Scottish independence: Miliband calls for No vote

LABOUR leader Ed Miliband called on Scots to vote No to “get rid of a Tory government” as he made his latest intervention in the independence referendum.

Ed Miliband in the Gyle shopping centre, Edinburgh. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

Mr Miliband dismissed suggestions that he faces defeat in next year’s General Election as he appealed to Scots to reject independence on 18 September, and then help kick out the Tories in 2015.

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The Labour leader, speaking during a visit to Edinburgh, said that Scottish voters should help those in the rest of the UK “take out the Tories” as he appealed to his party’s supporters not to be tempted by independence.

Mr Miliband said the SNP wanted to portray the English electorate as largely Tory-supporting, and added that the nationalists were trying to promote the idea of Scotland being outvoted by the rest of the UK at Westminster elections.

He said Labour was on course for victory at next year’s General Election, despite the party’s slender opinion poll lead over the Tories.

Mr Miliband said: “The way to get of a Tory government is to vote No. Vote No and then 10 months later take out the Tories at the General Election.

“The SNP wants to say that all these parts of England are not in favour of progressive politics. That’s not true.”

Mr Miliband made the remarks during a campaign visit to Edinburgh’s Gyle Shopping Centre, where he was joined by the party’s Scottish leader Johann Lamont and Labour MSPs Neil Findlay and Kezia Dugdale.

He also claimed the anti-independence Better Together group and Labour’s own No campaign were winning the argument against the SNP in the run-up to the referendum.

He said: “I believe there is a growing recognition that we are Better Together. People say we are stronger together and why put that at risk. A risk to the pooling of resources.

“People are starting to make up their minds.”

However, SNP MSP Kevin Stewart warned that Tory policies such as The Bedroom Tax could continue to be imposed on Scotland unless voters backed independence.

He said: “People in Scotland have been voting Labour at Westminster for decades and we still end up with Tory governments.

“The only way for people in Scotland to rid ourselves of Tory Governments that people here have overwhelmingly rejected is simply to vote Yes in September.

“A Yes vote will ensure that Scotland always gets the Governments we vote for instead of allowing Westminster Governments to inflict policies like the Bedroom Tax and continued austerity agenda on people in Scotland.”