John Swinney has warned that Labour's unwillingness to hike taxes will lead to "austerity on steroids."
Speaking during a campaign event in Glasgow, the First Minister said he thought Sir Keir Starmer would "disappoint the people of Scotland.”
Earlier this week, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed there would be no increases to income tax or national insurance under a Labour government.
Speaking to BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, she also said that while she did not want to make any cuts to public spending, she was unable to give cast-iron guarantees as given the state of the public finances there would need to be a spending review when she arrived in the Treasury.
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Mr Swinney was in Scotland's biggest city on Friday, campaigning with local candidates, including Stewart McDonald, the candidate for Glasgow South. They visited Merry-Go-Round in Strathbungo, a second hand baby clothes shop (pictured).
Speaking to party members later, Mr Swinney said: “What is it that the Labour Party offers?
“On austerity, the Labour Party has made it clear that there’ll no increases in income tax, no increases in corporation tax, no increases in National Insurance and no increases on VAT.
“They’ve signed up to the tight fiscal limits of the Tories, they’ve signed up to tight borrowing.
“That is austerity on steroids.”
The First Minister said it was not enough to replace Tory MPs with Labour MPs.
“I think there’s every likelihood that on austerity, Brexit and the cost of living, issues that are the reasons why the Tories should be removed from office, the Labour Party is going to disappoint the people of Scotland.”
He added: “We’ve got to get rid of the Tories, but in this election, we’ve got to be careful about what replaces them.
“Because in that choice, people will have to decide if they want MPs like my colleagues here who will campaign against the rape clause and the two-child limit, or Labour MPs who are quite happy to lift the cap on bankers’ bonuses.”
The choice, he said, was between the SNP who would “take Scotland’s interests right to the heart of the House of Commons”, or Labour MPs who would “be taking their orders from a London-based prime minister who is committed to Tory austerity”.
Answering questions from media, Mr Swinney said he would be "very happy" to work Sir Keir Starmer.
“I’m very happy … to work co-operatively with a United Kingdom prime minister,” he said.
“You’ve got to have someone who will reciprocate that, so I’m committing myself to do that today.”
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The First Minister said he was “trying to find common ground” with parties in Holyrood.
“I certainly made it clear that my style as First Minister will be to bring people together,” he said.
“I’m a unifying figure in my party, I’m a unifying figure in the country and that’s how I want to proceed with my term as First Minister.”
He said he would be “careful” to act with “courtesy” in the election campaign.
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