The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Labour leader woos Dundee on visit to city
Richard Leonard also vows to remove private finance from the NHS
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard has vowed to put cities like Dundee at the heart of plans for a party resurgence.
Speaking in the city yesterday in his first major speech as leader, Mr Leonard said the history of Dundee was “intertwined” with the Labour movement and it was a fitting place to consider how the party should move forward.
He acknowledged he had a fight on his hands to win over voters in the City of Discovery but said the party had become a “vehicle for hope” under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
“For too long, I suspect the people of Dundee could tell you what the Scottish Labour Party was against but not many people could tell you what we were for – and we’re about changing that,” he said.
“I want people to understand the Labour Party is back to being what is has always been at its best; a positive party offering people real and material change.”
Mr Leonard used his speech to promise a rollback on the privatisation of public services in an effort to curb the “cash bonanza to absentee shareholders” highlighted in the wake of the collapse of Carillion – one of the UK’S largest construction firms.
The Scottish Labour leader insisted private finance would be booted out of the NHS “as a priority”, arguing a health service run for profit is an “anathema”.
The party is to carry out a full review of private firms involved in the public sector, with Mr Leonard claiming the Carillion scandal “highlights the failure of our creeping reliance on private contractors”.
Local SNP MP Chris Law rejected Mr Leonard’s comments and added: “They would be better employed explaining why they voted in Scotland’s parliament along with the Tories against the SNP’S most progressive budget, which invests an additional £400 million into Scotland’s NHS and includes an end to the pay cap for public sector workers.”