Labour are focused on issues that matter
WHEN polling stations open on June 8, it will be the seventh time in just three years that you will be asked to make a decision about our country’s future.
Before then, there are council elections in every corner of Scotland next week.
On Thursday, May 4, you get the chance to choose the councillors who will run the services in towns and cities that so many people depend upon – from schools to care for the elderly and from street lighting to bin collections.
These elections are vitally important and there is a simple choice.
You can choose a Labour candidate who will fight every day to improve public services, a Tory candidate who will seek to slash public services or an SNP candidate who will care only about a divisive second independence referendum.
Turnout in local elections is historically low, and I know many people are fed-up with politics, but please remember to vote next Thursday.
After that, of course, all eyes will be on the general election campaign.
Theresa May stunned us all with her shock announcement last week – I was ready to go on stage at Labour’s local election campaign launch when the news broke.
The following day, Labour MPs seized the opportunity to vote in the Commons to kick out this hated Tory Government – shamefully, the SNP MPs abstained.
That sums up their dismal performance in Westminster – time
BRITAIN isn’t the only place gripped by election fever. In France, the first round of the presidential election has just taken place and it is now a run-off between far-right Front National candidate Marine Le Pen or centrist Emmanuel Macron. It was, of course, a disappointing night for the Socialists. But we must now all hope that French voters utterly reject the divisive far-right nationalism offered by Le Pen and elect Macron as their next president.
and time again they have broken their promise to stand up to the Tories.
Labour have been on an election footing for months and Jeremy Corbyn has already unveiled a raft of policies that show how a Labour government will transform our country.
We will give almost half a million Scots a pay rise with a £10-an-hour real living wage, we will protect the pensions of a million Scots by guaranteeing the “triple lock” and we will give workers a break with four new public holidays across the UK.
That’s the positive alternative to a Tory government who have introduced the rape clause and the bedroom tax.
Three days after May announced the election, I joined Labour MP Ian Murray on the campaign trail.
Ian will be fighting once again to represent the people of Edinburgh South, where he has a formidable reputation as a hard-working and dedicated MP.
His response rate for dealing with constituents’ concerns is the highest of all Scottish MPs, while neighbouring SNP MPs are near the foot of the league table.
I will be proud to join Ian’s re-election campaign in a seat where it is a straight battle between Labour and the SNP.
The same is true in dozens of other seats across the country where only Labour can beat the SNP.
This is an election where voters can send Nicola Sturgeon a clear message: Drop your plans for a divisive second independence referendum and focus on the job of governing.
If you want a hard-working MP who will stand up for local families, rather than an MP who will go to Westminster to fight for another independence referendum, you have to vote Labour.