"THERE WILL BE NO DEALS WITH THE SNP" – CORBYN

UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn today said there will be 'no deals' between a Labour government and the SNP.

Speaking at a General Election campaign event alongside Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale in Dunfermline, Fife, Mr Corbyn said: "If you want progressive policies that deliver social justice, fairness and equality, then you should vote for the Labour Party and no other party."

He said the SNP has 'failed in Government in all policy areas as they systematically forget the day job and obsess about the constitution'.

The text of Jeremy Corbyn's speech follows in full:

Jeremy Corbyn speech

Scottish Labour General Election campaign event

Monday, April 24, 2017

"Friends it is fantastic to be here having my first campaign rally in Dunfermline, in Fife and alongside Kez and Cara Hilton.

Cara was a brilliant MSP and I know our party is proud of people like her, who have the commitment, talent and energy and with a vision for a better society and a better country.

Friends this election is about the establishment versus the people.

The establishment wants to tell you that everything is OK … just keep things as they are … the rich get richer and everyone else getting worse off …

It is the people all across Britain who built our country up … and it is they who now deserve their share of the cake.

We must stop our wealth being taken from us … and handed out to millionaires, tax-dodgers and city executives.

Only a Labour government will end this robbery of the British people… and use our huge wealth to invest in people’s lives in every single community across our country.

So friends it’s pretty clear that Scots and people across the UK are facing a massive choice in this election:

Do they want to vote for a Tory party trying to negotiate a Brexit deal that will result in a low tax bargain basement economy serving the needs only of the rich and wealthy?

Or do they want a Labour Government committed to negotiating a Brexit that will protect the many gains won for workers and the environment via the EU.

Do people want a Tory Party that has punished people across this country with an unprecedented attack on them and their living standards, their pensions and their public services with their unprecedented austerity driven policy agenda?

The Tories have cut, cut and cut again and in doing so they have made people poorer and compromised the very public services that civilise us as a society

They have increased poverty and created a heartless, callous welfare system that has created far, far too many Daniel Blakes.

But friends a reminder let us not forget their coalition collaborators: the Lib Dems.

They are as culpable as the Tories, they legitimised their attacks on working people and we should never ever forget their role in an austerity agenda that penalised the people of this country rather than the spivs and speculators who crashed and burned the economy in the first place.

In Scotland I know there is another dimension. So I ask people do they want to vote for the SNP who want to fight for another unwanted and unnecessary independence referendum but who have failed abysmally in the fight against poverty and inequality?

An SNP who have failed in Government in all policy areas as they systematically forget the day job and obsess about the constitution…

…instead of making life better for college students, school pupils, the low paid, the elderly languishing in hospital in the absence of a social care package to allow them out, the sick waiting way beyond the treatment time guarantee.

Or do they want for a Labour Party who will retain Scotland in the UK but in a UK that is a far fairer, a more just and equal version than what the Tories offer.

Scandalously, in Scotland 260,000 children, 40,000 more than last year, are living in poverty, health inequalities stubbornly persist, educational attainment differences are worsening and the numbers of people working but still considered to be living in poverty are at their worse point since devolution.

These statistics are people. They are people whose opportunities to lead contented and fulfilling lives have been reduced as a result of political decisions. Political decisions made by Tories in Westminster and the SNP at Holyrood.

Many Scots rightly expect the Scottish Parliament to protect them from the vicious Tories. It is a disgrace that the SNP have not fought for these people and against poverty and inequality in the same way they have fought for independence …

The truth is that the Tories and SNP are obsessed with fighting against Brussels and Westminster and winning back political power but neither of them want to take economic power back from multi-nationals and big business.

Neither of them wants to change and transform our economy in a way that ensures no-one and no community is left behind.

Friends let me make it clear the only Progressive Alliance today, just as it always has been, is the Labour and Trade Union movement.

If you want progressive policies that deliver social justice, fairness and equality then you should vote for the Labour Party and no other Party.

Let me be clear: there will be no deals with the SNP or anyone else.

Why vote for a poor imitation that has overseen an increase in child poverty and the biggest increase since devolution of those people classified as poor despite being at work, when you can have the real thing in the progressive Labour Party. 

Remember this is not a referendum, it’s a General Election and only Labour can form another Government and offer an alternative that will transform the lives of Scots.

Friends this election is not about me, Theresa May or Nicola Sturgeon … and nor is it about the elites in Westminster or Brussels … This election is about every single person here and every single person across our country.

The people of Scotland and the rest of Britain deserve more…and it is not much to ask.

We all deserve a well-funded NHS

… the best schools for our children

… well paid, secure jobs

… and real control over our own lives.

But why … in the fifth richest nation on Earth … why do we not have this?

… Why is there a housing crisis?

… Why is our NHS not cared for?

… Why are so many people not being paid properly for the work they do?

… Not able to get on

… Not able to provide for their families as much as they’d like to

… and not able to live their lives to the full.

It is because the Tories have rigged the system and they have rigged the economy.

And here in Scotland it’s also because the SNP have passed on these Tory cuts without even a whimper.

If Labour is elected on 8th June … we will form a government that gives the people back what they deserve … because people deserve better.

We will redistribute the wealth in our society to ensure that people are paid at least a real living wage of £10 an hour

… transforming the lives of the near half a million Scots who currently earn less than the living wage … wiping out at a stroke the concept of ‘working poor’.

We will protect pensioner incomes … by legislating to keep the Triple-Lock on state pensions … protecting the pensions of over 1 million Scottish pensioners … guaranteeing them a basic income necessary to live a dignified life in retirement.

Only Labour will protect pensions. The Tories will not and the SNP plans for independence will threaten your pensions.

We will make sure public spending will be used to force a change for good in working and environmental conditions, equal opportunities and fair pay.

We will put conditions on the massive public spending budget with private business … to ensure no company wins a public contract if they avoid or evade taxes … don’t pay their local suppliers on time … or don’t recognise trade unions.

We will create a Scottish National Bank … under Scottish control and backed by the National Investment Bank … with £20bn of lending power to deliver the funds to local projects and Scotland's small businesses … creating work and stimulating the economy.

We will aggressively take on the tax avoiders and evaders … starting with having corporations publish their tax returns.

We will ban zero hours contracts … giving new protections to the 60,000 Scottish workers currently with no guaranteed hours … how can people plan or just pay the rent when they have no security of income?

Unlike others, we will set up inquiries into blacklisting and Orgreave … and we would urge the Scottish Government to set up an inquiry into the actions of the Scottish police during the Miners’ strike.

Friends no more will those at the top take from the pockets of those in the middle of society … or those stuck on zero hours contracts or the minimum wage. No more will they hold you back … and stop you having the opportunities in life which you deserve.

So on 8th June, you have a choice …

Do you choose the Tories … who will continue to feed their wealth to their friends and to the corporations … Or the SNP who have forgotten the day job and the basic requirements to look after people when in Government to instead obsess over another unwanted referendum?

Or do you chose Labour … who will redistribute wealth to those who made the wealth in the first place, yes that is the people of Britain,  and who will spend that wealth where it’s needed most and transforming the lives of the people of this country…

This election is about the establishment versus the people … Labour is the only party that is fighting to ensure that it is the people who win.

Scotland and Britain is being held back … only by voting Labour on 8th June can we change our country to make it work for the many not the few."

 

24 April 2017

Jeremy Corbyn speech to the Scottish TUC

Comrades and friends, it’s great to be in Scotland and it’s wonderful to be here at the STUC.

The STUC has a wonderful tradition of fighting for working people in Scotland and influencing public policy debates on behalf of working people.

The STUC and its trade union and trades council affiliates have been at the forefront of progress in Scotland.

It’s the collectivism of the trade union movement through working people fighting alongside each other that has always been and always will be the driver of great progressive change in Scotland in the rest of the UK and across the world.

And no more so is that the case than the inspiring young activists involved with the Better Than Zero campaign.  Their vibrant and engaging action is a shining example of modern trade unionism, carrying on the historic fight in a system still rigged against working people.

But that fight is one we have all collectively committed to and continue to do so, because friends, it works.  And we won’t let anyone tell us otherwise.

It is trade unions that have driven up wages and living standards, health and safety in the workplace, and challenged prejudice and discrimination

And it is Unions that have worked with ourselves in the Labour Party to transform our society,  to offer the opportunities to our people that so many of our forefathers and especially our foremothers unfortunately did not enjoy themselves.

They are our heroes. It was our predecessors who suffered exploitation in the workplace and wider society, and it was they who were not prepared to stand idly by, who instead chose to fight back and win many of the gains that we enjoy today.

Our NHS, our social security safety net, our education system and so much more were won on the shoulders of these giants in the Labour and trade union movement and none of us should ever forget that.

Friends, that’s why I could not be at a better or more appropriate place to start our General Election Campaign in Scotland.

We are standing for the many not the few, and it is through our collective power in a trade union that we ensure the many , standing together,  have the power to stand up to the rich and powerful few.

The Labour Party will always cherish, sustain and protect our relationship with the Trade Union movement and the working people you represent. You are our DNA, you are our family, and we will never, ever apologise for the closeness of our relationship with you.

Friends just like Keir Hardie, I am proud to be a trade unionist and I carry my card everywhere I go.

That is why one of the very first things we will do when forming our Labour Government will be to repeal the vicious Tory Trade Union Act. Giving working people the rights to collectively organise and make their lives better, safer and more content.

~~~~~~~

While the timing of the election was unexpected, the choice is clear and the stakes are high.

But let no-one be in any doubt, we are in this election to win it and we will fight for every seat in every corner of these isles.

I said the other day that the dividing lines in this election could not be clearer from the outset. It is the Conservatives, the party of privilege and the richest, versus the Labour Party, the party that is standing up for working people to improve the lives of all. That is the real choice.

Only Labour or the Tories can form a Government , and I implore Scots to fight for the party of progress, and not the vicious Tory Party, who alongside their previous coalition partners, the Lib Dems, unleashed an unprecedented attack on working people in this country.

The choice facing the country at this election is clear, it's the people versus the powerful.

Labour will challenge the rigged system that is holding our country back.

In this election Labour will offer hope to the nurse, the teacher, the small trader, the carer, the builder, the office worker, the bus driver, the factory worker, the farm labourer and the factory worker.

We will provide the change and the transformative policy programme that puts power and opportunity in people’s hands. 

We will fight this election offering a positive vision for our country. We will present to the British people an economic and political alternative, and a promise that we will make our country work for the many not the few.

We will make jobs better and more secure with a real living wage, and stronger rights at work.

We will end the public sector pay cap that disrespects our committed public servants every day.

We will end the need for food banks.

We will upgrade our economy to create wealth for all our people in the 21st Century, through investment in our infrastructure, helping our small businesses, delivering high skill jobs and ending poverty pay.

We will never put tax giveaways to the corporations and the wealthiest above our vital public services like our social care system and NHS, and those engines of opportunity our schools and colleges. We will give them the funding they need.

The Scottish people are facing a crucial choice in this election. The Tories are trying to use Brexit to turn Britain into a low-wage tax haven, run in the interests of the powerful.

Labour will negotiate a Brexit that will build on the gains won for workers, consumers and the environment in the EU. We will put jobs, living standards and human rights first.

Friends, this is a General Election, it is not a referendum, and only Labour can form a Government and offer an alternative that will transform the lives of Scots.

The truth is that the Tories and SNP are obsessed with their power struggles against Brussels and Westminster, when the energy should be used to change and transform our economy to ensure no-one and no community is left behind.

The Tories are Tories, they will always seek to undermine, dilute or simply eliminate all the gains that we won. That’s who they are and that’s what they do.

The Tories act for the powerful and the powerful back them. That’s what we are up against, that’s what our predecessors were up against, it never stopped them and it won’t stop us.

Much of the media and establishment are saying that this election is a foregone conclusion.

They think there are rules in politics which if you don’t follow you don’t win.

So you start doffing your cap to powerful people accepting their parameters so nothing can really change. Comrades, it is when you start doing that, that you really can’t win.

Our movement knows it. It is only by us standing together as the people for the many not the powerful few that we really win.

Friends only Labour has the policies that will challenge these powerful interests and transform the lives of working people.

And friends let us remember that the only real Progressive Alliance is the Labour and Trade Union movement working together, it always has been and always will be.

That’s why Labour is campaigning to win every seat across the whole country.

The deal we'll do is with the electorate, is to be a government for the many not the few.

~~~~~~~

The truth is that the politics and policies of Labour are needed now more than ever as our country becomes more unfair, more unjust and more unequal.

In Scotland 260 thousand children, 40,000 more than last year are living in poverty. Health inequalities stubbornly persist, educational attainment differences are worsening, and the numbers of people working but still considered to be living in poverty are at their worse point since devolution.

That’s surely where the focus of all politicians should be.

We will redistribute the wealth in our society to ensure that people are paid at least a real living wage of £10 an hour, transforming the lives of the near half a million Scots who currently earn less than the living wage, wiping out at a stroke the concept of ‘working poor’.

We will protect pensioner incomes, by legislating to keep the Triple-Lock on state pensions, protecting the pensions of over 1 million Scottish pensioners,  guaranteeing them a basic income necessary to live a dignified life in retirement.

Only Labour will protect pensions.

We will make sure public spending will be used to force a change for good in working and environmental conditions, equal opportunities and fair pay.

We will put conditions on the massive public spending budget with private business to ensure no company wins a public contract if they avoid or evade taxes don’t pay their local suppliers on time or don’t recognise trade unions.

This will benefit Scottish workers and Scottish small businesses currently contracted by the UK Government to the tune of billions of pounds.

We will create a Scottish National Bank under Scottish control and backed by the National Investment Bank with £20bn of lending power to deliver the funds to local projects and Scotland's small businesses creating work and stimulating the economy.

We will aggressively take on the tax avoiders and evaders starting with having corporations publish their tax returns.

We will ban zero hours contracts giving new protections to the 60,000 Scottish workers currently with no guaranteed hours. How can people plan or just pay the rent when they have no security of income?

Is it right they wake every morning and then wait for a text?

Unlike others, we will set up inquiries into blacklisting and Orgreave … and we would urge the Scottish Government to set up an inquiry into the actions of the Scottish police during the Miners’ strike.

We will give all workers equal rights from day one to stop some workers being exploited and others undercut.

We will introduce a right to own giving workers first refusal when their company faces a change of ownership or closure.

We’ll properly fund the Health & Safety Executive shamefully cut back under this Government compromising those great gains that our movement has historically fought so hard for

And we will work with trade unions and industry to reintroduce sectoral collective bargaining across the country.

We will also introduce 4 new public holidays giving people the time to lead better and more fulfilling lives, helping productivity at the same time. And we will ask for the support of the governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland so that the same four holidays can be enjoyed across the United Kingdom.

Friends, our aim is a country where everyone who can has the dignity of work and where everyone has a guarantee of dignity at work

Friends, these are the type of transformative policies that can change people’s lives for the better.

Just like always has been it is only Labour that will deliver for working people, small businesses and our most vulnerable people none of the rest would even think of these type of policies let alone achieve them.

~~~~~~~

Friends, it is only Labour that will focus on the kind of country we need to have after Brexit.

In the coming weeks Labour will lay out more of our policies that will unlock opportunities for every single person in this country.

We will focus on giving people real control over their own lives and make sure that everybody reaps a just reward for the work that they do.

We will no longer allow those at the top to leach off of those who bust their guts on zero hours contracts or those forced to make sacrifices to pay their mortgage or their rent.

Instead of the country’s wealth being hidden in tax havens we will put it in the hands of the people of Britain because they are the ones who earned it.

In this election Labour will lead the movement to make that change.

We will build a new economy worthy of the 21st century and we will build a country for the many not the few.

Ends

A new report from the charity Age Scotland has revealed that thousands of older people are missing out on free personal care payments because of delays in assessing and arranging care.

The charity also released figures which show that most Scots don't believe we invest enough in health and social care.

The SNP has cut £1.5billion from local services since 2011, including social care. Scottish Labour would end SNP austerity and invest in our public services.

On May 4th, there are local elections across Scotland. A vote for Labour is a vote for a local champion; while a vote for the SNP is a vote for a councillor who will only fight for a divisive second independence referendum.

Scottish Labour deputy leader and local government campaign manager Alex Rowley said:

“Free personal care is one of Labour’s proudest achievements, and we will always fight to protect it.
“These findings are alarming, and must act as an urgent wake-up call for the SNP government.
“It is simply unacceptable that older people are facing delays in care provision and are missing out on payments.
“The SNP has cut £1.5billion from local services since 2011, including cuts to social care. Labour’s plans to invest in local services would end the SNP austerity that is harming so many communities.
“Every Labour councillor elected on May 4 will stand up for local communities and oppose further SNP cuts, while every SNP councillor elected will be obsessed about campaigning for a divisive second independence referendum.”

19th April 2017

Our plan to ban fracking has huge public support.

Last year, Labour MSP Claudia Beamish launched a consultation on her plan to change the law to ban fracking in Scotland.

The results are now in, and 87 per cent of respondents were in favour of a ban. More than 1,000 people responded to the consultation – one of the highest response rates in Scottish Parliament history. 

Labour will now press on with a bid to change the law and ban onshore fracking outright in Scotland. 

Last year the Scottish Parliament backed a Scottish Labour motion calling for fracking to be banned. 

The SNP has refused to rule out allowing fracking in Scotland, despite widespread public opposition and health and safety fears. 

You can read the full consultation here.

What do the experts say?

Dr Sam Gardner, Head of Policy at WWF Scotland, said:

“The results of this consultation are another reminder that there is overwhelming public support in favour of cleaner forms of energy and against fracking occurring in Scotland. The climate science is clear, the vast majority of known fossil fuel reserves need to be left in the ground. Scotland should put in place a clear legal block on unconventional fossil fuel extraction and instead play to its natural advantages in clean, green renewable energy.”

Friends of the Earth Scotland’s head of campaigns Mary Church said:

"It's great news, although not very surprising, that Claudia Beamish MSP has received such a positive response to her Holyrood consultation on a law to ban fracking and will press ahead with her Member's Bill. The risks of fracking are clear and so are the grounds for banning it in the context of the climate crisis.

"While the moratorium imposed by the Scottish Government has halted the immediate threat, ultimately a legislative ban on fracking is necessary to end uncertainty for communities on the frontline of this dirty industry, and send a clear signal that fossil fuels have no place in our energy future.

"We urge MSPs and parties to get behind this Bill and work together to protect the environment and remove the threat of fracking from Scottish communities."

Want to help ban fracking in Scotland? Then join today and let’s make Scotland greener 

Commenting on the announcement of a General Election, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said:

"This country faces a significant and historic choice as we approach the UK leaving the EU.

"At the last election in 2015 we said this would be a clear choice between a destructive Tory Party and a better future with Labour.

"Since then we have seen the dangers of a Tory government.

"At this election, the choice again will be clear: a Tory Party intent on a hard and damaging Brexit; or a Labour Party that will oppose a second independence referendum and fight for a better future for everybody.

"The Labour Party is ready and has been preparing for a General Election. We will start the process of selecting our candidates this afternoon.

"We will work tirelessly to elect Jeremy Corbyn Prime Minister and deliver a Labour Government."