Tory MSPs’ chance to reject the rape clause
TODAY the Scottish Parliament will debate the abhorrent Tory rape clause.
Conservative MSPs have a choice: Will they side with their leader Ruth Davidson, who has defended this vile policy?
Or will they stand up for women who have conceived a child as a result of rape and must now fill out an eight-page form to claim tax credits if it’s their third child?
The rape clause should shame every single Tory MSP.
Last week, I joined Nicola Sturgeon and other party leaders in a demonstration outside Holyrood that called on the UK Government to scrap the policy.
When people claim that Ruth Davidson is a different kind of Tory, we already know that is not the case.
She is just as bad as all the other right-wing Tories who want to force rape victims to fill out a form so they can get the support they deserve from the Government.
Tonight we will learn if the same is true of every single Tory MSP.
There is cross-party support against this policy in Westminster and Holyrood.
I hope some Tory MSPs are so outraged that they will join with us and condemn this appalling act.
In this general election campaign, Labour will continue to stand with those who are fighting this shameful policy.
The election is a straight choice between a Tory government or a Labour government.
There can be no other outcome.
And a government led by Jeremy Corbyn would never introduce something as abhorrent as the rape clause.