The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Dugdale urges Sturgeon
Problems, says Kezia – and Tories can’t be trusted to defend the union either
Scotland. But she added: “When the choice is between independence or progress, she will always choose independence.”
She pointed to the SNP leader’s message on the second anniversary of the independence referendum when she insisted the issue “transcends” Brexit, oil and even national wealth.
“As socialists, we know that you need to have an economic strategy to match your politics,” she added. “In the face of a £15billion hole in our public accounts, a gap that would mean savage cuts to our public services, Nicola Sturgeon only has one answer – nationalism.
“That’s not progressive, that’s blind faith.”
She continued: “Scotland faces enough risk and uncertainty with the Tories’ reckless Brexit gamble. We do not need the risk and uncertainty of another independence referendum.
“That is why we will vote against any proposal for a second independence referendum in this parliament.
“My message to Nicola Sturgeon is this. First minister, our country is already divided enough. Do not divide us again.”
In a separate intervention, her colleague Neil Findlay echoed the leader’s sentiments, cautioning party members against being “seduced” by the SNP.
“You can’t pay your bills with a Saltire,” he insisted.
Scotland’s only Labour MP meanwhile warned that allies of leader Jeremy Corbyn will bring about the demise of the party in Scotland if they block plans to give it autonomy.
Former shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray added it was “utterly critical” that reforms – which the party leader’s supporters fear swings the balance
“In the face of cuts to public services, Nicola Sturgeon only has one answer – nationalism”
against him on the ruling national executive committee (NEC) – are backed on the conference floor today.
He said the “branch office” tag that the party has in Scotland had “completely destroyed” it.
“If certain people on the NEC run a campaign to vote these rules down they are in danger of not just not helping the Scottish Labour party, they are in danger of shutting the Scottish Labour party down,” he said. Mr Corbyn earlier lost the latest battle in the struggle over rule changes in the party, including appointments to Labour’s ruling body. John McDonnell thrilled unions at Labour Party conference yesterday by announcing plans to require employers to pay a “real living wage” expected to be more than £10 an hour in 2020 if Labour win the general election.
The shadow chancellor boldly reclaimed the mantle of “socialism” for the party, just days after Jeremy Corbyn’s emphatic re-election as leader.
But polls indicated the mountain the party must scale to have any chance of power, as one survey suggested Labour is heading for fewer than 200 MPs in the Commons for the first time since 1935. Mr McDonnell told the conference in Liverpool that he would create a new living wage review body with a remit to ensure that minimum incomes were set “at the level needed for a decent life”, which independent studies suggested would be more than £10 by 2020 – up from his previous ambition of a £10 minimum wage and well above the UK Government’s current National Living Wage of £7.20.
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey hailed the real living wage as “music to the ears of the millions of low-paid workers who are getting poorer under this government”.
Unison’s Dave Prentis said: “If everyone was able to earn at least a living wage, poverty could be reduced considerably and every working family would have a decent start in life.”