LATEST NEWS FROM SCOTTISH LABOUR

Scottish Labour has criticised the SNP Government for its failure to invest in the NHS after a report highlighted that 88 per cent of hospitals in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area are ‘not satisfactory’. The paper shows that 15 of the 17 acute hospitals are ‘not satisfactory’ in at least one building performance category. In the case of Vale of Leven Hospital, this is true in every single category while Gartnavel, Glasgow Dental Hospital and Blawarthill hospital are classed as ‘not satisfactory’ in the majority of performance areas. Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokesman, said: “It is clear that...

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Johann Lamont, Scottish Labour leader, today accused Alex Salmond of being the 'Fred Goodwin of Scottish politics'. She compared the disgraced banker’s arrogance over the ABN AMRO deal to the First Minister’s faltering case for independence The Labour Leader told the First Minister it was time he started answering the hard questions about what breaking up the United Kingdom would mean for Scotland. She said: “By encouraging and supporting Fred Goodwin to go ahead with the ABN AMRO deal, Alex Salmond displayed a serious error of judgement. “Mr Goodwin clearly got carried away with himself, didn’t ask the hard questions...

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Speaking following a meeting of National Economic Forum in Edinburgh, which discussed efforts to tackle youth unemployment in Scotland, Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, said: “I am disappointed that Angela Constance chose to highlight what she sees as the limitations of the Scottish Parliament rather focus completely on what she can do with the powers already at her disposal to tackle youth unemployment. This would suggest youth unemployment is not their top priority. “Given the attendance at this event today, there is a real appetite across all sectors in Scotland to work together to tackle the rise in youth unemployment...

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SNP proposals for a separate Scotland to continue to use sterling were thrown into confusion today, after one of Alex Salmond’s most respected economic advisers criticised the idea. Professor John Kay, who served on the SNP Government’s Council of Economic Advisers, warns today in the Financial Times that the implications of the policy might “cause people to start wondering what the point of independence was in the first place”. His article points to examples of currency unions in Europe and warns that such models are ill-fitting to Scotland, and would require a “treaty with appropriate fiscal rules – although the...

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Speech by Ed Miliband. Glasgow, 30 January 2012 Let me start directly by talking about the developments on the issue of RBS bonuses. Stephen Hester has done the right thing. I welcome his decision not to take his bonus. But I am sorry we have a Prime Minister so out of touch with the British people that he did not act to stop it earlier. He failed to be a responsible shareholder. It took Labour’s threat of a parliamentary vote for the right thing to happen. Nobody will think the events of the last few days are a good way...

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Scottish Labour has today called on the First Minister to break his silence on the £963,000 bonus awarded to Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester. Labour Shadow Treasury Minister, Cathy Jamieson MP, said: “Alex Salmond’s silence on Stephen Hester’s vast bonus is deafening. “The longer he keeps quiet the more people will think he, just like David Cameron, is desperately out of touch with hardworking Scottish families that are feeling the squeeze. "Let’s not forget that Alex Salmond – a former RBS employee – backed the deal that broke the bank, has criticised ‘gold-plated’ regulation and actually pledged a...

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The Scottish Labour leader today accused the First Minister of taking ‘unnecessary risks’ with people’s finances by insisting the Bank of England will be the lender of last resort in an independent Scotland. Johann Lamont, Scottish Labour Leader, said: “The First Minister told us all this week he is an avowed Anglophile but this is taking it too far. “John Swinney has already admitted that his plans will mean him going to the Bank of England, to ask permission on how much he can borrow, what his fiscal policies will be and how much he can spend. That does not...

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Scottish Labour will lead a debate in the Scottish Parliament today urging the SNP government to keep the promise it made four years ago to Scotland’s kinship carers – to give them the same financial support as foster carers. Back in 2007, Alex Salmond agreed to Scottish Labour’s demands to fast track £10 million into local authority budgets to ensure all kinship carers of looked-after children in Scotland were paid the same as foster carers. However, four and half years later kinship carers and foster carers are still paid different amounts. An estimated 15,000 children in Scotland are...

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Scottish Labour will use a Scottish Parliament debate to warn that SNP cuts to the Bus Service Operators Grant will force up bus fares and lead to services being cut. Bus operators have been told that their grant is to be cut by 20% by the SNP government from April 2012. The Confederation of Passenger Transport has warned that it could have “a far-reaching impact on many bus passengers” and lead to increased fares and cuts to local services. Scottish Labour’s Shadow Transport Minister, Elaine Murray MSP, said: "The SNP's 20% cut to the Bus Service Operators Grant means bus...

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Commenting on Alex Salmond's admission last night that he hoped the Bank of England would be the lender of last resort in a separate Scotland, in addition to controlling monetary policy and setting fiscal rules, Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Anas Sarwar said: "Suggesting that Scotland's lender of last resort should be a bank over which we had just given up all influence and political control, and no longer had any responsibility for Scotland, is not in our national interest. "Having our monetary policy, fiscal rules and interest rates set by what would be our biggest competitor is deeply flawed and...

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