IAIN GRAY LAUNCHES LABOUR MANIFESTO

Scottish Labour today launched Labour’s manifesto to abolish youth unemployment in the next Scottish Parliament and create 250,000 jobs and apprenticeships in the next decade.

Speaking from Clydebank College Scottish Labour Leader, Iain Gray, said:

"I want to talk about my vision for Scotland in 2020, because the choices we make now about where we spend the money, and - yes - where we cut the money, will set us on our path for the next decade. The question is where we want to go together.

“By 2020 I want to create a new Scottish economy, built on high-tech engineering and modern green manufacturing. I want a flourishing private sector exporting high quality products to growing markets abroad. I want excellent public services that deal with the challenges of our aging population. I want a confident Scotland, comfortable with its place in the world, that cares for all its citizens, is proud of our past and hopeful for our future.

“I want all of that for a reason, because there is a moral imperative to what we do. Labour believes that a more equal society is a stronger society, that one man, woman or child in poverty is an offence against us all, that our government exists not merely to govern well but to make change for the better, to progress the lot of those who have least and to make this country live up to the potential of all of its people.

“These are the principles that have guided my politics and have led me to this point, where I am asking for support for my programme to be the First Minister of a Labour Scottish Government.

“I started this journey as a teacher in the 1980s in Gracemount, Edinburgh where I watched as a Tory government drained the hopes from a generation. Those teenagers wanted a future in the same way that the teenagers I taught in Mozambique in the middle of a civil war yearned for education and a better future. Their determination was my inspiration through years of work with Oxfam and all of my time in the Scottish Parliament. Those children born to the worst of poverty taught me this: there is nothing that people hunger for more than the chance to learn, to grow and to make a better life. “

Speaking about his plan for jobs and apprenticeships, Mr Gray continued:

"Abolishing youth unemployment is a bold and ambitious plan, but we can do it within the lifetime of the next parliament.

“But I want to go further. I will set in place the building blocks to create a quarter of a million jobs and apprenticeships in the next decade, and today we set out detailed plans to do so.

“We will do so by investing in our future. We will use our First Class fund to drive innovation in our schools in excellence and in vocational skills. We will help people get the education they need at college and at university. We will knock down barriers to access rather than build them up.

“That is our core purpose and our driving vision for the end of this decade. And what of our opponents? Their core purpose is what it always has been - to take Scotland out of Britain no matter the consequence. “

Speaking about Labour’s other key pledges, Mr Gray said:

“Labour will guarantee apprenticeships for suitably qualified youngsters and will give people unemployed for six months the chance of a real job.

“Labour will ensure knife criminals go to jail, and bring in new rights for victims of crime.

”Labour will freeze the council tax to help families through tough times.

“Labour will halve cancer waiting times so you see a specialist and get results within two weeks, and will end the postcode lottery for care of the elderly.

“We will put literacy teachers back in classrooms to focus on the basics for every pupil, and there will be no price tag on university education.”

Speaking about being the first main party leader to back NUS Scotland’s pledges, Mr Gray said:

“I was the first person in my family to go to university and will never pull up the ladders of opportunity behind me. So not only are we ruling out fees, but I want to go further.

“I am today the first of the main party leaders to sign up to the NUS Scotland election pledges.

“I have already promised to reform the broken college bursary system, but will now set in place plans to reform university support too.

“I will ask a student to chair an urgent review to ensure that those going on to higher education get the help they need at the time they need it.

“Access to education must always be based on ability to learn, not ability to pay.”

Speaking about Labour’s announcement of a First Class schools’ scheme, Mr Gray said:

“When I was a teacher I saw first-hand the brilliant innovation in schools across Scotland.

“I will reward that innovation by funding headteachers directly to establish new projects in their schools with a vocational focus.
“Tomorrow’s generation of engineers, scientists and skilled tradesmen and women people is at school today.

“I will give grants of up to £100,000 direct to headteachers to spend on projects that introduce kids to those ideas.

“No top-down dictation, no turning back the clock on the school leaving age, but a new scheme to reward those schools that are doing great work.”

Speaking about the need for efficiencies, Mr Gray said:

”The Scottish Parliament wasn’t made for the easy times. It was made for the difficult times.

“That is why I will set out the most radical programme of public sector reform since devolution. We will merge police forces, create a single fire service, cut the number of health boards, integrate social care, share services across councils, driving efficiencies wherever we can find them, cut wasteful spending, and protect front line services as we do.

“There are difficult choices here and difficult choices ahead. But Labour has led the policy agenda in this election by setting out this programme of reform and our opponents have trailed in our wake.“

6 April 2011