Starmer makes pitch to voters north of border: No Labour without Scotland

The Labour leader set out his six ‘first steps’ for Scotland at a rally near Glasgow.

Sir Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar launched Labour’s ‘first steps for Scotland’ on Friday (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Wire)

Sir Keir Starmer said there was “no Labour without Scotland” as he made his pitch to voters north of the border on Friday.

The Labour leader rounded off the first full week of General Election campaigning at a rally near Glasgow, where he set out his party’s six “first steps” for Scotland.

Appearing on stage with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, deputy national leader Angela Rayner and shadow net zero secretary Ed Miliband, Sir Keir again urged Scottish voters to “send a government” to Westminster, not “a message”.

He told activists: “I know that in the past some people here in Scotland who wanted the Tories out didn’t vote Labour because they didn’t think that we could win.

“But we’ve changed Labour. We now have that opportunity and you have to vote for it.

“Because there’s no change without Scotland, there’s no Labour without Scotland.”

He also sought to reassure Scottish voters after trade unions warned Labour’s plans for a net zero transition could cost jobs.

He said: “We are not turning off the taps, oil and gas will be part of the mix for many years. We’re not revoking any licences, but a transition is coming.”

We cannot afford to miss this opportunity to build a greener Scotland

Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour leader

He added: “The worst thing we could do now is do what Rishi Sunak is doing and put our head in the sand, and pretend it’s not happening.

“And I’ll tell you for why, that’s what happened when coal was coming to an end and we are still paying the price in communities across the whole of Scotland and across the whole of the United Kingdom.

“I’m not prepared to let that ever happen under a future Labour government.”

Labour’s plans for a green energy transition formed a major plank of the offer to Scotland unveiled by Sir Keir and Mr Sarwar on Friday.

The “six steps” set out for Scotland include: providing economic stability; cutting NHS waiting lists and establishing GB Energy – a state-owned company based in Scotland; and investing in renewable energy projects, which are part of Labour’s offer to the wider UK.

But pledges on hiring more teachers, cracking down on antisocial behaviour and establishing a Border Security Command have been replaced in Scotland.

Instead, Labour has promised to “make work pay with a New Deal for Working People”, to “create jobs and opportunities for young people” including more access to apprenticeships and 69,000 Scottish jobs in the clean energy industry, and to “maximise Scotland’s influence” using the UK’s trade networks.

Mr Sarwar said the party’s pledge to set up Great British Energy was a “transformational opportunity for Scotland that once again we cannot afford to miss”.

He said: “So we cannot afford to miss this opportunity to build a greener Scotland. So only a vote for Scottish Labour at this election will switch on GB Energy, create more jobs and cut energy bills for people right across Scotland.”

However, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney claimed Sir Keir is “offering no change at all” and has challenged the Labour leader to produce an emergency budget to reverse “Tory austerity cuts”.

Scottish Tory chairman Craig Hoy said the party had “already been at the heart of government” in Scotland by backing “the failed SNP-Green coalition on some of their worst decisions”.

He added: “On raising taxes, the disastrous gender self-ID legislation, the illiberal Hate Crimes Act and profoundly damaging rent controls, Scottish Labour MSPs have lined up to back the SNP.”