Free residential care plan unveiled by Scottish Labour

People over the age of 65 would receive free residential care under a plan put forward by Scottish Labour.

Leader Anas Sarwar announced the policy at the party's conference in Glasgow.

The move would benefit nearly 10,000 care home residents and their families across Scotland, Mr Sarwar said.

The Scottish government wants to create a National Care Service by 2026 which would be accountable for social care support instead of local councils.

But Mr Sarwar said changes needed to happen before then.

In his conference speech, he said: "We can take steps right now to set us on track for all care in Scotland to be free at point of need, delivering a health and care system which people can rely on their whole lives.

"This will be the single greatest reform of the care service since the introduction of free personal care."

Under Scottish Labour's proposals, money provided to the Scottish government by Westminster as a result of increased health spending in England would help pay for the proposal, which also includes increasing social care pay to £15 per hour.

Party leader Anas Sarwar said all care in Scotland should be free at point of need

Scottish Labour is also proposing a new law named "Milly's Law" to ensure "bereaved families are at the heart of the response to disasters and public scandals".

The law is named after cancer patient Milly Main, who was 10 when she died at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus in 2017.

A review later found an infection which contributed to her death was probably caused by the hospital environment, and her mother has since called for the health board's bosses to be replaced.

The plans are based on proposals for a Hillsborough law in England aimed at ensuring fairer treatment for bereaved families.

Milly Main died in August 2017 after treatment on the QEUH campus

Scottish Labour said its plans would deliver the establishment of an independent public advocate who could act on behalf of families of the deceased and a requirement that evidence from public inquires must be taken into account at any subsequent criminal trials.

Mr Sarwar said: "We will change the law to fundamentally reset the balance - and create a system that is on the side of families, not institutions, and that delivers justice, not cover-ups."

'Broken' politics

The party has also unveiled a new logo comprising of a thistle, replacing the traditional cut-out rose used for decades.

This week marks a year since Mr Sarwar took over the leadership of Scottish Labour, and he told delegates that he was "determined to change" the party and rebuild its fortunes.

He also spoke about the racism he and his family have faced at times, saying it drives him to "make Scotland a fairer place".

And he said Scottish politics was "broken", having become too narrowly focused and "out of touch with reality".

He said: "We must reject the old politics - the politics of the past favoured by our opponents - and choose the politics of the future. I want Scottish Labour to be the party that changes our broken politics so that we can change our country for the future."

The party has a new, more Scottish logo - a thistle instead of a rose - and a relatively new leader in Anas Sarwar.

He's been in post for just a year, the tenth person to take charge since the creation of the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Sarwar brings new energy to the role and in his first Scottish conference address as leader he offered a big new policy idea.

Making residential care free of charge for all over 65s is an expensive commitment which Labour thinks can be funded from anticipated growth in the Scottish government's budget.

It is also distinctive and like UK Labour's plans for a windfall tax on big oil and gas firms has yet to be adopted by either the Conservatives or the SNP.

Those are the parties that have pushed Labour into third place in Scottish politics - the parties from which it must win back voters if they are to recover lost ground.

That is not a short term project for Mr Sarwar but his efforts will be put to the test in two months in the local government elections Scotland-wide.