The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Brown fails to mention party leader in speech
No name-check for Jeremy Corbyn by former Prime Minister
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a plea for voters to back Labour, without mentioning the party leader once.
The ex-Fife MP said that Labour candidates are best placed to challenge the Conservatives over their poor record on the NHS and child poverty.
He failed to name-check Jeremy Corbyn during his 25-minute campaign speech, which came at the end of a calamitous day for Labour in which a draft version of its manifesto was leaked.
The election promises included Trident renewal, nationalisation of the railways and the scrapping of tuition fees, as well as a commitment to oppose Scottish independence.
Mr Corbyn has pledged to publish an “amended” version within days, after Labour figures met last night to finalise their pitch to the electorate.
“Our manifesto will be an offer, and I believe the policies in it are very popular, an offer that will transform the lives of many people in our society,” he said.
He also announced an inquiry into the leak of a draft version, which rivals pounced on as an attempt to take the UK back to the 1970s.
In his first major intervention of the general election campaign, Mr Brown told a Coventry audience that the Commons needs a large clutch of Labour MPs.
He asked if the NHS is safe with the Conservatives, Ukip or Liberal candidates, adding: “Or is it safe with the people who have always fought for the health service, that supported the extra funding, that made the promises and want to see them kept, that will hold the Government to account on the National Health Service.
“I say to you, the National Health Service is safe only in the hands of Labour people who will fight every day.”
Meanwhile, Kezia Dugdale demanded that Scottish institutions like Arbroath smokies and Stornoway black pudding must continue to be protected after Brexit.
The Scottish Labour leader warned that food and drink products which currently have protected status under European Union (EU) law could be put at risk by leaving the EU.
Ms Dugdale, who is due to visit Stornoway today, said: “The Tories’ reckless Brexit gamble has put key Scottish exports like black pudding, Scotch beef and whisky at risk.
“Food and drink exports are a key part of the Scottish economy, particularly our island economies.
“Only a Labour government will fight to keep the protected status of key British food and drink products.”
The draft version of the manifesto also vows to spend an extra £8 billion on social care over the next Parliament, ban zero-hour contracts, scrap the publicsector pay gap and increase income tax for the top-earning 5%.
It pledges a Constitutional Convention on further devolution as set out by the Scottish Labour leader at the end of last year as part of plans for a federal structure for the UK.
But Ms Dugdale’s suggestion of new legislation “to safeguard our family of nations for generations to come” is not mentioned.
On Trident renewal, which the party has backed but Mr Corbyn opposes, the document emphasises that any leader should be “extremely cautions” about using the nuclear weapons system.