The Scotsman Bulletin Friday May 31 2024
Scotsman Deputy Editor Alan Young talks with Deputy Political Editor David Bol about the visit of Keir Starmer to Greenock outlining his six steps for change in Scotland.
Scotsman Deputy Editor Alan Young talks with Deputy Political Editor David Bol about the visit of Keir Starmer to Greenock outlining his six steps for change in Scotland.
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00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Bulletin for Friday. I'm Alan Young, I'm Deputy
00:10Editor of the Scotsman. I'm joined today by our Deputy Political Editor, David Ball, who
00:15is in Greenock, I believe, and has just been listening to Keir Starmer on his visit to
00:22Scotland. Hi David, what did Keir have to say?
00:26Well yeah, so he was setting out his six pledges that he's going to get as priorities for Scotland.
00:33They include cutting NHS waiting times, which is maybe a bit more difficult than it sounds
00:39given that health's devolved, boosting the economy and jobs. We've also heard a bit more
00:44detail about those GBE energy plans, that obviously Scotland's going to play quite a
00:49central role, and giving Scotland a bigger voice, as it were, through the Scotland Office,
00:54helping to improve those export markets that Salmon and Whiskey have enjoyed, and trying
00:59to help other businesses match that sort of success. He was joined up here by Angela Rayner
01:07and Ed Miliband and Ian Murray, so there was kind of a team effort. Keir Starmer's speech
01:13was very similar to what he said last week, to be perfectly honest. It's just about ensuring
01:18that people who haven't voted Labour before, maybe independent supporters, are more turned
01:23on by Labour, and maybe the change that they're offering can kind of appeal to some of those
01:28independent supporters who want change, but obviously want it through a different way,
01:32but might be persuaded to back him in the general election.
01:37And as you touched on, he was here last week. I know we're in our election campaign, but
01:44two visits in seven days is pretty unprecedented, and it's probably an indication of how seriously
01:50they're treating Scotland.
01:52Yeah, absolutely. Two visits, one to Glasgow, one to Inverclyde, so very much central belt
01:58territory that Labour will be targeting. There's a lot of talk about the red wall in the north
02:03of England, those Brexit seats that the Tories snatched from Labour, but obviously this one
02:09fell first. This has been a disaster for Labour for many years, since the independence debate
02:14really circulated. So they need to win here if they're going to make a big difference
02:20across the UK. They're obviously putting it as central to that campaign, even in the
02:23early days, and I'm sure we'll see more of him again as the campaign continues.
02:28Indeed. Maybe I'll just touch on the exclusive poll in the Scotsman today. You have the story
02:35running online and in today's paper. Good news for Keir Starmer, but maybe also some
02:44green shoots for John Swinney.
02:46Yeah, I mean, Labour are still, it's a very good poll for them. They're still on 37% compared
02:53to 33% for the SNP. That's the key battle we're really looking for, and that transcribes
02:59to Labour winning 28 seats and the SNP 18. But if you look at Holyrood voting, obviously
03:06we're more interested in the general election at the moment, given we're sort of, it's very
03:10fast approaching. The polling suggests that the SNP sort of popularity is growing a little
03:15bit in that poll, which could give them a bit of hope that maybe they could turn things
03:21around or maybe close that gap a little bit of Labour in the Westminster polling. John
03:26Swinney appears to have kind of steadied the sort of decline that we were seeing under
03:30Humza Yousaf against Labour. So there'll be a fair few things for the SNP to cling onto
03:37as this could kind of turn in our favour a little bit. But still, that poll is a very
03:42convincing one for Labour to secure victory in Scotland at the election.
03:46Thanks very much, David. I'll let you get on. We've got a very busy day. We'll have
03:52all the very latest at scotsman.com throughout the day. If you can, please do subscribe,
03:57then you'll be able to read and watch absolutely everything we do. And if you're out and about
04:01today, do pick up a paper as ever from me and from David. Bye for now.