Tory Win 'Takes Us Back To 1930s'

A Conservative victory at the general election would "take us back to 1930s levels of public spending'', Ed Balls has warned on a visit to Glasgow.

The shadow chancellor is campaigning today with Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and Glasgow MP Margaret Curran.

Speaking before a visit to an engineering company in the north east of Glasgow, Mr Balls said Labour would give 100,000 Scottish workers a pay rise through an increase in the minimum wage if elected.

The Scottish Conservatives said Labour "has absolutely no credibility on the economy''.

Mr Balls said: "People across Scotland want change. And that is what Labour is offering at this election.

"A Labour budget would tackle tax avoidance and reverse the Tory tax cut for millionaires so we can balance the books fairly.

"We'll introduce a mansion tax across the UK to help us save the NHS with more doctors and nurses.

"We'll end exploitative zero-hours contracts and raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour so 100,000 Scots get a pay rise.

"And we urgently need action to help Scotland's oil and gas industry and the jobs that depend on it. If George Osborne doesn't finally act in the Budget then I promise Labour's first budget will.

"This is the change Scotland needs. But only Labour or the Tories can form the next Government and every vote for the SNP is another vote which will make it more likely that the Tories will form the next government.

"The choice at this election is clear. It's between the change that a Labour Government offers, or Tory plans which would take us back to 1930s levels of public spending - before there was an NHS.''

A Scottish Conservatives spokesman said: "It's no surprise to see the shadow chancellor in Scotland - he's the only Ed Labour will dare to send north of the border.

"Labour has absolutely no credibility on the economy, and anyone listening to this when he visits will realise that.

"The only thing Labour is offering Scotland is a rainbow coalition with the SNP, something that jeopardises the economy and the constitutional future of the UK.''