I’d be fine if Corbyn gave a Lanarkshire visit the thumbs-up... I have more in common with him than his Scots colleagues do!
SNP MP Crawley’s cheeky dig at rivals
Lanark and Hamilton East SNP MP Angela Crawley has cheekily welcomed news that Jeremy Corbyn could be visiting her constituency — by saying she has more in common with him than the Scottish Labour party does.
The Labour leader is to include Lanarkshire in a tour of Scotland next month, holding a series of campaign events in areas where sitting SNP MPS have “wafer-thin majorities”.
Angela Crawley was returned to Westminster for Lanark and Hamilton East in last month’s election, but her majority dropped from 10,100 to just 266.
Ms Crawley claimed 16,444 votes, followed by Conservative candidate Poppy Corbett on 16,178 and Labour’s Andrew Hilland on 16,084.
Mr Corbyn is targeting “key marginal seats” in Scotland over the summer, and is expected to visit Lanarkshire on Friday, August 25.
As as well as Lanark and Hamilton East, he is also looking at the constituencies of Motherwell and Wishaw, Airdrie and Shotts, Glasgow South West, Glasgow East, Inverclyde and Dunfermline and West Fife.
Speaking ahead of the tour, Mr Corbyn said: “Labour remains on an election footing as a government-in-waiting, ready to end failed austerity and ensure that Scotland has the resources it needs to provide the public services its people deserve.
“Labour has the policies to build a fairer Scotland, with a £10-an-hour minimum wage, a ban on zero hour contracts, a Brexit deal that puts jobs first, and taxing big corporations and the richest individuals a bit more to fund our schools, hospitals, emergency services and social care.
“I want to live in a country that nurtures the next generation and gives our elderly people the security and dignity they deserve after a lifetime of contribution to our society.
“Unlike the SNP and the Tories, Labour will transform our economy through investment, insisting that the true wealth creators - that means all of us - benefit from it.
“The only way to remove the Conservatives from Downing Street, and have a government that works for the many, not the few, is to back Labour in Scotland.”
Ms Crawley told the Advertiser Mr Corbyn would be welcome to visit her constituency on his tour.
She said: “If Jeremy Corbyn comes to Lanark and Hamilton East, I would welcome him. We agree more with each other on policy than he does with the Scottish Labour Party. “But in coming to my constituency he is misplaced. Labour finished third in Lanark and Hamilton East only a few weeks ago — every Labour vote at a future election would only make a Tory MP more likely.
“Both Jeremy and I want to see Theresa May out of Downing Street. The only way to do that here is to vote SNP.”