Scottish council elections: ‘Jobs for all’ promise from Ed Miliband

The party leader joined Labour council leader in the city, Gordon Matheson, on the local election campaign trail, along with Scottish leader Johann Lamont, as the party desperately attempts to ward off a challenge by the Nationalists who have made the city their top target in next Thursday’s vote.

But the SNP dimissed the visit as “remote control” from London and warned that Labour scaremongering will backfire for the party at the ballot box next week.

Labour have held power in Glasgow for more than 30 years, but the party has limped into these elections as a minority administration after a string of councillors quit the party after being de-selected.

Mr Miliband visited Anniesland College in the city to back Labour’s “Glasgow Guarantee” to ensure everyone aged 16-24 will be entitled to an apprenticeship, job or training.

Mr Miliband said: “We lost the Scottish elections a year ago, very badly and we’re in an important process of rebuilding and Johann is doing an excellent job in that.

“We are starting to set out a different choice in Scotland which is Labour standing up for the Scottish people.”

He insisted the party is running a “great campaign” but declined say if it would emerge as the biggest party after Thursday’s vote. Labour candidates are showing how we can create jobs and protect services even in difficult times. Labour councils are acting as a first line of defence for local people,” he added.

Council budgets are falling by about £350 million this year and the council tax freeze prevents them from raising extra cash.

“Even when there is less money around, Labour is showing how it can make a real difference to people’s lives and protect family budgets,” Mr Miliband added.

“When the Tories cut the winter fuel allowance, Labour in Glasgow provided £100 each year to help over 80s keep their homes warm in the winter months.

“It is absolutely vital that young people aren’t left out of work and out of hope so early on in life, so the Glasgow Guarantee is a massively valuable scheme.”

The SNP is confident it will emerge as the biggest party in the city next week. But its campaign has often been on the backfoot after a string of gaffes by group leader Allison Hunter, including a claim she hadn’t “actually thought” what policies she would introduce if elected.

But the Nationalists campaign chief Derek Mackay reminded Mr Miliband that every seat visited by the London Labour leadership in 2011 was lost to the SNP.

He insisted Labour’s problems at local council level – where almost one tenth of councillors elected in 2007 have defected – are most acute in Glasgow. In Johann Lamont’s constituency of Pollock, more Labour candidates from 2007 are standing against Labour in 2012 than standing for them.

“Before the election last year, Ed Miliband said that Labour’s fightback starts in Scotland – then every single seat visited by the London Labour leadership during the campaign was lost to the SNP,” Mr Mackay said.

“After that electoral ‘trail of disaster’ by Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, maybe Labour in Scotland should consider the lesson that london remote control; and that scaremongering campaigns against the Scottish people do not work.

“While Labour fight amongst themselves in Glasgow and elsewhere, the SNP have put forward a positive vision of ‘can-do’ councils which will work with the Scottish Government to drive forward economic recovery.