By james art He was speaking as Rachel Reeves prepared to present what would be the first budget by a Labor chancellor since 2009 on Wednesday.
Although Ms Reeves made it clear the economic situation left by the Conservatives would mean tough elections, she said her budget would “start to fix the NHS and start to rebuild our economy”.
Her cabinet colleague Mr Murray warned: “No one should be in any doubt about the scale of the challenge the Labor government inherited when it comes to public finances.
“The Tories have left us with a £22 billion black hole, draining three times the reserves earmarked for disasters and emergencies.”
Amid speculation the chancellor will change the debt rules to spend billions more, Mr Murray added: “This Budget will herald an era of growth for Scotland, after years of disastrous Tory austerity, made worse by Scottish public services by the incompetent SNP.”
Holyrood’s financial secretary Shona Robison announced £500m of savings in September amid what she described as “huge and growing pressure on the public finances”, but Mr Murray insisted the “chaotic SNP” had been forced to made “emergency cuts during the year” .
Attacking the Scottish Government, he said: “While Labor is cleaning up the Tories’ 14-year mess, the SNP have created a mess of their own making, having wasted £5 billion over years of government due to their own buy-now, pay-later policies.”
“For three consecutive years services have suffered emergency cuts during the year by the chaotic SNP.
“Labour will end this short-term, populist politics and fix the foundations for a long-term plan. There will be no return to austerity.
“The SNP must ensure that any extra funding for public services reaches the front line, reducing NHS waiting lists and raising attainment in our schools – it cannot be used to plug gaps. The Scots rightly expect results.”
However, Scottish Chancellor of the Exchequer Ivan McKee has expressed doubts that there will be “an end to the era of Westminster austerity” under Labour.
Speaking ahead of what he described as a “successful moment” with the Budget, Mr McKee said: “Given widespread reports from Labor ministers expressing concern about the cuts they are being asked to make in their own departments, it does not seem likely that we will see the end of the era of austerity in Westminster.”
He continued: “It is welcome that the Chancellor has finally agreed to the SNP’s calls to change the fiscal rules – but this cannot come alongside billions of pounds of departmental spending cuts.
“This must immediately lead to increased investment in our public services – and not only reverse the cuts to Scotland’s capital funding, but increase it significantly.
“The UK Government faces a make or break moment in this Budget – and without the immediate investment in public services we need to see, it will be clear that this Labor Government is committed to the same disastrous path as the previous Tory Government . “