Sunak’s gamble unlikely to pay off
4
Six weeks of politics
is enough - at least
until next time round
POLITICS
Rishi Sunak in EdinburghScottish Greens call for
£28 billion investment
By ANNA WALLACE AND ZOE
MACNAUGHTON
THE SCOTTISH GREENS promoted
election pledges around wealth
taxes, divestment from fossil fuels
and ending the benefit cap.
Scottish Greens co-Leader Lorna
Slater MSP said: “We have five years
to turn things around and avoid
catastrophic levels of climate
change.” She also stressed a need
for “£28 billion a year of investment
in the green economy” and that “at
least 60% of fossil fuels must be left
in the ground”.
Co-Leader Patrick Harvie MSP
outlined the party’s promises to
ensure a “fairer, greener, and more
welcoming” and independent
Scotland. Extending parental leave,
repealing the Safety of Rwanda
(Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024,
and a guaranteed minimum income
for all were also included. Mr Harvie
also criticised the UK Government’s
handling of the ongoing conflict in
Gaza.
After the launch of the party’s
manifesto, Ms Slater and some of
the party’s Edinburgh candidates
explained what changes Green MPs
would offer voters if any were
elected to Westminster in Scotland
for the first time.
Amanda Grimm, the party’s
candidate for Edinburgh East and
Musselburgh, raised the issue
of sewage dumping, which she said
was a particular concern in
Portobello. She said that Greens
would “crack down on
water companies” in the form of
fines, requiring companies to
publish “real-time” data on spills.
Edinburgh South West
candidate, Dan Heap, spoke
of the manifesto policies which hethinks would reduce child poverty in
the area, highlighting
the party’s pledge to end the
two-child limit on child tax
credits and investment in social
security. He said his knowledge of
the benefits system would make
him a good candidate for securing a
seat in Westminster.
Sustainable housing and
transport were top of the agenda for
Edinburgh South West candidate JoPhillips who has lived in Edinburgh
for 23 years. She said that essential
changes are “not necessarily just
building on the Green Belt, but
looking at how we can retrofit
existing
properties” and “decarbonise
transport in the city”.
Ms Slater told The Edinburgh
Reporter that the party’s
commitment to “building a world
that is resilient to our changingclimate, minimising the damage
from emissions” and “reinvesting
that money in building better public
services and opportunities for
everyone” were key.
Given the venue for the manifesto
launch at Summerhall the Scottish
Greens also pledged their
commitment to preserving the arts
centre as its future as a cultural hub
hangs in the balance while its
owners market it for sale.Green candidatesBy PHYLLIS STEPHENTHE NEXT PRIME MINISTER is almost
undoubtedly going to be Labour’s Sir Keir
Starmer, but quite how the land will lie
politically in the five Edinburgh constituencies
is just guesswork. All will be revealed in the
cold light of dawn on 5 July after the votes are
counted at The Royal Highland Showground
where the declarations will also be made. (A
grimmer place in the middle of the night is
hard to find.) The Edinburgh Reporter will
have several journalists at the count to bring
you the Edinburgh news online as it happens.
Apparently it is not the capital where the news
will be made this time as it seems press
photographers are being despatched to other
towns around the country. But if Ian Murray,
former MP for Edinburgh South, is elected,
and Labour form the government, then
Edinburgh will indeed be on the national
political map. Murray is likely to be the Scottish
Secretary of State, having previously held the
position in the shadow cabinet.
At the 2019 General Election called by Prime
Minister, Theresa May, three SNP MPs, one
Scottish Labour and one Scottish Liberal
Democrat were elected to Westminster.
For the SNP, Edinburgh East was won by
Tommy Sheppard with a majority of 10,417,Edinburgh North and East by Deidre Brock with
a majority of 12,808 and Edinburgh South West
by Joanna Cherry, KC, with a majority of 11,982.
Scottish Labour’s sole MP at the time, Ian
Murray retained his Edinburgh South seat with
a majority of 11,905 and Christine Jardine held
hers in Edinburgh West where the Liberal
Democrats have a stronghold over local and
national politics, with a small majority of 3,769.
The campaigning this summer has been a bit
lacklustre in my view, and even a visit from the
Prime Minister to Edinburgh to help launch
the Scottish manifesto did not quite create the
stir it might have done.
But the Prime Minister has had much to
think about - and just as we were going to pressit transpired that one of his own Cabinet
colleagues, Alister Jack the Scottish Secretary of
State had won £2,100 betting on a July election- although he denied that he had broken any
Gambling Commission rules. Others may have
however, and the Prime Minister was forced to
eventually suspend two candidates in the run
up to the election over the betting scandal. If
elected they will be independent MPs until an
investigation is concluded. A UK General
Election is a bit of an oddity since the Scottish
party leaders are all MSPs, but none of them
(with the obvious exception of Douglas Ross)
were standing for election to Westminster.
Mr Ross was criticised for stepping up as a
candidate for the Aberdeenshire North and
Moray East seat, effectively snatching it from
former Scotland Office minister, David Duguid
who was deselected while recovering from
serious illness in hospital.
As a result of the outcry, Mr Ross conceded a
day or so after announcing his candidacy that, if
elected to Westminster, he will step down as an
MSP. And, no matter what happens, Mr Ross will
step aside as party leader in Scotland after the
General Election.
All parties have campaigned on a mix of
devolved and reserved matters, since it is the
NHS, the economy and the cost of living which
appear to head up the concerns of many Scots.
No matter what the outcome, I hope you get
the candidate you vote for.