Leader speech takes focus off referendums
BY ANDY PHILIP absolutely obsessed, with tackling the problems people face in their daily lives. We’re obsessed.”
A Labour government would plough £70billion into Scotland through a national investment bank and additional funding, he said.
And he promised: “Our mission is to back the working class in all its diversity.”
Corbyn also spent time on Brexit, insisting Labour’s alternative plan is “credible”.
In Scotland, party leader Richard Leonard has toed the line – by saying he’d prefer to leave the EU on Labour’s terms – but he’d back a Remain vote if it went to a second referendum. Corbyn said: “A no-deal crash would cause havoc in our economy.
Businesses know it, trade unions know it, and Theresa May knows it but still she puts her party before the country.
Corbyn named climate change as the biggest threat in future and called for a “green industrial revolution”.
And the leader acknowledged the growing scandal of bigotry and anti-Semitism. He claimed: “Racism, religious bigotry and misogyny have no place whatsoever in our movement. And we will root out anti-Semitism in our party and in society at large.”
Shona Robison, an SNP MSP in Dundee, said: “Jeremy Corbyn is completely out of touch with what’s going on in Scotland.
“The fact is, Labour are far more interested in fighting each other rather than fighting for the people of Scotland.
“In recent weeks, Labour voted against an extra £729million for Scotland’s health service and an £8billion investment in Scottish education. They can’t match the SNP’s ambition when it comes to delivering for public services.
“Both Jeremy Corbyn and their leader in Scotland are willing to crash us out of the EU in just 21 days’ time – throwing thousands of jobs on the scrapheap and damaging our NHS.
“And they’re content team up with the Tories to deny Scotland the right to choose its own future, while we get hammered by Westminster Governments we didn’t vote for.
“No wonder Labour are trailing a distant third in Scottish politics.”