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The deputy leader of the Labor Party delivered an election speech to SNP voters as the party seeks to rally support ahead of the upcoming general election. Angela Rayner, speaking at the STUC convention in Dundee on Tuesday, said the SNP saw independence as a "silver bullet" for the problems facing Scotland, but Labor could bring the change sought by party supporters. Scotland's ruling party, he said, was too "disturbed by its internal wars" to bring about the change that the Scottish people "dream about", adding that the Tories "will never do it".
I fully understand your desire for change, I share it.
Ms Rayner, who has repeatedly joked at the SNP's expense over the ongoing police investigation into the party's finances, appealed to those who have supported him during his nearly 16 years in power.
“I totally understand your desire for change, I share it,” he said.
“I recognize your desire to get rid of the conservatives, I share it.
"I know you dream of a better future, it's a dream that I and (Sir Keir Starmer) share."
She and Labor leader Ms Rayner said they "know what it's like to graft, squeeze and pinch a penny".
"The SNP is acting as if independence is a silver bullet," he added.
"After 15 years of SNP rule, there is not a single institution in Scotland that is stronger today than when he took office."
Ms Rayner pointed to NHS waiting times, drug deaths and child poverty as particular failures of the SNP in government.
“It is the legacy of the SNP, and it is the workers who are paying the price,” he said.
"Every day they show that they are not the answer to the question and that Humza Yousaf is not the man to solve it either."
He added: “The choice is simple, the choice is clear.
“Only Labor has the vision and energy to defend Scotland. Only Labor can offer a new deal to Scottish workers.
"Labor is ready to lead Scotland again, you are Labor and together we can build a better and brighter future for all."
The deputy party leader also took aim at the UK government, attempting to portray Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as out of touch with issues affecting ordinary citizens.
Mme Rayner declared that M. Sunak – qu'elle decrit as le "saint patron des jets privés, des piscines résidentielles chauffées et des non-doms" – protégeait les plus riches de la société de l'impact de la crise du coût of the life.
"Same old ideology from the same old conservatives," Rayner added.
"They incentivize the rich by giving them more, and they incentivize the rest of us by taking it away."
Before her STUC speech, Ms Rayner announced that a Labor government would ban zero-hour contracts as part of its "new deal for workers".
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people with zero-hour contracts rose from around 46,000 between October and December 2013 to 94,000 in the same period last year.
"Labor is the party of the workers and for the workers; the key is in our name," he told the delegates.
"The next Labor government will build on our long and proud history with a new deal for workers, for all workers."
In response, SNP MP Philippa Whitford said Ms Rayner's comments amounted to a "condescending lecture" to Scots.
He added: "Independence is not just an escape from the Conservatives, but a complete break with the broken Westminster system that inflicted a hardline Brexit, which Scotland did not vote for, and a cost-of-living crisis that is hitting to homes." through the country.
“The truth is that the pro-Brexit Labor Party offers the people of Scotland nothing more than a pale imitation of the chaotic Tory regime.
"The solution to the major problems affecting families across Scotland is not a changing of the guard on Downing Street: it is to secure the full powers of independence that would allow Scotland to create an economy that works for workers, not the other way around. ". and build the greenest, fairest, and most equal nation that we know is possible.
PA wire
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