POLITICAL leaders were quizzed by trade unionists about their plans for Scotland’s next parliament during a hustings on Monday night, with calls for employment law to be devolved to Holyrood.

At an event organised by the STUC, representatives from Unite, Unison, GMB, the FBU and the EIS spoke out about issues facing workers across Scotland. 

The debate saw First Minister Nicola Sturgeon face off with Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Green co-leader Patrick Harvie, Stephen Kerr of the Tories and Alistair Carmichael of the Lib Dems. 

Fire and rehire was a prominent issue during the discussion, with Katrina Copeland of GMB asking about the practice, which has been used in recent months against British Gas workers. 

She said the business “wanted to basically annihilate our current terms and conditions,” with some workers losing holidays and others working more hours a week, which had “created a mental health crisis in British Gas.”

To her question over the devolution of employment law, Ms Sturgeon said: “I would do it tomorrow if I had the power to do it, but we don’t, which is why the devolution of employment law is so fundamentally important.

“Those kind of practices are abhorrent and we should call out employers who are trying to do things like that — but we need the power to do more than that to actually make them illegal.”

Mr Sarwar agreed, but said there is more politicians can do with the powers MSPs already have.

And Mr Harvie backed the calls for the Scottish government to do more, saying: “We hear the same practices — effectively fire and rehire — happening within the devolved areas of responsibility such as further education; so, if we’re serious about that commitment, we need to live by it as well in the areas that are currently under devolved power.”

At an election event today Mr Sarwar said that only Scottish Labour’s education comeback plan will keep the Scottish Parliament focused on recovery for our children and young people. 

The Holyrood candidate said Scotland deserves better than the SNP “taking their eye off the ball and the Tories’ failure to make a difference,” pledging to designate childcare as a key growth sector to deliver a year-on-year expansion of free hours available in early years.