JEREMY CORBYN SPEECH – GLASGOW – MAY 28th, 2017

Friends,

Let me first of all reflect on this week’s tragic and horrific events in Manchester.

None of us here can understand why any human being would walk into a concert of young people and children and act in the grotesque and depraved way that that this person did.
It was a horrific act of inexplicable violence against innocent people who were intent only on enjoying a concert and spending time with friends and family.
But we cannot allow such acts of terror and hate to divide us.

When I stood on Albert Square at the vigil in Manchester, there was a mood of unwavering defiance.
The very act of thousands of people coming together sent a powerful message of solidarity and love. It was a profound human impulse to stand together, caring and strong. It was inspiring.
In the past few days, we have all perhaps thought a bit more about our country, our communities and our people.
What is totally clear is that goodness, decency and the best of humanity will overcome hate.
The best as well as the worst of humanity was displayed in Manchester last week.
That selfless sense of public service, decency and humanity was shown by our public service workers.
The dedication, the commitment and the sense of responsibility to take care of others of our ambulance men and women, our paramedics, our doctors and nurses and all the staff working in our NHS, our firefighters, our police and all those that keep us safe was on display last week.
The best of humanity was shown by the countless acts of kindness, the community spirit and the tremendous efforts to help people.
The taxi drivers ferrying people around with their meters off, people taking people into their homes and all the others acts of kindness showed the best of humanity.
They are the people of Manchester. But we know that attacks, such as the one at the Manchester Arena, could have happened anywhere and that the people in any city, town or village or community in Britain would have responded in the same way.
That is the solidarity that defines our United Kingdom. That is the country I meet on the streets every day; the human warmth, the basic decency and kindness. That is the country we seek to serve.
It is our compassion that defines the Britain I love. And it is compassion that the bereaved families need most of all at this time. To them I say: the whole country reaches out its arms to you and will be here for you not just this week, but in the weeks and years to come.
Love is stronger than hate and we will not allow the peddlers of hate and violence to divide our communities.
Let us stand together united and express again our love and solidarity with the people of that great city of Manchester.

As always I’m delighted to be in Scotland and to be amongst good friends. I am also delighted to in Glasgow – a city that has so much in common with that great city of Manchester.
Both are cities known for their great football clubs (yes, including Partick Thistle!), for their culture, their music, their politics which has given so much to the Labour and trade union movement, and of course for their people who are well known for their strength, their resilience, and their humour.
Yesterday, I was at Wembley where a team in red – who were deemed the underdogs – won.
It is also brilliant to be amongst such fantastic new and fresh representatives of our party.
Were they not just fantastic, are they not just fantastic?
The future of our party is in good hands, it’s clear from our candidates here tonight and all the rest of them standing across the country that we have the talent, the enthusiasm, the commitment and the dedication to advance and achieve our positive vision for Scotland and for the whole of the country.
What you have heard is young and fresh candidates and I am proud to stand here alongside them here in Glasgow tonight.
I also proud of the campaign here in Scotland during this General Election campaign led by Kezia Dugdale and Alex Rowley. This is a campaign to transform our country and win here in Scotland.
Our party – and our manifesto for the many not the few – is standing in the finest traditions of Scottish Labour. We are the party of Keir Hardie, Jimmy Maxton and Jenny Lee. We are walking in their footsteps and I hope they would be proud of us today.

Campaign activities were suspended this week. It was important we paused campaigning to remember the victims of last week’s terrible events and to reflect on the horrors experienced by people in the Manchester Arena.
It was also vital that we helped to try and soothe the shock and sadness felt in the wider Manchester area and across the rest of the country.
But my friends we must always ensure that terrorism cannot and will never ever win.
This must mean that we do not stop or compromise our values and that we do not stop or indefinitely suspend the institutions that sustain and entrench those values.
If we do that we give succour to those who wish to attack us and who want to divide us.
Our democracy is one of those great institutions.
The democratic process is a cherished expression of our society and is something that understands the importance of providing a voice for the voiceless and hope to those who want to see change and a better way.
Our movement fought for and won the right of all of the people to vote and we were at the centre of the struggle to create the democracy we have and we should never, ever compromise on our democracy.
Today’s event and the way the General Election campaign restarted on Friday are an essential mark of our country's determination to defend our democracy and the unity that the terrorists have sought to attack.
Terror will never prevent us going about our daily lives nor will we allow it to derail our democratic process.

Democracy is about deciding what kind of country we want to live in.
It is right that we still do this tonight and for the remaining 10 days of this campaign.
We have just 10 days left to all get out there and speak to people about the choice at this election and about the future of our country.
So please get out there and do everything you can.
This is a historic opportunity to build the kind of society that transfers wealth and power to the many, offering hope to everyone.
Do we want a country that values our public services? That invests in our NHS, our police, our schools, colleges and universities?
Or do people want a country that manages the decline of public services and a country that does not invest enough in our most essential services and which systematically cuts resources for them?
Do we want to live in a country that values our elderly people and the service and commitment they have made to our society?
Or do we want to live in a country that provides them with enough of pension so that they can live out the rest of their lives with the dignity they deserve?
A country that provides them a social care service that is sufficiently resourced and properly cares for our older people when they need to be and where social care staff are paid what they deserve.
A country that is committed to ensuring our policing is fit for the job – with a determination to have a safer Britain in a safer world.
Or do you want to live in a country where our older people are not guaranteed a proper income and a country that does not invest sufficiently in social care and its staff and which cuts funding to our police?

I know the type of country I want live in. I know what type of country you want to live in.
I want to live in a country that invests in our police, that’s why we have promised an extra 10,000 police on our streets… which will provide additional resources to the Scottish Parliament to invest in Scotland. Something that I know Scottish Labour is committed to.
And I want to live in a country that invests in our public services and a country that looks after our older people.
I want to live in a country that builds social housing again.
I want to live in a country that doesn’t walk on the other side when they see people homeless in the shop doorways.
I want to live in a country that doesn’t crush the hopes and dreams of our young people with debt and insecurity.
That’s why we have committed to the biggest house building programme in recent memory.. . just as Scottish Labour has done with their commitment to build 60,000 homes in Scotland.
We all surely want to live in a country that values work and the wealth creators on the shop floor; not one that values the rigged system that helps the likes of Mike Ashley and Philip Green.
That’s why we have committed to paying people a real living wage of £10 an hour; a policy that I know will benefit nearly half a million people in Scotland.
And that why we have vowed to ban zero-hours contracts; which will benefit nearly 60,000 Scottish workers who currently don’t know how much they will earn from one week to the next. That insecurity… it's got to stop.

The truth is that at this election people are facing a fundamental choice.
Only two parties can win this election. It is between the Labour Party offering hope, transformation and renewal of our society and a promise to become again a society of social justice and greater equality.
Or, a Tory party intent on managing decline of our public services, a Tory party that cuts support and services to working people….. while cutting taxes for the very rich and for the biggest businesses. 
We can either tax the big corporations and the top 5 per cent a bit more, or we can continue to pay the social price – crisis in our NHS, stagnant wages and a housing crisis.
Let’s be clear, that’s what Conservatives offer – five more years of the many paying the social price of an economy run for the few.
The Tories tried to hide it in their frankly dishonest manifesto.
But the truth is now out. 
I quote: “Britain would be subject to at least another five years of austerity.
"The figures in the Conservative manifesto are actually cuts in spending.
"And that means there’s a risk to the quality of public services.”
Not my words. That’s the damning verdict of the Institute of Fiscal Studies – the leading think-tank on tax and spending. I'm glad the truth is out at last.
And that’s the reality of what a Tory government would mean.
They won’t reverse the tens of billions in tax giveaways to their wealthy friends but they will impose on working people another big dose of austerity.

I ask people in Scotland who is it to be? A Labour Party for the many not the few or a Tory Party only concerned with protecting its powerful and wealthy friends and donors.
In Scotland I know you have an added dimension in the shape of the SNP.
I have made my views absolutely clear over the past few months about how their obsession with another referendum is unwanted and unnecessary.
It is a tragedy for Scots that they have not used the full powers of this Parliament to tackle poverty and inequality.
Recent figures show that the numbers of children living in poverty have gone up 40,000 in the past year, to 260,000.
That is 260,000 young people here in Scotland right now, as we speak, disadvantaged from the start of their lives as a result of political and economic decisions made at Holyrood and Westminster.
Yet new stronger powers are available to the Scottish Government – powers the SNP demanded but refuse to use to solve the problems on their doorstep.

Our mission is first and foremost to make our country one that ends poverty and inequality and ensures that the life chances of a child in Easterhouse or Possilpark are the same as those of the children in Bearsden or the West End.
Our mission is to wipe out the shame of health inequalities, in this great city and every other city across our country.
And its only Labour’s manifesto, which will annually provide billions of pounds of additional resources necessary to the Scottish Parliament that can achieve that.
So I say directly to people who have recently voted Tory or SNP have a look at our manifesto, listen to our vision for our society and compare that with the records of the SNP at Holyrood and Tories at Westminster.
I am confident you will find that only Labour has a plan for an investment driven economy that will deliver for the many not the few.
I am very proud of our manifesto for lots of reasons. It is a comprehensive plan to transform Britain for the many not the few. I am particularly proud that it recognises and seeks to develop the imagination and inspiration of all our people.
Scotland has a powerful tradition of working class writers and artists, who wrote with passion and experience as the voice of the downtrodden against the rich and powerful. That oppositional writing and poetry – from Rabbie Burns to Irvine Welsh – should inspire us all and show what we can achieve.
That’s why I’m so proud that our manifesto includes an arts pupil premium so every child can learn a musical instrument. All of us have a painting, a poem, a song that can inspire others and change lives in us. We will unleash our people’s creativity.
And that creativity of all our people will help build a Britain for the many not the few.

Yes, our vision challenges the notion of Scottish independence because we say that if we all stand together things can and they will change.
We are offering hope to the people of Britain who are crying out for it.
Hope for the young person wanting to go to university but worried they can’t afford to go.
Hope for decent, secure and well paid work – with a real living wage, increased rights in the workplace, the repeal of the Tory Trade Union Act and a ban on zero hours contracts.
Hope for fairness in the workplace for our hard pressed public service workers whose wages have decreased year on year under the Tories – by lifting the pay cap in the public sector.
Hope that local government and the essential services it provides will once again be properly resourced – no longer will we cut local government funding cut to the bone.
Hope to those communities, far too many of whom, have been left behind after their industries were killed off – as we ensure people are paid properly and good quality  jobs are created through the massive investment promised by our national investment bank – £20bn worth of investment of that in Scotland.
Hope to pensioners – as we protect the triple lock on pensions, properly resource social care and keep the Winter Fuel Allowance, and bring decency for the WASPI women.
It is Labour that offers a vision that will fundamentally renewal of our society.
Labour will renew our NHS, our schools, our social care system, our police, our fire services and our local government.
We know we all sink or swim together.
Labour knows that to achieve a safer Britain and strive for a safer world means that we all have to stand together.

When the Tories offer tax cuts to their rich friends, we say let’s make life livable for the many first.
When the Tories want to balance the books on the backs of the many, we say let’s tell the wealthy and big corporations to start paying the tax you owe.
Actually, these are very simple choices. But choices that will make a difference to millions of people.

And it's a simple choice before the country in this election:
The Labour way of working –  for the good of the entire community, or the Tory way which is perpetuating the grotesque level of inequality that already exists within our society.
We know which way works – the Labour way, for the many not the few.
This election is an enormous opportunity for us to put our vision of a Britain for the many not the few into practice.
We have 10 days to go. Just 10 days to realise our hopes and dreams.
This election is different because we, the Labour Party, are truly taking on the establishment and the whole economic consensus that saw wealth flood to the top and hold back the rest of us.

A political consensus allowed that economic consensus to thrive. That's what's known as transactional politics – offer a little bit to group A and a little bit to group B to just get enough to hold onto power.
This election is different because we are putting forward transformational politics – a big vision for a better society run for the many not the few.
The establishment has all sorts of power and tricks, but we have hundreds of thousands of members and millions of voters ready to stand up and be counted…

This is our chance. I ask you all to be strong.
And think of all those who came before us to build a better world. We should celebrate them, their knowledge, hope and strength and turn it into a 21st century vision of opportunity for the many.
We can win and build the society we all want – one that works for the many not the few. Over to you – go out and win on June 8.

• Manchester ‘a global symbol of courage, defiance and unity’ following terrorist atrocity, says Gordon Brown during speech
• As General Election campaigning restarts, he warns Conservative plans would leave more than 20million Briton hit with £1,000-a-year fall in household incomes by 2020
• Tory Britain a ‘stagnation nation’ as wages lag behind prices and benefit and tax credit cuts bite, says former PM
• Brown identifies families £1,000, £2,000 or £4,000 worse off by 2020
• Only top third will see living standards rise. When Tories say they are ‘about the many and not the few’, they mean hurting the many and helping the few
• North England, Scotland and Wales to suffer biggest hits with one quarter of population officially living in poverty – 5 million of them children

Gordon Brown today said that Manchester has become ‘a global symbol of courage, defiance and unity’ following Monday’s terrorist atrocity which killed 22 people.

During a speech in Greenock, Inverclyde, the former Prime Minister said:

“Today and in the days and weeks ahead we will shed tears at the loss of so many children and young people.

“Too many lives have been taken but I say: They cannot take our unity, our solidarity, our support for each other.

“Hearts have been broken but our resolve remains unbreakable.

“Lives have been destroyed but our spirit is indestructible.

“They may think we are vulnerable but our strength of shared purpose makes us invulnerable.

“In the hours and days following the attack Manchester has become a worldwide symbol of courage, defiance and unity.

“To those who are doubters and who believe that terrorism will make us weak through fear, divide our communities and shatter our spirit…let them go to Manchester."

As campaigning restarted, Mr Brown also unveiled astonishing evidence showing that by 2020 more than 20million Britons will see a £20-a-week fall in living standards.

Almost 45 per cent of the British population – 23million people – will be poorer, and on average their households £1,000-a-year worse off, by the start of the next decade, according to the alarming new figures.

And he warned that the Tories, if triumphant on June 8, will continue hurting families completing  a ‘decade of decline’ with no end in sight to their slashing of the value of tax credits and child benefits.

Officially, the cuts and a raft of other shameful Tory policies are set to leave 15.7million British people – one quarter of the entire population – living in poverty by the end of the next parliament, according to the IFS.

Five million of them will be children, the former Prime Minister said in his speech today.

As hardship bites and a rise in family income comes to a juddering halt, grim new projections by the Resolution Foundation forecast the poorest third of working-age households, covering around 18 million adults and children, will see their average incomes fall by 10 per cent over the next few years.

And the Conservatives, according to the former Prime Minister, are not being honest about the fall in incomes.

During a speech in support of Labour candidate for Inverclyde, Martin McCluskey, at Greenock’s Beacon Arts Centre, Mr Brown said:

“In every election the central economic issue is: What  is going to happen to living standards?

“Between now and 2020/2021, 45 per cent  of the population – 23million people – will take a financial hit and on average their households will be £1,000 a year or £20 a week worse off

"Why? Because wages will be rising more slowly than prices – especially for nurses, teachers, carers and others among five million public sector workers, who will see only a one per cent rise in wages while prices rise much faster.

“Areas facing job losses such as Wales, the North and  Scotland will feel it even more acutely.

"We are a nation where the Tories are creating living standards stagnation.

“The value of children’s benefits and tax credits are now falling even faster than predicted  as inflation bites even harder than previously thought due to the unexpectedly fast pace at which prices are rising.”

There is little escape from hardship for middle and lower income families according to the Resolution Foundation study.

Statistics show:

• A couple with two children and a full-time single earner on National Minimum Wage with a household income of £21,000 will be £1,000 worse off by 2020.
• A single earner with one child working part-time with a household income of £14,400 will be almost £2,000 (£1,900) worse of
• A working couple, one full time, one part time with three children and a household income of £32,100 – will be £3,000 worse off

Mr Brown added:

“The Tories talk about uniting the nation but rising poverty and worsening inequality will leave us more economically polarised and socially divided under Theresa May than at any time in living memory.

“The claim that her government is about helping mainstream Britain is undermined by the stark future of declining living standards ahead for the majority of people.

“The mainstream is being marginalised as the majority see their living standards fail to rise, or for millions, fall significantly.  

“Conservatives talk about the many and the few but they are actually harming the many while helping the few.

“That’s why it’s essential to elect Labour MPs who get up in the morning to fight for social justice and will be voices for the mainstream – the middle and lower income Britain that is being hardest hit.”

This is a heartbreaking moment for our country, and our thoughts are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives in Manchester and with those who remain injured.

As a party, we are grieving for the people of Manchester. Yesterday in the Scottish Parliament I paid tribute to the dedication of the brave emergency service workers who ran into danger, as well as the actions of ordinary people who opened their doors, cared for scared youngsters, provided transport to concert-goers, and gave blood at donor banks to help those injured.

A further statement is expected by today following the raising of the threat level yesterday evening.

In the coming days there will be a toughening of our resolve in the face of terror, and a renewal of our belief in the enduring British values of tolerance and respect. We are all determined to make sure that such horrific acts will never undermine our freedom, nor our democracy.

But it is right to pause and remember those who have lost their lives. General Election campaigning at a local and national level will remain on hold in Scotland today.

Wednesday night’s televised leaders’ debate on STV has been postponed and all media engagements have been cancelled. When we resume our campaign it will be with fervour, and Jeremy Corbyn will shortly be joining us in Scotland as we all work tirelessly to elect a Labour Government for the many, not the few.

Below is the statement from Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale to the Scottish Parliament following the Manchester terror attack:

“They would have been dressed in pink, in sparkles, bunny ears perched on their heads and grins on their faces. The very picture of innocence.

“The children who went to see American pop star and Disney TV actress, Ariana Grande, at the Manchester Arena last night would have been unable to contain their excitement. The atmosphere would have been electric.

“Every one of us has been there – been one of them. Enthralled by the sound and vision of a pop star at their peak. Desperate to see, in the flesh, the person whose image we’ve plastered on our bedroom walls.

“Being at a gig is a moment of sheer joy.

“Last night that joy was destroyed in a despicable act of cowardice.

“All that excitement, that innocent elation, turned to fear, to shock, and to horror.

“Just hours after they arrived, children left the concert crying, screaming, utterly bewildered by what had just happened; their ears ringing, not with the echo of pop music, but with the blast of a bomb.

“Today, those children will know that 22 of those who had shared the joy of the concert alongside them, are dead.

“That 59 people are in hospital with terrible injuries. And that too many parents are still desperately searching for the children who haven’t come home.

“Those children too will know the phrase ‘suicide bomber’ and the appalling reality of what that means.

“A story which they might have watched on Newsround, couched in age-appropriate language to soften the roughest of edges, has brutally intruded into their young lives.

“For us, as adults, hearing the news of terrorist atrocities – be they bombs, or bullets, or cars mowing people down in the street – is all too sadly now commonplace.

“We tend to cover our children’s ears and eyes to protect them from the knowledge.

“And we hold them closer, all too aware of the fragility of their precious lives.

“But for those children and young people who witnessed last night’s abominable act, there is no softening the blow, no making it better, no suggesting that these things don’t happen here, or to us, or to people we know.

“They are now fully aware that when someone determines to kill others, when someone purposefully straps a bomb to their body with a twisted plan to detonate it among innocent children, that there is nothing any one of us can do to prevent the horrific, inevitable, outcome.

“And we cannot explain it to them. How can you tell an eight-year-old that there is a justifiable reason that children died last night? How can you explain the actions, the thought-process, of someone who can look at a concert full of young people and see nothing but a target?

“But what we can do is respond well. We can teach our children that the only way to counter such barbarity is not with hate and with fear, but with compassion, tolerance, kindness and love.

“Like the people of Manchester did last night; flocking to help, taking people home, offering places to stay, and searching for children who had become separated from their parents.

“Like those who work in our emergency services did – as they always do – running, unflinching, towards horror, rather than away from it, to offer comfort and care and rescue.

“No doubt over the coming days we will discover the name of the coward who chose to kill excited children at a concert, and there will be attempts to understand why they did it.

“For those who are grieving there will be no worthy answers. For those left traumatised, there will be no comprehension.

“What there will be though is a toughening of our resolve in the face of terror.

“A renewal of our belief in the enduring British values of tolerance and respect.

“And a determination to make sure that such horrific acts will never undermine our freedom, nor our democracy.”

22 May 2017

SCOTTISH LABOUR MANIFESTO TO OPPOSE ANOTHER DIVISIVE REFERENDUM

Opposition to another divisive independence referendum will be at the heart of Scottish Labour's manifesto to be launched today.

Writing in the Scottish Labour manifesto, Kezia Dugdale and Jeremy Corbyn both condemn the SNP's focus on independence at the expense of the day job.

The manifesto states:

Labour opposes a second Scottish independence referendum. It is unwanted and unnecessary, and we will campaign tirelessly to ensure that Scotland remains part of the UK.

Independence would lead to turbo-charged austerity for Scottish families. Scotland would face a £15 billion deficit if the UK were to be torn apart, hurting the poorest and most vulnerable in our society.

The SNP needs to respect the verdict of the majority of Scots in 2014 and abandon its divisive plan to re-run the referendum. It needs to get on with the day job and reverse the cuts being inflicted on Scotland’s public services.

Scottish Labour will never support independence, because we believe that together we’re stronger.

Labour's UK manifesto also confirmed the party's strong opposition to both another divisive independence referendum and separation itself.

In her manifesto foreword, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale writes:

"Labour is the only party which knows it is the power of the whole UK working in partnership which benefits the many, not the few – that is at the root of our belief that together we’re stronger.

"That is why Labour opposes independence and a second divisive independence referendum. Independence is not the answer to dealing with Scotland’s flagging economy or our pressured public services.

"The SNP has one focus – independence. Labour will campaign tirelessly to ensure that the desire of the majority of Scots to remain part of the UK is respected."

In his manifesto foreword, UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes:

"In Scotland, child poverty is increasing, the number of those working but still classified as poor is at its highest level since devolution, and health inequalities stubbornly persist. Rather than tackle poverty, the SNP obsesses over another reckless referendum that threatens people’s futures.

"Labour is opposed to independence because it would inflict turbo-charged austerity on the Scottish people. We will stand firm in our opposition to a second referendum because we know that together we’re stronger and unity is still our strength.

"Historically, it has been the solidarity and common endeavour of our Labour and trade union movement that has transformed the lives of the many, not the few, in our great country.

"Just as it has always been the case, only our movement offers the hope and the contemporary solutions to society’s problems. Nationalism, in whatever form, does not."