Sir Keir Starmer calms Labour nerves and dismisses SNP with ‘straight choice’ warning
Keir Starmer has dismissed the threat posed to his success in Scotland, warning voters have a ‘straight choice’ between Labour and the Tories.
Sir Keir Starmer has moved to calm nerves ahead of polling day by insisting Scotland is central to his plans to form the next government at Westminster – as he played down the role of the SNP, pitching the election as a “straight fight” against the Conservatives.
The Labour leader was speaking in East Kilbride on Wednesday on a whistle-stop tour of the UK on the final day of campaigning before polls open.
Labour has been comfortably ahead in the polls across the UK and is on course to form the next UK government. But in Scotland a poll by Savanta for The Scotsman showed that although the SNP is due to lose its majority of seats, John Swinney’s party has edged back ahead of Labour north of the Border as the polls narrow.
Asked about the polls pointing to him forming the next government, Sir Keir insisted the election was not a “numbers’ game.”
Despite polls in Scotland showing a knife-edge battle for seats between Labour and the SNP, particularly across the Central Belt, the Labour leader downplayed the influence of the SNP after the election, warning that voters have a choice between his vision for the UK and the Conservatives.
He said: "Tomorrow is a straight choice between more of the Tories or a Labour government. That is the choice. There's no other choice on the ballot paper.
"There are only two people who are going to be prime minister, will likely be prime minister on Friday morning – Rishi Sunak or me. That is the choice and so across Scotland that is what needs to be upper mind in people's minds.”
Sir Keir added: “If you want to see the back of the Tories, you have to vote Labour and there are many constituencies here in Scotland that are going to come down to a few hundred votes. They're really tight. You've seen the polling, you've seen how tight it is. So every vote matters. And that is the choice that's on offer.”
Sir Keir told party activists that he wanted “a Labour government to have Scotland at its heart”.
He said: “The route to a Labour government runs through Scotland, has always run through Scotland. I want voters in Scotland not to send a message, the SNP say, the most important election for I don’t know how long and they say what? Send a message.
“Send someone, an SNP MP, to sit on the opposition benches for this important period of history, and say a few things across the aisle.
“I don’t want Scotland to send a message, I want Scotland to send a government.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said Labour would “secure a better future for Scotland”, but again warned that a failure for his party to secure a majority could lead to five more years of the “sleazy Tories”.
Mr Sarwar added: “This election is an opportunity for change that Scotland cannot afford to miss. This election is a straight choice between a broken status quo with two bad governments, or change with Labour.”
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