LABOUR- MONIQUE MCADAMS

We are one week away from perhaps the most important election since the Labour Government set up the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

Nicola Sturgeon wants to use this election to bring about the break-up of the United Kingdom.

I am resolutely opposed to this, believing that we need to focus on our national recovery, both here in Scotland and across the nations which make up the United Kingdom.

We all have so much in common based on our shared history of over 300 years.

We know that the Salmond/ Sturgeon governments of the last 14 years have failed Scotland; on education provision, on our health services and on the economy.

It is why Labour is calling for the focus of the next Scottish Parliament to be on Covid recovery and unity of purpose.

A fixation on the divisiveness of separation will only hinder our recovery and we will all suffer as a consequence.

Labour’s programme for recovery is comprehensive and has at its core economic regeneration. In the last 14 years we have witnessed a massive contraction in employment opportunities here in East Kilbride.

Labour will deliver a jobs guarantee, with a focus on our young people and with a re-skilling programme to prepare our workforce for the new economy.

Our ambition is to achieve net carbon zero by 2045 at the latest.

The climate emergency needs to be tackled head-on and we need to develop a skill base ready to take advantage of all the opportunities which this will throw up.

We will put in place a transformational investment strategy to create a new and reinvigorated manufacturing base here in Scotland. It was once our strength and can be again.

It is why I am asking you to give Labour your two votes. East Kilbride needs a Labour MSP.