ANGER AT SNP’S CORBYN ‘PACT’
Sturgeon says Labour has anti-Semitism problem... but still plots a No 10 deal
NICOLA Sturgeon thinks Labour has ‘failed to deal’ with anti-Semitism – despite plotting to hand Jeremy Corbyn the keys to No 10.
The First Minister wants to form an alliance with the Labour leader to oust Boris Johnson from Downing Street.
Miss Sturgeon has said Labour would need SNP support to form a government after the election and even set out a list of demands, including the power to hold an independence referendum next year.
Campaigning in Labour-held Edinburgh South yesterday, she said: ‘I think Labour have failed to deal with anti-Semitism and I think it is a serious problem for Labour, and I think they have a big challenge to do that.’
During her visit to Edinburgh, when she dropped in at the Blossom Tree Children’s Nursery, Miss Sturgeon claimed that Mr Corbyn had failed to show leadership in dealing with the issue.
Paul Masterton, Tory candidate for East Renfrewshire, has challenged Miss Sturgeon to explain why she is prepared to put Mr Corbyn in Downing Street despite previously saying there is ‘no place’ for anti-Semitism in Scotland. He told the Daily Telegraph that her position was raised ‘several times’ at the Association of Jewish ex-Servicemen and Servicewomen Remembrance Sunday event in Newton Mearns, near Glasgow.
Mr Masterton said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon is right to say that Jeremy Corbyn has failed to clamp down on the stain of anti-Semitism in his party. What is baffling is why she is so happy to put him into No 10 when she appears to share the concerns raised by the Jewish community. Mr Corbyn simply is not fit to be PM, that should be obvious.’
Yesterday, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I don’t choose the leader of the UK Labour Party. If I did, I wouldn’t choose Jeremy Corbyn.
‘If Jeremy Corbyn is in the position of being able to put together a government it would be because significant numbers of people have voted for him and I would want to stand up for Scotland’s interests.
‘I wouldn’t choose the broken Westminster system, I wouldn’t choose Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn if I had the decision on that matter. That is why I want Scotland to be independent – so we don’t have invidious choices of UK leaders that we don’t get to decide.’
Mr Corbyn, who will today begin a two-day visit to Scotland, claimed the election provides a ‘once in a generation chance to transform Scotland and the whole UK’. He added: ‘A UK Labour government will provide the massive investment Scotland deserves.’
Recent polling, however, suggests that Labour has slumped to fourth place in Scotland.
Tory MSP Annie Wells said: ‘Labour voters across Scotland are deserting Jeremy Corbyn’s party.
‘Thousands of them voted to ensure Scotland stayed in our Union in 2014. Now they see a weak, out of touch Labour leader preparing to give Nicola Sturgeon just what she wants – a rerun as early as next year. From his weakness on the Union to the threat he poses to our security, Mr Corbyn... is an active risk to the Union.’
At his first keynote speech of the election campaign today, Mr Johnson will say: ‘Imagine waking up on Friday, December 13, after the election, to find a Corbyn-Sturgeon coalition in Downing Street.
‘They will ruin 2020 with two referendums, they will ruin the economy with out-of-control debt, they will put taxes up for everyone and instead of an Australian points system, we’ll have uncontrolled and unlimited immigration.’
David Linden, SNP candidate for Glasgow East, said: ‘Only the SNP can beat the Tories in Scotland and help to lock Boris Johnson out of Downing Street.’
‘Not fit to be prime minister’