23 June 2017
Kezia Dugdale writes for the Times Red Box on the Queen's speech:
When Theresa May planned the Queen’s speech before calling her snap General Election, she would have thought it would be anything but threadbare.
She was planning to have a commanding Commons majority, allowing her to force through a raft of policies to punish the poorest in our society.
But her gamble backfired spectacularly, and her dreadful campaign and floundering attempts to stitch a deal together with the DUP has left her with no mandate and no authority.
As a result, we saw a Queen’s speech reflecting the position of a Prime Minister in name only, while Jeremy Corbyn’s government-in-waiting watched on.
Labour MPs, including the seven that Scotland sent to the Commons, will relish every chance in this parliament to derail the Tories’ agenda.
The Queen’s speech offered very little for Scotland. No further support for our vital oil and gas industry, no measures to protect the 250,000 WASPI women in Scotland affected by the botched acceleration of the state pension age, and no attempt to scrap the emergency services tax, which sees Scotland’s overstretched fire and police services pay millions of pounds in VAT.
The General Election should have sent a clear message to the Prime Minister. She needs to abandon the failed politics of austerity. Seven years of painful cuts have simply gone too far.
Our public services are at breaking point, working families are struggling to make ends meet, and the Tory government lurches from crisis to crisis. It simply isn’t good enough.
The parallels between Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon are now striking. Both have lost all authority and their supporters are deserting them – both in the country at large and within their inner circles.
Their brand of isolationist, nationalist politics feels outdated to an electorate sick of division.
Both now lead governments which are exhausted, having completely run out of ideas.
It is more important than ever that people in Scotland and across the UK realise there is an alternative to the extremes of Tory and SNP nationalism.
That alternative is the Labour Party. Our pro-UK anti-austerity message that together we’re stronger is what the majority of Scots want.
That’s why in the General Election we overturned huge SNP majorities and slashed many more. When the next election is called, we are ready to seize more seats from of an out-of-touch SNP – and we will kick Theresa May out of Downing Street.
After seven years of Tory austerity, and a decade of SNP division, it’s time for a united Britain that works for the many, not the few.
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This article first appeared in the Times Red Box on Friday 23 June 2017
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