KEIR Starmer has claimed the SNP wants to “exploit” Scotland’s problems as he hit out at the party during his speech to the Scottish Labour conference.
The UK Labour leader was not on the official agenda for the event at the SEC in Glasgow but addressed delegates for over 30 minutes before it officially closed.
He criticised the SNP’s pre-General Election call to “send a message” to Westminster by electing pro-independence MPs, insisting that by voting Labour, Scotland would instead be at the heart of a future government.
READ MORE: Stephen Flynn: UK politicians 'making ceasefire in Gaza less likely'
Starmer also briefly touched on the conflict in Gaza, calling for a “permanent” ceasefire, but stopped short of calling for an “immediate” end to fighting, in a similar vein to shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray the day before.
It comes as pressure is piling on Labour to support a motion put forward by the SNP calling for an immediate end to the fighting in Gaza, where more than 28,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed.
The UK Labour leader made an explicit call to Scottish voters to back his party at the next UK-wide ballot, the date of which has not yet been set.
Starmer criticised the SNP record on drug deaths, education, ferries and the NHS, adding: “What does he [First Minister Humza Yousaf] say to Scots who think: I am paying more and more and more. And getting less and less and less from his government?
“He says: ‘Let's send a message to Westminster’. ‘Send a message’.
“With all the problems this nation faces. That is the level of his ambition for Scotland – send a message.
“Conference, I'm afraid this is the story of the SNP now. They're not interested in fixing Scotland's problems. They want to exploit them.
“The mask has slipped. The pretence they were ever interested in improving the lives of working people, rather than using their problems as fuel for their grand cause, that has been exposed.
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“Scotland should send more than a message to Westminster. It should send a government.”
Starmer added that there is still a chance the Tories could win the next election as “politics is volatile”, warning delegates that winning back trust in voters who turned to the SNP will be difficult.
“We know that Scotland will judge us – will judge Britain – by our actions not our words. So for our argument to convince again, it needs to feel true to the communities that once voted for us but have now found a political home with the SNP, that will be difficult.”
Yet, Starmer made no mention of independence in his speech, except to admit there “will always be a debate about Scotland’s constitutional future”.
He added: “If, right now, you want a Britain that places Scotland at the heart of the Westminster debate.
“If you want a politics that’s committed to smashing the class ceiling, if you want to see more money for Scottish public services or Scottish community energy projects … then that is the change we can deliver for Scotland.”
Responding the speech, the SNP said it had "made the values of his Labour party clear; they will cap child benefits but not bankers’ bonuses, they will support a hard Brexit, they will keep the rape clause – those are not Scotland’s values".
SNP MP David Linden went on: "Aside from his values, the hypocrisy of Sir Keir Starmer to speak about Scotland’s green energy economic potential in the same week he dumped his £28 billion investment pledge and announced plans which could cost 100,000 jobs was breathtaking.
“Unlike Starmer, the SNP will always stand up for Scotland’s interests but only independence offers Scotland the opportunity to escape broken Brexit Britain and build a stronger, fairer, and more prosperous economy free from Westminster control.”
Elsewhere, Starmer called for an end to the fighting in Gaza after the issue dominated the Scottish Labour conference ahead of an SNP debate in the House of Commons next week.
He said there should be a “huge scaling up of humanitarian relief” as well as an “end to the fighting”.
“Not just now, not just for a pause, but permanently. A ceasefire that lasts.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer: Westminster 'squandered' Scotland's North Sea resources
“Conference, that is what must happen now. The fighting must stop now.
“Any ceasefire cannot be one sided. It must stop all acts of violence, on both sides, it must lead to a genuine peace process.”
It comes after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar would not say if he disagreed with any aspect of the SNP’s motion, or if his party would support it in the Commons.
While Sarwar said the context seemed “perfectly reasonable”, he would not go so far as to commit his two Scottish MPs to voting for it.
And, while he told journalists more than once that Labour whips had been in discussions with the SNP over the contents of the motion, this was refuted by the party who said Sarwar's claim was “entirely untrue”.
The SNP's ceasefire motion is due to be voted on in the Commons later this week.
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