Only Labour, not the SNP, can kick out the Tories – Ian Murray

The latest polls show Labour are hot on the heels of the SNP
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The desperation and fear within SNP ranks have reached ridiculous new levels. You always know the nationalists are utterly terrified when they spend all their time attacking Labour rather than the Tories. Their Westminster leader Stephen Flynn is more interested in having an ill-informed pop at Keir Starmer than holding Rishi Sunak to account for his failings during Prime Minister’s Questions.

The reason is simple: his colleagues wearing yellow lanyards on the seats around him fear losing their jobs. But while one minute they’re attacking Keir, the next they’re trying to appeal to Labour voters. They’re all over the place and clearly don’t have a clue how to handle the Labour resurgence on both sides of the Border.

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They fear a UK Labour government, so they’ve resorted to treating voters like fools. Well, I have news for the SNP: the people of Scotland can see through your nonsense. They know there is only one party that can replace the Tories, and that’s the Labour party.

All that any SNP MP can do is oppose the Tories (and they don’t even do that all the time) whereas we can kick them out. That’s the prize on offer in next year’s general election. A fresh start and a clean slate for Scotland and the UK with Anas Sarwar, Keir Starmer, and Labour. Delivering a transformed UK and a changed Scotland.

In Scotland, the latest polls show that we are hot on the heels of the SNP, and Sarwar is well ahead of Humza Yousaf on approval. And the local election results in England show that Labour is on course for a general election victory across the UK.

We’re fully focused on listening to voters and addressing what really matters to them, such as the cost-of-living crisis, so that we can secure a majority Labour government that will deliver the change our country needs. That is absolutely within our grasp.

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But to be clear, whatever the outcome of the election, there will be no deal with the SNP. Flynn, Yousaf and their nationalist colleagues can try to make themselves relevant all they want, but there are no ifs, no buts: we won’t do deals with a party that wants to break apart the UK.

Keir Starmer and Labour supporters celebrate the English local election results (Picture: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)Keir Starmer and Labour supporters celebrate the English local election results (Picture: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
Keir Starmer and Labour supporters celebrate the English local election results (Picture: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

There is absolutely nothing progressive about Scottish independence, which would hit the poorest communities the hardest. I know that Douglas Ross and the Tories are desperate to dig out their tired 2015 playbook and talk up the idea of pacts, and the SNP will be the Conservatives’ little helpers as they so often are on this issue.

But voters will rightly see through their nonsense. When whoever is left in the SNP contingent at Westminster after the election is told “no deal”, are they going to put the Tories in power instead, like they helped usher in Thatcher in 1979? That’s the question Flynn needs to answer. Is he prepared to return the Downing Street keys to Sunak?

There are only two outcomes next year: a Labour Prime Minister and a fresh start for Britain, or five more years of Tory corruption and misrule. By voting for Keir Starmer, the people of Scotland have the chance to ensure we kick the Tories out and have a brighter future under Labour.

Ian Murray is Labour MP for Edinburgh South

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