Labour must be ambitious with new powers to bring good employment - says Rowley

Labour must use new powers coming to Holyrood to create not just full employment but good employment'', the party's Scottish deputy leader has said.

Alex Rowley argued that with responsibility over tax and some welfare payments being transferred north, Labour must have a more ambitious'' vision for the future while remaining theparty of working people''.

The MSP will use a business breakfast in Fife to criticise the Scottish Government's record on job creation, claiming Scotland lags behind the rest of the UK and that most of the new positions that have been created in the last four years are low paid and insecure jobs.

With the next Holyrood elections taking place in just over five months time, Mr Rowley also argued that the debate in Scotland needed to move on from what we can't do'' towhat we can do''.

Speaking ahead of this morning's event, he stressed a modern Labour vision'' meant looking at the powers the Scottish Parliament already has over areas such as education, skills, and planning, and combining these with the new tax and borrowing powers that are due to be brought in as a result of the Scotland Bill.

Mr Rowley said: The elections which are now just six months away are the most important in Scotland's history. In addition to the economic powers our government already holds we will have massive new economic responsibilities. New powers on taxation, how we raise it and so how we spend it. New borrowing powers. New powers over welfare and employment services.

Scottish politics, for so long dominated by talk of what we can't do, is now, more than ever, about what we can do.

So far the public debate shows little sign of moving on. That isn't good enough. We have to begin to set out our ambitions for how we would use the new powers to grow our economy, to equip our people for the opportunities of the future and to create a fairer, more prosperous society.

Because as well as acknowledging that we will have the power, the choices and the responsibilities that come with that, we also look at Scotland and see there is so much that needs to change.''

He continued: My vision of Scotland's economy is one that Labour has held for generations - full employment.

Labour is the party of work. It is written in our name. It is why as well as being the party of working people we have to also be the party of those who create jobs. We fail both if we forget either.

A modern Labour vision must be more ambitious than that, though. Not just full employment, but good employment.''

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