SCOTLAND’S First Minister has hit back at a Labour MP who defended Keir Starmer’s comments about Margaret Thatcher.
Writing in a piece for The Telegraph last week, the Labour leader claimed the former Tory PM brought “meaningful change” to Britain.
During an appearance on Thursday night’s Question Time, Labour MP and shadow equalities minister Anneliese Dodds defended her party leader’s comments.
“Keir did recognise that Margaret Thatcher was transformative. I don’t think anybody really could disagree with that,” she said.
“She came in to office with a really clear plan about what she wanted to do with our country.
“Now obviously Labour believes that a lot of the outcomes from that plan did not serve our country well.
“But there’s no question that she had a plan. I think there’s a big contrast there both with many Labour governments, you know those reforming Labour governments when they had a clear plan but then I would say also with the situation we’ve had over the last few years.”
Writing on Twitter/X in response to the clip, Yousaf said: “I disagree. Thatcher was destructive, not transformative.
“Quite something to watch Labour politicians line up to praise Margaret Thatcher. Their defence of her? She had a plan.
“Well, that much is true. Our communities still bear the scars of that plan.”
Dodds was further asked by host Fiona Bruce if Starmer would be “transformative” or just a “lightweight version of Tony Blair”.
“He will be transformative because we’re really clear that we need to have a long-term approach, that we need to ensure we have that decade of national renewal,” she added.
“We’ve set out those five missions to transform our country, done that very early, not at the last minute in an election campaign.
“We’ve done it very, very early so that we can set all of that really clear right now. We know it’s not going to be possible to change our country overnight but we changed our party and we’re determined to make sure we can change our country.”
