We Will Not Stop Fighting for Scotland and Social Justice -
Gordon Brown
We must stand
up for the 71,000 Scots on food banks. The 80,000 Scots on zero-hours
contracts. The 180,000 Scots on waiting lists who need the most basic of
necessities, a decent home. We must give a voice to 200,000 children living in
poverty, to the millions of Scots whose living standards are falling and whose
NHS is suffering from neglect.
While the SNP talk only
about deals, coalitions, pacts, tie-ins, hung parliaments and backroom negotiations,
we will speak for the Scottish people, poverty, injustice, inequality, deprivation,
the jewel in the crown of our welfare state our health service and a better
future for the young people of our country. It is only a Labour Government that
can: prevent food bank poverty; The Bedroom Tax; payday lenders. zero-hour
contracts; NHS neglect, Tory austerity and the miseries they impose. The only
Government that can deliver this change is a Labour Government. Even the SNP
admit that a Labour Government is the best chance of change.
We promise 1,000 more
nurses, 500 more doctors, a youth employment guarantee. Undeliverable under a
Tory Government, even with 59 SNP MPs. I know my fellow Scots are, like me,
patriotic and desperate for change. We
want change today so we can live in a more socially just community
And I know too that the
change that my fellow Scots and I are demanding is the greatest change of all -
social justice - and that we are impatient and cannot wait for it: we want
change today so we can live in a more socially just community as soon as
tomorrow. We promise a commitment to the
sharing of resources across these islands – from each according to his
capacity, to each according to his need, and our commitment to the principles
of cooperation and solidarity that underlie this sharing is at the heart of
everything we do. And while they talk about social justice, the SNP can never
bring themselves to accept the sharing that is the means to secure social
justice,
We believe in sharing
across the whole of the country. only Labour led the way to the creation of the
NHS, giving rights to free and universal care to all who are in need
irrespective of nationality or ability to pay – a NHS that today for the very
same reason is safe only in Labour’s hands. As is the UK-wide welfare state,
Scottish Labour led the way to a minimum wage across the whole of the UK. These
are the reasons why there can be no deal, no tie-in, no arrangement and no
compromise with an SNP. The nationalist’s advance the cause of a separate
state, while Labour advance the cause of social justice. Their aim is a second divisive
referendum, our aim is a fair economy.
It cannot be right to
argue that the easiest way to get Labour into government is to vote against the.
The snp say that they want a Labour Government but refuse to advise Tories in
England to vote Labour that is simply dishonest. The SNP the English to vote
Liberal Democrat in 2010, and when they actually did use their bloc vote in
Westminster they did not use it to save a labour Government to destroy a labour
Government in 1979. The SNP prefer misery under the Tories to pursue their
obsession of separation the one time they used their bloc vote in Westminster
to effect change was not to save but to destroy a Labour Government in 1979. We
know that the SNP prefer people dissatisfied under a Conservative Government
than people satisfied under a Labour Government.
It aint rocket science,
the more Labour MPs we have the more we have a chance of being in government.
We were born against
the odds. We grew against the odds. M We created the NHS against the odds. We
created the welfare state against the odds. We created the right to work
against the odds. We delivered a minimum wage against the odds. We have spent
our whole lives fighting for people whose lives are lived against the odds. And
we will fight, fight and fight whatever the odds.
And I say to those who
feel the pain of others and who believe in something bigger than ourselves: we
know that when the strong help the weak it makes us all stronger. I say there
are millions like you who cannot be truly happy when others are sad, who cannot
be at ease when millions are ill at ease, who cannot feel fully secure with so
many insecure, and who cannot be comfortable when so many are without comfort.
And so I give you my
view. The independence people really want is independence from poverty. The
liberation people really want is liberation from deprivation and unemployment. And
the freedom people really want is freedom from all forms of injustice and
inequality.
The starting point is
on Thursday: voting Labour, electing Labour MPs and securing a Labour
Government. Don’t be taken in, the SNP want the Tories to win, don’t let them.
