Scottish elections a chance to ‘unite our country’, says Starmer
Elections in May are a chance to “unite our country”, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said as he hit out at SNP plans for another “divisive” Scottish independence referendum.
Nicola Sturgeon’s party has made clear it will use an SNP victory in the Holyrood elections to push for another ballot on the future of the UK.
But with a rift in the party having been revealed, after former First Minister Alex Salmond accused senior SNP figures of being part of a conspiracy against him, Sir Keir said his rivals were “fighting amongst themselves, rather than fighting for the Scottish people”.
Ms Sturgeon spent a day being questioned by MSPS on a committee probing her government’s botched handling of harassment complaints made against her predecessor, denying strongly any suggestion she was out to “get” him.
The Labour leader, however, insisted that after the coronavirus crisis, the “last thing” the country needed was “more division”.
He spoke out at an event yesterday to launch Labour’s campaign for the May elections, which include votes for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, as well as regional and mayoral contests in England.
Sir Keir insisted: “After everything we have been through, the last thing we need now is more division.
“Yet in Scotland the SNP are fighting amongst themselves, rather than fighting for the Scottish people.”
He hit out the SNP, saying their 14 years in power “has seen child poverty rise and educational standards fall”.
He added: “If you can believe it, Scotland now has the lowest life expectancy in western Europe and the highest number of drug deaths. That’s a record of shame. And what’s the SNP’S priority? Another divisive referendum.”
With Scottish Labour having just elected Anas Sarwar as its new leader, Sir Keir said they would “focus on what unites Scotland, not what divides us”.
That, he added, would include “a Covid recovery plan to protect our NHS” and a “a catch-up programme to tackle the SNP’S appalling failure on education”.
The speech comes almost a year after he succeeded Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, with Sir Keir saying since then Labour had “changed”.
Women face the threat of sexual violence in all areas of their lives and are "tired of being afraid" to walk in the street, campaigners have said.
Following the harrowing disappearance of Sarah Everard, women across the country have been sharing their experiences of feeling unsafe and the violence and harassment they experience – and have united over organising a nationwide vigil tomorrow called #Reclaimthesestreets.
One woman has arranged for a vigil to take place in Edinburgh this weekend to highlight the challenges women face every day to stay safe.
Chloe Whyte, from Edinburgh, is heading the event with a small group of women she met on Facebook community groups.
The 20-year-old has arranged for one vigil to take place at Holyrood at 6pm which will involve speeches, stories and poems from survivors of sexual harassment, and a separate silent gathering to take place at St Andrew Square at the same time.
She said: “I thought we could just stick to social media for the vigil, but it’s not enough.”
"We will remain small in numbers, safe and cautious, but we will stand on Holyrood’s steps to make sure that politicians know that more needs to be done to protect women on the streets.”
A similar event is to take place at Clapham Common bandstand in south London at 6pm tomorrow.
One of the organisers, Caitlin Prowle, said she is "tired of being afraid" to walk around the streets where she lives.
The 23-year-old told said: "Together with a bunch of friends, we were just having the conversations that I imagine have been happening in a million Whatsapp groups across the country, with many women sharing their stories and how powerful that is and devastating at the same time. It's been a really difficult, heavy week. Violence against women is an epidemic, but sometimes it does take something like this, that hits a bit closer to home, to really bring it to the fore and certainly in people's minds and people's consciousness.
"There is a real sense of 'enough is enough'. We can't carry on like this."