Across Scotland and the UK, people are hungry for change. Millions of Scots are feeling the pinch from the cost-of-living crisis as bills and prices continue to soar.
And it is clear both governments – at Westminster and at Holyrood – are focusing on their own priorities and not those of the people.
We have had three prime ministers and four chancellors within a year – and still there has been no meaningful help for those struggling to get by.
People across our country feel disconnected and left behind. But this is not only felt here in Scotland. This disconnect is felt as much in Liverpool, Cardiff, Birmingham and Manchester as it is in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
After 12 years of disastrous Tory Government across the UK and 15 years of SNP misrule in Scotland, people are hungry for change. The Tories and the SNP alike feed off division and despair.
Both of these governments have put conflict over co-operation and have tried to separate people into tribes rather than uniting
the country.
But the people of Scotland know progress does not come from pitting community against community or nation against nation – it comes from working together. There is no majority in Scotland for independence. There is no majority in Scotland for a referendum.
But neither is there a majority for the status quo. There is, however, a clear majority for change. It is the Labour Party’s duty to be that change. We know Westminster needs to reform and we know Holyrood needs cleaned up.
We know people need hope for the future. That’s why today, Gordon Brown will unveil his constitutional commission to fundamentally reform the United Kingdom.
Brown’s plans will radically renew and reform our country, bringing power closer to the people. Labour will renew every facet of our democracy, rebalance political representation and replace the House of Lords with a second chamber – democratically elected and with a duty act as a guardian to our rights.
We will strengthen Scotland in a modernising and changing UK and make sure every layer of government across our country works together and co-operates rather than competes for power and resources.
And we will clean up Westminster to remove the sleaze and corruption the Tories have allowed to fester. This is nothing less than the biggest ever transfer of power to the people of Britain. This plan will be at the heart of the next UK Labour government.
And at the next election, the choice could not be clearer. More decline and division under the Tories, or economic, democratic and social renewal with Labour.
I know what the people of the UK will choose. Things don’t have to stay the way that they are. There is a better future for Scotland and the UK. But that means delivering a majority Labour government to make Keir Starmer prime minister.
Scotland needs change. Scotland wants change and that change is coming
SNP is failing health of women
The breast cancer scandal at NHS Tayside is one of the greatest scandals in recent political history. At the root of the problem is a chemotherapy dosing scandal that has gone on for three-and-half years.
Amid the crossfire of accusation and counter claim, breast cancer chemotherapy in NHS Tayside has collapsed, leaving vulnerable women travelling across the country to receive life-saving treatment.
The health board has been turned upside down, staff have been failed and the women affected have been failed. As we speak, women living in Tayside are being routinely sent to other health boards for vital breast cancer care.
These people are being let down by an out-of-touch SNP government that has failed to answer vital questions posted by patients, staff and experts.
When I challenged the First Minister at FMQs over the situation in Tayside, she denied the service was in crisis. Responding to Nicola Sturgeon’s words, a frontline medic said: “The First Minister is in denial about the scale of this shameful crisis.
“This dismissive response is an insult to the patients, families and staff being failed in this scandal.”
The First Minister is in charge of the NHS in Scotland – the SNP has been in power for 15 years. Three-quarters of a million Scots are on NHS waiting lists. The people of Tayside deserve better – the people of Scotland deserve better.
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