SIR Keir Starmer has insisted his party is looking to defeat the SNP, not work with them.
The Labour leader was in North Lanarkshire on Thursday night, where he told supporters that they could take seats off Nicola Sturgeon's party.
Currently, his only Scottish MP is Ian Murray, who represents Edinburgh South.
The party has never recovered from the disastrous 2015 election when they lost 40 of their 41 seats.
Sir Keir said the country faced a “long, hard winter” but the challenges of “the cost-of-living crisis, climate change, standing up to Putin, are common across our union”.
“Sticking a border between Scotland and England solves none of them,” he said and added: “Scotland needs a Labour Government in Westminster that can deliver change that’s right for working people – everywhere in England, and Wales and Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“But we must also be clear that Scotland needs the power and resources to shape its own future, whoever’s in power in Westminster.”
Sir Keir told the dinner, named after the founder of the Labour Party, that the SNP were “not interested in this”.
“For them, Scotland’s success in the UK: its leadership on renewable energy, its vital contribution to British security, its cultural brilliance and history of innovation, all achieved within this union by the solidarity, hope and idealism of working people – are met with denials, or a diminishing ‘ah but’,” he said.
“Well no more. We won’t work with them, we will defeat them.
“The party that stands for a fairer, greener Scotland is the same party that stands for a fairer, greener, Britain.
“It’s this Labour party, and together we will deliver both.”
Responding to the comments, the SNP's Westminster Depute Leader, Kirsten Oswald said: "Labour under Keir Starmer is a pro-Brexit party which stands shoulder to shoulder with the Tories in denying democracy in Scotland.
"The problem with Keir Starmer's Labour is that they believe they only way to beat the Tories is by turning into them.
"Under his leadership, they have adopted the Tories' extreme Brexit ideology, have denied the people of Scotland their democratic right to choose their own future, and has prioritised grubby council coalitions with the Tories across Scotland.
"While Labour has slid into irrelevance in places like North Lanarkshire, the SNP will continue to stand up for Scotland's interests.
"However, only with independence can we build a fairer society and escape this corrupt, dysfunctional Westminster system for good."
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel