RICHARD Leonard is fighting to win back independence supporters with a promise of an additional £100 billion of investment in Scotland over the next decade which he has said will transform the country for “a generation”.
The Scottish Labour leader underlined ambitious spending plans as he launched his party’s General Election manifesto in Glasgow yesterday, promising Scots a package of measures including free meals for all primary and secondary school pupils, an extra £2bn a year for the NHS in Scotland, an extra £600m for social care and an overhaul of the public transport system.
Leonard said the policy document invoked the spirit of Red Clydeside also highlighting proposals to tackle poverty and boost housing.
On the constitutional questions of Brexit and independence, Leonard said he would campaign for a Remain vote in any second EU referendum. UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised he would put to a vote
any new Brexit deal he struck with the EU.
And on independence, Leonard appeared to make an attempt to win back Yes voters – who deserted the party after the 2014 referendum – by dropping his party’s outright opposition to a second referendum – a key manifesto promise ahead of the 2017 election campaign.
But he insisted Scottish Labour’s position had not changed since 2017 when he was asked why opposition to a new independence vote had been erased from the 2019 manifesto.
“Our position is we do not support a separate Scottish state so our position on that has not changed,” he said. “The UK [Labour] manifesto makes it clear we are opposed to both independence and to a referendum.”
Asked what his pitch to Yes supporters was, he replied: “Our message is that with the election of a radical, redistributive Labour government, we think the case for the creation of a separate Scottish state will be eroded, we will be eclipsed.
“And I think when people see significant investment coming into Scotland, they will see the value of being part of a wider Union that can redistribute from the wealthier parts of the country to those parts of the country that need that additional investment.”
Leonard was also asked whether Scottish Labour would campaign with the Tories against independence. He replied: “I disagree with the premise of your question that there will be a second independence referendum in the near future.
“I will be leading the Scottish Labour Party in order to win the Scottish 2021 elections, not to cede to a party which may be advocating the case for a second independence referendum ... I don’t envisage in the foreseeable future the conditions existing for a second independence referendum.”
With a recent YouGov poll putting support for Labour in Scotland at just 12%, Corbyn was asked whether he would resign as leader if his party performed worse on December 12. He said he would not.
Following speculation that a minority Labour Government could be propped up by the SNP on condition Corbyn agreed to a second independence referendum, Leonard was keen to rebut any suggestion a vote for Nicola Sturgeon’s party at the General Election could put Corbyn in power.
He said: “For the avoidance of doubt there is no short cut to the election of a Labour government by voting for any other party. If you want a Labour government, you need to go out and vote Labour.”
During his address to about 150 activists at the St Francis Community Centre in the Gorbals, Leonard said a Labour Government could change Scotland not just for five years but for the next generation.
Leonard launched his party’s manifesto for the General Election with the message they are “standing on an agenda of hope over despair”.
He said: “We have just 20 days to elect a radical, transformative Labour Government ... to implement this radical transformative Labour manifesto – that would change Scotland not just for the next five years but for the next generation.”
The SNP criticised the manifesto for making clear “Labour continues to support the renewal of the trident nuclear deterrent” despite Scottish Labour having previously voted against this.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said: “Scottish Labour has become an utter farce. This humiliating U-turn on Trident nuclear weapons proves that Westminster Labour’s branch office is now so weak that it can’t even stand up for itself - let alone Scotland.”
Scottish Tory interim leader Jackson Carlaw said: “The Scottish Labour manifesto shows once and for all that the party have given up on the Union.”
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