Labour ‘still has fight left’, insists Dugdale

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has insisted there is still fight left in the party for the general election campaign despite “disappointing” council results.

Ms Dugdale made the comments as the party launched its election campaign in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire.

She remained upbeat despite Labour’s showing in the council elections, where they slumped to become the third biggest party in Scotland’s town halls.

She said: “I think you need to put the results in a bit of context because if you were looking at papers two weeks ago you were looking at polls which showed Labour on 13%, 14%, 15%.

“The commentariat were predicting we would lose every single one of our councils and we would lose half of our councillors.

“The results show today we are into the 20% territory, we became top of the table in three councils, we shared position in a fourth and came second by one seat in two councils on top of that.

“Of course, it was a disappointing set of results, I’m always going to be disappointed by results which show Labour not winning. But there’s fight left there.”

Ms Dugdale said a vote for Labour would be a vote against another referendum.

She added: “A vote for Labour at this election will send Nicola Sturgeon a message that Scotland doesn’t want another divisive independence referendum.

“Only Labour is focused on the day job of delivering an economy that works for working people, creating jobs and protecting high-quality public services.

“For many Scots the shine is coming off the SNP as they realise it only has one answer for everything – a referendum on independence.

“Scotland’s moderate majority doesn’t have to vote for the Tories and endorse the rape clause and the bedroom tax to stop a second referendum.

“A vote for the Tories won’t send Nicola Sturgeon a message – it will just send Theresa May back to Downing Street.

“At this election, people shouldn’t take the risk of voting SNP,” said Ms Dugdale.