THE Coalition parties were last night accused of being too scared to defend their controversial welfare reforms, after opting out of a televised debate on the independence referendum.
Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats ducked the chance to appear on next month's head-to-head debate on STV about welfare and pensions.
Instead, in a group decision by the pro-Union parties, Scottish Labour's deputy leader Anas Sarwar, above, will speak for the No campaign.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who was widely seen as trumping LibDem Scottish Secretary Michael Moore in the first STV debate in May, will again appear for the SNP.
The SNP claimed Sarwar was being put forward "to bat in defence of the bedroom tax", the cut in housing benefit that since April has affected about 100,000 Scottish social tenants deemed to have spare bedrooms.
Labour has never supported the bedroom tax, and rejected the policy while in office.
Sarwar, the MP for Glasgow Central, has also marched against it, calling it "government gone mad" and "a piece of backward ideological thinking from a Tory government".
However, Labour has not vowed to end the bedroom tax if it wins the 2015 General Election - though it has not ruled out abolition either - while the SNP says it would scrap it in the event of independence.
Better Together said the reaction to the STV debate was an "utterly desperate" distraction from the Scottish Government's lack of homework on how an independent Scotland would finance its own welfare and pensions system.
Sturgeon said: "It speaks volumes that both parties in the UK Government are running away from debating their welfare and pensions policies - but it is hardly surprising given how deeply unpopular those punitive policies are.
"However, people will be shocked that Labour are prepared to do their work for them, and that Anas Sarwar has been sent in to bat in defence of the bedroom tax."
Responding on behalf of Labour and the Coalition parties, a spokesman for the Better Together campaign said: "Is this really what the people of Scotland want from their government?
"Rather than getting on with her job, or answering questions people have about independence, the Deputy First Minister is moaning about who is going to appear with her on a TV show. It is utterly desperate."
A spokesperson for STV said: "Scotland Tonight is providing a platform for debate on all the issues in the run-up to the referendum in 2014 and we welcome participation from both the Yes and No campaigns. The first Scotland Tonight special peaked at almost 190,000 viewers and held the audience share well throughout the hour-long programme."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article
You must verify your phone number before you can comment.
Please enter your phone number below, and a verification code will be sent to you by text message.
Please enter the six-digit verification code sent to you by SMS.
Your verification code has been sent a second time to the mobile phone number you provided.
Your verification code has been sent a third time to the mobile phone number you provided.
You have requested your verification code too many times. Please try again later.
Didn’t receive a code? Send it againThe code you entered has not been recognised.
Please try again
You have failed to enter a correct code after three attempts.
Please try again later.
Your phone number has been verified.
Your phone number has been stored with your account details. We will never use it for anything other than verifying that you are the legitimate owner of this account.