LABOUR are showing the “same entitlement” they treated Scots with for generations, the SNP’s Westminster leader has said as he hit the campaign trail ahead of a crucial by-election.
Joining SNP candidate Katy Loudon on the doorstep in Cambuslang, Stephen Flynn told journalists that he believed Labour are acting as if they have the Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat “in the bag” and hit out at the party’s complacency, adding that it will “come back to bite them”.
Recent polling from Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus put Labour 8.9 points ahead of the SNP in the seat, but Flynn insisted that Loudon was the candidate who will “take nothing for granted, unlike the Labour Party”.
It comes as Loudon said the cost of living crisis dominated the doorstep, and insisted that she was confident she could win the seat for the SNP.
“I don't think it's a surprise to anyone to say that the party certainly had its challenges,” Flynn told reporters in Cambuslang.
“But what we do retain is the confidence of the people of Scotland, we consistently poll ahead of the Labour Party and indeed all others and that's because of our record in government and our vision for a positive future for Scotland.
“When it comes to local issues as I said earlier the Labour Party are acting like they've got this in the bag, they're showing the same entitlement which they treated Scots for generations and you know, that can come back to bite you.
“I'm very confident that Katy will be able to succeed in this upcoming by-election.”
Pollsters Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus put the SNP at winning 40% of the vote (-5) compared to Labour’s 29% (+10.4) if a snap General Election was held.
“I've got absolutely no doubt that when we focus solely on the cost of living crisis, on the reality that Sir Keir Starmer is fully enthralled with a Tory Brexit, and the inescapable facts that the people of Scotland deserve to have a say over their own future when it comes to the constitution,” Flynn added.
“There's only one person in this by-election who's making those clear differences between the Labour Party and the Conservatives, and that’s Katy.
“Katy is making the positive case for Scotland's Future and she'll take nothing for granted, unlike the Labour Party.”
Loudon added that she was one of the generation who took a while to become engaged in politics because there was an “expectation it would always be Labour” representing Scotland in Westminster.
However, the councillor for Cambuslang East in South Lanarkshire, said that the impact of Brexit, backed by Labour, and the cost of living crisis were dominating the doorstep and were having a detrimental impact on locals.
Following SNP Westminster deputy leader Mhairi Black’s comments that the Tories had made life “so miserable” for Scots that they didn’t have time to think about Scotland’s constitutional future, The National asked Loudon (pictured below) how she was getting the Yes case across on the doorstep.
“The cost of living crisis is 100% at the forefront of people's minds,” Loudon said.
“I'm standing as an SNP MP of course, I will always speak to people about independence, I'll always have that conversation.
“But the reason I'm having that conversation with people is because it has always been clear to me what is affecting people's lives at the moment and it's been a disastrous Brexit.
“It’s a hard Brexit that has been pushed through that Labour and the Tories have no plans to do anything about and the conversations that we have, especially I have with people with children the same age as my own, about the missed opportunities which they have compared to my generation and how upsetting that is.”
Loudon said that those conversations about rising fuel bills, food prices and the issues impacting local people all come back to the fact that the SNP can try to “mitigate” the worst of the Tory-imposed crisis.
“We can try our hardest to help people, to get them through this crisis, to make sure that they've got the resources they need, they've got support for their families, they've got support, to try to pull out and give them as much as we can,” she said.
“But at the end of the day, the only thing that is going to make a difference is if Scotland has the full levers of control.”
