"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."
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