JEREMY Corbyn will today draw the battle-lines for the 2016 Holyrood election by insisting that Labour in Scotland is the force for “Socialist change” and the real left-wing anti-austerity alternative; not the SNP.
The Labour leader, in an interview on the eve of the Scottish Labour conference in Perth, told The Herald that his brand of democratic socialism was winning more people over, including SNP switchers, with party membership now approaching 400,000 UKwide.
He denied the surge was down to a Corbyn Effect but, rather, was about Labour’s opposition to austerity and its promotion of boosting manufacturing and developing high skills.
Asked if Labour could turn the political tide in Scotland, the party leader declared: “Yes we can and we are getting support as a result of our policies.”
He brushed aside Nicola Sturgeon’s assertion that hers was the real anti-austerity party and the main Scottish force for progressive politics, saying: “The SNP can call themselves whatever they like but the reality is it is the Labour Party that is opposed the austerity strategy of the UK Government. The other party says it is but if you have an economic policy based on oil prices, then, clearly, you have problems in being able to deliver that.”
In his keynote speech, Mr Corbyn will launch a double attack; on the Tory Government for seeking to balance the books on the backs of middle and low earners with policies like £4.4 billion tax credit cuts and on the SNP Government over failing educational standards and falling teacher numbers.
"If you want Socialist change, if you want a left-wing alternative, you have to vote for it,” he will say.
In a dig at the Conservatives and Nationalists, the Labour leader will add: "If you're satisfied with rising inequality, rising child poverty and widening health inequalities, then Labour is not for you. If you're satisfied that nearly a million people in Scotland are in fuel poverty or that half of all housing in Scotland falls short of official quality standards, then Labour isn't for you.
"But if you're not content, then vote for a party next May that is a Socialist party in both our words and our deeds. Vote Labour."
As Kezia Dugdale today urges voters to “take a fresh look at Scottish Labour,” the Scottish party leader will announce that any young person who has come from care and gets into higher education should receive a grant of £6000 a year.
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