KEZIA Dugdale yesterday insisted Scotland “had moved on” from the independence referendum and the constitutional debate as she attempted to persuade undecided voters to back her party at next week’s election.
The Scottish Labour leader made the plea as she unveiled her party’s manifesto nine days before polling day to a 100-strong audience in an Edinburgh community centre.
“I believe the vast majority of people want to leave the referendum behind us and move on to talk about the new powers of the Parliament to make a difference,” she said.
Included in her party’s manifesto were opposition to a second independence referendum, plans to scrap the council tax, the introduction of breakfast clubs in all schools and the restoration of the 50p income tax rate for those earning more than £150,000 a year.
She described Labour as the “only party offering an alternative to austerity” and said a new SNP Government would mean £3 billion of unnecessary cuts.
“Our manifesto isn’t about the politician on the front cover,” she said. “Our manifesto is about the people of Scotland. It is about the powers that Scotland holds.”
Responding to suggestions that undecided voters who had voted No in the referendum were gearing up to vote for the Tories, she said: “I take umbrage at any suggestion that you can trust the Tories with the Union.”
She also insisted she had delivered on her plan to turn her party around.
“I said when I put my name forward for the leadership of the party that I have a plan to turn things round and I believe I have delivered on that plan,” she said.
“Everyone is out fighting for votes. We have a simple plan to stop cuts and invest in education.”
She went on to maintain there has never been a prohibition on Labour members campaigning for independence. “There was no whip last time, so nothing has changed in that regard, but every Labour MSP campaigned for a No vote,” she said.
The SNP and Rise seized on Dugdale’s comments that voters had moved away from the question of Scottish independence.
A SNP spokesman said: “Kezia Dugdale may wish to pass this message on to her own party – since this week one Labour MP said that Scotland will become independent.
“The fact is that people in Scotland won’t be quick to forget the way Labour campaigned shoulder to shoulder with the Tories during the referendum – no matter how much Kezia Dugdale may wish it were so.”
Cat Boyd, Rise’s lead candidate in Glasgow, said polls suggest support for independence is edging upwards.
“Kezia Dugdale might want to park the question of Scotland’s constitutional future, but that’s because she doesn’t want voters to remember Labour’s role in Better Together or the unfulfilled promises Labour politicians made during the independence campaign.
“The reality is that Scotland has moved on – from Labour.
“Dugdale knows that.”
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