John Park, Labour’s campaign manager for the Scottish elections and shadow minister for the economy and skills, writes exclusively for Left Foot Forward on Labour's vision for Scotland.
John Park, Labour’s campaign manager for the Scottish elections and shadow minister for the economy and skills, writes exclusively for Left Foot Forward on Labour’s vision for Scotland; John is standing for Labour in the regional vote for Mid Scotland and Fife
The last time that Labour fought an election for the Scottish parliament, we were in government in Westminster and at Holyrood. This time around, we are in opposition in both parliaments – a first. We have learnt the lessons of our defeat in 2007. We’ve listened to people in Scotland and we have understood the frustration that people have about politicians who seem to promise everything, then let everyone down.
That’s why a key feature of our campaign is an unrelenting focus on the things that matter to ordinary Scots. Our commitments are things that will improve people’s lives and prospects every day. Together, they add up to a vision of Scotland that is modern, ambitious and makes sure that everyone gets on.
I wanted to write here to give people an idea of what we are campaigning for. If you want the full manifesto, it’s on our web page (pdf), but I want to give you an idea of our direction of travel, of what we are really about.
Take youth unemployment as an example of what drives us on. I, like many Scots, remember when the Tories left thousands of our young people on the scrapheap with no job to turn to and no way out of a life of little opportunity. So when the Tories came into government and made scrapping the future jobs fund one of their first acts, of course people in Scotland were worried. But in truth, Scotland’s problems didn’t just begin with the election of the Tories last year.
The SNP have been distracted by independence, and on their watch youth unemployment has risen by 350 per cent over two years. People struggle to comprehend the scale of that rise, but there is a real fear that we could sleepwalk into another generation of workers with low skills while many employers struggle to fill places because of skill shortages.
We now have a Tory government at Westminster which is reverting to type and an SNP government in Scotland that is too distracted using the levers of government to promote separation rather than standing up for jobs.
In the face of this, one of our most important pledges to the people of Scotland is to completely abolish youth unemployment by 2015. We’ll bring back the future jobs fund in Scotland and guarantee an apprenticeship to every qualified school-leaver who wants one. That’s a big ask, but we are committed to only pledging what we know we can deliver.
Not only will we abolish youth unemployment, but by building Scotland’s skills base and driving investment into our industries, Labour has set out plans to create 250,000 jobs in the next ten years. We’ll need to do that because the pace of economic change will only increase
We have also pledged to keep building the talents of people through our world class universities. Now, everyone knows that we can’t build a modern and successful Scotland if we put people off from going to university. It’s no surprise that Iain Gray was the first of the main party leaders to sign up to the NUS Scotland election pledges.
We have promised to reform the broken college bursary system, but will now set in place plans to reform university support too.
I know that I have concentrated here mainly on opportunities for Scotland’s young people, but I think that’s a key difference of approach between us and the SNP. Obviously, there are others like knife crime, local taxation and other important areas in our public services.
But the differences on youth unemployment are important to understand, because it’s not that the SNP are in favour of youth unemployment, or that they have plans to tackle it with which we disagree. The fundamental difference between us and the SNP is that they don’t have a plan to create jobs for young people. They don’t have a blueprint to create a modern Scotland where our young people have the opportunity to get on.
We have put a modern and dynamic set of policies to the Scottish people, we have focussed on what really matters and we will keep standing up for Scottish jobs; the voters will decide on May 5th.
30 Responses to “Vote 2011: Scottish Labour “will keep standing up for Scottish jobs””
cynicalHighlander
‘Together, they add up to a vision of Scotland that is modern, ambitious and makes sure that everyone gets on.’
Your party has been saying that for decades so no change there.
‘The SNP have been distracted by independence, and on their watch youth unemployment has risen by 350 per cent over two years.’
Under the last Labour gov and previous ones youth unemployment has been rising only you hid it under false training schemes and stuffing then into colleges under false pretences. Links to the last 4 year numbers would be appreciated.
‘In the face of this, one of our most important pledges to the people of Scotland is to completely abolish youth unemployment by 2015.’
That is impossible unless you are going to split them into two groups one to dig the holes and the others to fill them in oops forget this is the Scottish branch of the Labour party must be creditable. Pull the other one.
DougtheDug
Labour haven’t learnt any lessons from their defeat in 2007 and you’re still fighting a war against Thatcher and hoping that a knee-jerk anti-Tory vote in Scotland is going to get you into power again. And that’s the reason the polls are looking so poor for Labour. The key feature of your campaign so far has been to concentrate on, “Sending a message to the Tories in Westminster”, in the hope that no-one is going to notice the SNP.
The Scottish Parliament doesn’t have any of the levers of power to control the economy and you’re quite right about the fact that Scotland’s problems didn’t just begin with the election of the Tories last year. It’s Labour who were in power all through the noughties when the housing bubble grew and in 2008 when the banks crashed. The SNP haven’t been distracted at all and have pushed through budgets which have managed to ameliorate the cuts coming from Westminster despite the pig-headed opposition of Labour. The Labour mantra in Scotland is, “Better Tory than independent”, and Labour is fighting this Scottish election to keep David Cameron as PM of Scotland, cuts and all. What are Labour going to do to in order to, “stand up”, for jobs? The Scottish block grant is set by the English spend on public services and as Cameron and his wingman Clegg cut that to the bone as they revert to type then the Scottish grant gets slashed in the same way. The only choice a Scottish Parliament will get is how to apply the cuts in Scotland. At least the SNP offer a route out from the instinctive Tory slash and burn government in Westminster.
I can’t actually find a pledge to completely abolish youth unemployment by 2015 in your manifesto. Are you sure you read it right? However there are two especially hilariously bits in your manifesto.
The first is when Iain Gray says, “I make no apologies for the scale of my ambition for Scotland. It is the job of leaders to look to the horizon.”. As we all know Iain Gray’s ambition is to be a local government leader in the Scottish regional parliament living off a block grant from the Tories and his horizon stops at Westminster. Contrast that with Alex Salmond’s vision of an independent, wealthy, confident Scotland with its own place in Europe, its own genuine parliament and a seat at the UN.
The second is when Iain Gray signs himself off as, “Scottish Labour Leader”. Since there is no Scottish Labour Party registered with the Electoral Commission and since the Scottish Region of the Labour party doesn’t have a leader as such and since Iain Gray’s election was to the post of group leader of the Labour MSP’s in the Scottish Parliament he’s either got delusions of grandeur or he’s lying.
Mark MacLachlan
RT @leftfootfwd: Vote 2011: Scottish Labour “will keep standing up for Scottish jobs” http://bit.ly/dSMNMY The Rev Campbell batters Labour
norrie mcdonald
RT @MarkEMacLachlan: RT @leftfootfwd: Vote 2011: Scottish Labour “will keep standing up for Scottish jobs” http://bit.ly/dSMNMY The Rev …
norrie mcdonald
This reply by Rev Campell to Labour John Park is absolutely brilliant.Sums up Labour http://bit.ly/ewOfus @MarkEMacLachlan #bothvotessnp