PEOPLE are suffering from a "new kind of alienation" because of the Coalition's welfare reforms, Alex Salmond will claim this week in a speech meant to put fairness at the heart of the independence campaign.
Delivering the inaugural Jimmy Reid Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, the First Minister will say the "brutal" cuts are a "threat to human dignity".
A communist and trade unionist, Reid (right) achieved international fame during the Upper Clyde Shipyards Work-in of 1971,
He was elected rector of Glasgow University and his electoral speech described alienated workers as "victims of blind economic forces beyond their control".
Reid died in 2010 at the age of 78.
Salmond will describe a new type of alienation felt by those who need benefits to live, but find themselves demonised, leading to despair among the most vulnerable.
Salmond said: "For me, independence is not just an end in its own right but a means to providing a fairer society that better looks after those who need it. We will have the power to choose what sort of nation we want to be – one where we live up to Jimmy Reid's legacy, by using the powers of an independent nation, to fully address alienation."
The speech coincides with a Yes Scotland campaign drive based on the prospect of a fairer and less divided society under independence.
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