour backbenchers by reining in out-of-control welfare spending and ditching Ed Miliband’s net zero madness, which is destroying livelihoods and our energy security.
“Scots are suffering a double whammy because, with the SNP at Holyrood, we have two left-wing, anti-oil-and-gas governments that continually raise taxes to fund a spiralling benefits bill.
“In contrast, the Scottish Conservatives would cut household bills and get Britain drilling again.”
Notes to editors
OEUK has said the UK Labour Government’s energy profits levy and ban on new licences is costing 1,000 jobs a month in the oil and gas sector. (OEUK, 17 November 2025, link).
Labour is hammering our agricultural communities with the family farm tax. Agricultural holdings worth over £2.5 million will be taxed at 50% upon the death of the owner. (UK Government, 3 March 2026, link).
Labour introduced a tax on jobs by hiking National Insurance. The threshold at which employers begin to pay National Insurance was lowered from £9,100 to £5,000, whilst also increasing the rate from 13.8% to 15.0%. (UK Government, 13 November 2024, link).
The UK Labour Government cut pensioners’ winter fuel payments, before being forced into a U-turn by the public outcry. In 2024, the Government decided that only pensioners in receipt of pension credit would receive winter fuel payments that winter. The government then U-turned – after widespread criticism – and said that, from 2025-26, all pensioners will get it, although it will be clawed back in the following tax year from individuals earning £35,000 and above. (BBC News, 9 June 2025, link).
Keir Starmer appointed Lord Mandelson as US ambassador despite his relationship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer accused officials in the Foreign Office of deliberately and repeatedly withholding the fact Lord Mandelson initially failed security vetting for the role of US ambassador. (BBC News, 20 April 2026, link).