SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford yesterday attacked Labour for “betraying” people in Scotland by forming a Brexit Together coalition with the Tories.
Speaking at the party’s conference in Aberdeen, the SNP MP rounded on Labour’s new pledge to make Brexit work, as well as hitting out at the chaos caused by Liz Truss’s government. Delegates were meeting in person for the first time since the pandemic, with speakers including a Ukrainian MP, who thanked Scotland for “opening your homes and hearts for us at the time of most need”.
It was also announced a new broadcasting platform will be launched by the SNP, as the party ramps up campaigning for a second independence referendum. In his speech, Blackford challenged Tory rebels to join with the SNP “in stopping any real terms cuts to benefits and any return to austerity”.
“Only a matter of weeks into their new roles, the disastrous duo of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have crashed the economy, sent the pound plummeting, put pension funds at risk and caused mayhem for mortgage holders,” he said.
“The truth is, the new Prime Minister and her new Chancellor have made the worst first impression in the history of UK politics.
“Because the inequality and incompetence of that budget will go down as one of the worst financial interventions in modern history.”
He also criticised Labour for its pledge to make Brexit work, saying leaving the EU had been a “disaster”.
There was applause and cheers from delegates as he said the damage from Brexit will keep happening “unless our country finds its way back to our rightful home in the European Union”. He added: “As well as pledging their support for Brexit, Labour’s other big pledge is never to work with the Scottish National Party. “The very same Labour Party who only a few months ago made a string of backroom deals with the Tories here in Scotland.
“Just think about that for a second. A Labour Party happy and hungry to do backroom deals with the Tories, but who say they could never work with the people of Scotland who vote for the SNP.”
He went on: “Labour’s position is not just an insult to all of us, it is an insult to the many Scottish Labour voters who also believe in independence. “Labour are now a Brexit-backing, democracy-denying, Tory-enabling party.”
Blackford said the “newly formed Better Together coalition” of Labour and the Tories also carried the risk of more power grabs on Holyrood, with legislation giving UK ministers the power to act in devolved areas without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.
Invoking the memory of Ian Hamilton – one of the group who stole the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey and brought it back to Scotland – who died ahead of the conference, Blackford said the SNP had a “clear purpose and a clear path”.
“Ian Hamilton brought home the Stone of Destiny. My purpose, friends, is to lead our SNP MPs out of the doors of Westminster for the very last time and come home to our independent nation,” he said.
“For Ian Hamilton, for all those who have gone before, for those of us in Scotland today, but, most importantly, for future generations – let’s finish the job, let’s finish the journey and finally put a finish to Westminster control for good.”
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Depute leader Keith Brown opened the annual conference and also took a swipe at the UK Government, saying Prime Minister Liz Truss was “singularly unfit for the job”.
“The chaos that she has created is no surprise – the only people who ever believed she was fit for No 10 were the very few thousand Tory members who put her there,” he said. Brown issued a call to activists and delegates, urging them to “be ready for the fight to come” on the issue of independence.
“We can convince our fellow Scots that in an independent Scotland, everyone’s basic needs are met as a matter of right,” he told the conference.
“And we are no more at the mercy of Westminster where wealth and opportunity – as we can see just now – is reserved for the few.
“Every Scot deserves better than this and the people in this hall are the people who are best able to deliver that better tomorrow.
“Because the prize – there’s no question – is there for winning.
“Friends, we have, as ever, work to do, and I would like to thank you for the work that you’ve done so far and ask you to be ready for the fight about to come.”
In her address to the conference, Ukrainian people’s deputy Lesia Vasylenko thanked the people of Scotland for providing humanitarian aid and taking in refugees from her country during the Russian invasion.
She said: “It’s a great honour to be here on the stage, addressing your 88th conference of the Scottish National Party.
“It’s an even bigger honour for me to be representing the people of Ukraine up on this stage. It’s just that I wish I was addressing you today as Lesia Vasylenko, member of parliament of Ukraine, chair of the environmental sub-committee on climate change, talking about Ukraine’s input and impact in dealing with global challenges.
“Instead, I am addressing you today as Lesia Vasylenko, member of a wartime parliament of Ukraine that is fighting very hard for its existence and for the physical survival of its people.
“That is first and foremost, but, of course, we are also fighting to defend the very meaning of the concepts of freedom, democracy and human rights.”
Vasylenko said that being a member of parliament in wartime is “hard, it’s frustrating, it’s emotional, it’s a rollercoaster”.
“Every day, it’s a rollercoaster, and it’s so much more than that,” she said.
“Most importantly, it’s exactly like being Ukrainian these days. Waking up every day since that dreadful day on February 24, making sure you and the people in your home are OK, are still alive.
“And then doing one thing, at least one little thing, to make sure that Ukrainians – a 44-million nation – is also alive for that one more day.
“We in Ukraine say thank you to the Scottish families who have taken in almost 20,000 Ukrainian women, children and senior citizens.
“You have opened your homes and you have opened your hearts for us at the time of most need.”
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