SIR Keir Starmer will today attack the SNP’s “record of shame” in government as he launches Labour’s campaigns for “unity” in the May 6 elections across Scotland, England and Wales.
South of the border, where, in England, there are elections for local councils and city mayors, including for London, and in Wales for the 60-seat Senedd, the party leader will focus his attack on the UK Government’s controversial 1% pay rise for NHS workers, declaring at the virtual launch: “A vote for Labour is a vote to support our nurses.”
In Scotland, Labour goes into the Scottish parliamentary elections in third place, currently having 23 MSPs behind the Conservatives on 30 and the SNP on 61. Opinion polls have also placed Labour in third place.
Launching his parties’ campaigns, Sir Keir said: “A vote for Labour is also a vote to unite our country so that we can face the future together.
“Under our brilliant new leader, Anas Sarwar, Labour will focus on what unites Scotland. After everything we’ve been through in the last year, the last thing we need now is more division.
“Yet, in Scotland, the SNP have shown they’re too busy fighting among themselves to fight for the Scottish people.
“Their 13 years in power have seen child poverty rise and educational standards fall. Scotland now has the lowest life expectancy in western Europe and the highest number of drug deaths. It’s a record of shame and yet the SNP’s only priority is another divisive referendum.”
Sir Keir, who has been seen as struggling to overturn the Tories’ popularity after taking over, will hope focusing on nurses’ pay in England and Wales will provide his campaign with much-needed momentum as he tries to centre the elections on Britain’s recovery.
He will insist “this is a different Labour Party, under new leadership” in attempting to highlight the distance between him and Jeremy Corbyn, who led the party to a dismal General Election defeat in 2019.
Sir Keir is expected to tell the virtual launch alongside candidates and leaders from across the UK that the party’s priorities were “securing the economy, protecting the NHS, rebuilding Britain”.
He will say: “So, if you want to support our nurses. To rebuild social care. And to reward our key workers, then vote Labour. My mum was a nurse, my sister was a nurse, my wife works for the NHS.
“I know how tough this year has been for our NHS and I know that now, more than ever, is the time to give our key workers a proper pay rise.
“Every vote in this election is a chance to show the Conservatives that the British people value our NHS and our key workers so much more than this Government does.”
The Labour leader will argue that the elections are “about how Britain recovers,” accusing the Tories of being “out of touch and out of ideas” while raising taxes on families.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s move to recommend the low increase for health workers in England despite their year-long toil during the coronavirus pandemic has been widely criticised.
Attacking the Conservatives, he will criticise the “party that gives a 40% pay rise to Dominic Cummings but a pay cut for our nurses”.
Mr Johnson has argued that he has tried to give NHS staff “as much as we possibly can” but the policy is seen as being deeply unpopular with many voters.
With threats of industrial action and demonstrations planned across England, a poll by Opinion over the weekend suggested 72% of the population thought the raise was too low, including 58% of Tory voters.
Polling, however, has also highlighted the struggle Sir Keir is facing, with national voting intentions consistently putting the Tories ahead of Labour.
Campaigning during the pandemic will look different, with doorstep activism taking place under Covid-secure guidelines and voters being asked to bring their own pens to the polls.
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