THE Labour Party “threaten to go further” than the Tories in creating a “hostile environment” in the UK, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie has said.
In his speech to the Scottish Green Party conference, Harvie slated Keir Starmer and the UK Labour party for pledging to “make Brexit work”, saying the Labour leader has made it “very clear he has no intention of rebuilding our relationship with the EU”.
He also criticised the party for its stance on nuclear weapons, saying: “Even if they inherit a budget with a supermassive black hole at its heart, they won’t even think twice about spending hundreds of billions on Trident."
Harvie used his address to call out several aspects of Westminster policy that he described as coming from "extreme ideology", one of which being the current approach to border control.
He said that just as his party was looking to create a “welcoming Scotland”, they ran up against the “hostile environment created by the UK’s Home Office”.
He added: “And make no mistake, this cruel and racist environment will not change, regardless of who occupies number 10.”
The Scottish Greens co-leader went on to stress the need for independence as a means for Scotland to ditch "a more chaotic circus of a Government than anything The Thick of It could have come up with".
Harvie’s speech comes as Liz Truss ushered in the fourth Chancellor the UK has had this year, who signalled an incoming raft of tax rises and public spending cuts on Saturday morning.
Following Jeremy Hunt's appointment as Chancellor, Harvie said that independence could “guarantee a decent and dignified life for everyone” and “stand against the politics of despair”.
He went on to call out Labour for following the Tories’ example in pledging to block Scotland’s route to another independence referendum.
He said: “They seem to have exactly the same contempt the Tories have shown for Scotland’s right to choose our own future, point blank refusing the referendum despite Scotland repeatedly electing majorities in favour.”
He concluded his speech by saying: “Scotland did not vote for Brexit. It did not vote for hostile immigration policies. It did not vote for Trident in our waters. But that is what we are set to get whether the winners of the next Westminster election wear blue or red, and that’s why we must have the right to choose a different path."
