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Sunday, July 13

GB Energy & Grangemouth show ‘You can’t trust Labour’

LucieBy 8 Views1 Min Read Environment

‘You can’t trust Labour’. It was an oft made comment during the latter year’s of Tony Blair’s premiership; particularly because of his role in dragging the UK into the Iraq war on the basis of a lie.

But it took six years for that phrase to become common usage. With the current Westminster Labour government of Keir Starmer it’s only taken six months.

And recently we saw an example which explains why trust in Keir Starmer’s Labour party has nosedived.

Before the 2024 election Labour promised that Aberdeen would get 1,000 jobs from hosting the GB Energy headquarters; but now the appointed boss of GB Energy says it will only create 200 jobs in five years.

The GB Energy boss who won’t even be working in Aberdeen but Manchester! So much for a ‘headquarters’ in Aberdeen.

These revelations have been followed more recently by news that Grangemouth’s refinery is to close after 100 years.

Again, another example of how Labour can’t be trusted.

Before the election Labour, along with Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar, promised to save the jobs:

Now it’s scenes of Anas Sarwar repeatedly pleading that he’s powerless because it’s a private company…

…a private company Labour will financially support when it comes to a football stadium in England and a refinery in Belgium!

And it was Westminster who tied their own hands when it gave Grangemouth to the private sector.

Is it any wonder that even Grangemouth’s own Labour MP sounds like he doesn’t trust Labour?

Even a letter he wrote to Starmer was signed by only one other Scottish Labour MP. So much for Scottish Labour MPs standing up for Scotland.

But those two examples are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Labour promises.

Take the WASPI women pensioners; betrayed so often by the Tories and now by Labour. As leader of the opposition, Starmer promised to “do something about it”, saying he understood their anger at having “the goalposts moved”.

In 2020 he railed against the two-child cap on child benefits. In the days running up to the election Scots were told to vote Labour to end child poverty.

Yet just after the election he suspended seven Labour MPs for voting with the SNP to scrap the cap on child benefit and tackle child poverty.

Then there’s the winter fuel payment for pensioners. In the run up to voting in July 2024 Starmerrailed against the Tories about how pensioners suffered under the Tories and promised them security.

Safely in Downing Street his government announced a cut to pensioners’ winter fuel payments despite research by his own party that it could cause 4,000 deaths.

And what about National Insurance?

Labour’s manifesto specifically pledged that they would not raise national insurance. In her budget Rachel Reeves increased employer national insurance – a policy that will hit those employing lower paid workers the hardest, charities, GPs and care homes.

You would think such a level of untrustworthy behaviour would be more than enough after seven months; but there’s more that specifically affects Scotland.

In the July 2024 election Anas Sarwar expressly promised that Scottish Labour ‘would put Scotland at the heart of Starmer’s government‘; and ‘stand up to Keir Starmer and defend Scotland’s interests‘.

Instead, as a group, Scottish Labour MPs have meekly voted for cutting the winter fuel payment, keeping the two-child benefit, and failing to support WASPI women.

And there’s a range of issues where that group of MPs have been subdued when it comes to putting Scotland at the heart of Starmer’s government.

In August 2024 Rachel Reeves pulled funding for an £800 million computer at Edinburgh University with a Labour source saying the project made “little strategic sense.”

Yet by January Keir Starmer was announcing that his government had arranged £14 billion of investment in various AI projects.

At the end of January Rachel Reeves announced her plans for growth in the UK … which amounted to a concentration of UK government assistance between the cities hosting the UK’s two elitist universities.

The absence for similar assistance for Scotland was notable despite claiming it would deliver to “all corners of the UK“:

Take CCS, or Carbon Capture & Storage; since the 2014 independence referendum the North East of Scotland has been repeatedly promised that Westminster would invest millions in it.

Rachel Reeves eventually announced funding for Carbon Capture & Storage … in Teesside and Merseyside. No Scottish Labour MP or MSP has even mentioned this slap in the face to Scotland.

Is it any wonder Scots believe Anas Sarwar doesn’t stand up to Keir Starmer. It’s no wonder Scottish Labour’s vote is at its lowest level in three years.

And what is Anas Sarwar’s latest move as we approach a Scottish election year? To say he is open to ‘good ideas’ from Nigel Farage’s Reform party.

A party that would like to abolish the Scottish Parliament and privatise the NHS. The party of Brexit which has increased the cost-of-living creating less money for public services.

And Anas Sarwar’s latest gambit just raises more questions about trust in Labour. He’s now pledging to protect SNP policies like free tuition, free prescriptions and the Scottish Child Payment.

After months of accusing the SNP government of ’18 years of failure’ he’s now saying it has been 18 years of “successes”.

But why should anyone trust what many see as a panicked announcement by Anas Sarwar?

On several occasions Labour’s Holyrood group of MSPs have voted against SNP government budgets which contained those policies. Even now they are not supporting the SNP budget containing those policies.

A previous Scottish Labour leader notoriously called those policies a ‘something for nothing‘ culture which should end.

Anas Sarwar’s health spokesperson, Jackie Baillie, is on record as saying prescription charges should “absolutely” be abolished.

As for tuition fees it was only in February 2024 that Sarwar’s finance spokesperson, Michael Marra, said backdoor tuition fees, like endowments, would have to be considered.

Shortly after Labour MSPs voted with the Tories in Holyrood against free tuition.

And let’s not forget the behaviour of Anas Sarwar’s boss, Keir Starmer. In 2020 he promised Labour members in the party leadership election that he would “support the abolition of tuition fees”.

Yet by September 2023 he claimed it would be ‘impossible‘ to abolish tuition fees … despite the fact that is the reality in Scotland.

And let’s not forget which party first introduced tuition fees – whose policy they ultimately are.

Just weeks before the 1997 election Tony Blair pledged: “Labour has no plans to introduce tuition fees for higher education.”

A year after taking power, Blair went ahead and introduced tuition fees.

It all just shows how the people of Scotland don’t and can’t trust any promise by Scottish Labour. Like a branch office they will always follow their bosses in Westminster.

There’s only one party that Scots can trust to stand up and speak for Scotland. Speak out about Westminster ignoring your communities when it comes to investment. To vote for the benefit of Scotland’s pensioners, families and workers – the SNP.

I am working as a Constituency Assistant for Graeme. I joined the team after doing a master's degree at the University of Glasgow.

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