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Nicola Sturgeon: Boris Johnson is 'dangerous and unfit for office' Sturgeon: I would have no great objection if Corbyn were replaced
(about 5 hours later)
Manifesto aims to persuade voters SNP is leading anti-Tory force in Scottish politics SNP leader hints she would back Labour leader’s exit if it helped form anti-Tory coalition
Nicola Sturgeon will say that Boris Johnson is “dangerous and unfit for office” as she launches the Scottish National party’s election manifesto. Nicola Sturgeon has said the Scottish National party would have “no great objection” if Jeremy Corbyn were replaced as Labour leader, and hinted strongly she would support that if it helped form an anti-Conservative coalition at Westminster.
The SNP leader and first minister will also reject the prime minister’s claims that voting Conservative will “get Brexit done” by 31 January next year. “Brexit is nowhere near being done,” she will say. The SNP leader said she “didn’t get to choose who leads the Labour party” but indicated several times at the launch of her party’s election manifesto that she was no fan of Corbyn.
Sturgeon hopes to cement her claim to voters that the SNP is the most effective anti-Tory force in Scottish politics, winning over Labour voters and those who backed remain in the 2016 EU referendum. Asked if the SNP would support moves to replace him as party leader if there were moves to do so at Westminster, to build a coalition with Labour, she said: “I don’t choose the leader of the Labour party. I have said if I did choose the leader of Labour party I wouldn’t choose Jeremy Corbyn, so that probably gives you the answer to that question.
The polls put the SNP at about 40% in Scotland, putting the party on course to increase the number of Westminster seats it holds from 35 at the last election, chiefly at the expense of Labour. “If Labour wanted to change its leader, I wouldn’t have any great objection to that [but] I’m not in charge of that decision.”
“The reality of Westminster control over Scotland is this: a rightwing Tory government Scotland didn’t vote for and a prime minister in Boris Johnson who is dangerous and unfit for office,” Sturgeon is expected to say. ​ ​“It means Tory cuts to the Scottish budget, the NHS under threat from a Tory-Trump trade deal, a power grab on the Scottish parliament, children being forced into poverty and a disastrous Brexit deal that will hit jobs, living standards and workers’ rights.​ ​“But there is worse to come – unless Boris Johnson is stopped this will just be the start.​ Brexit is nowhere near being done. The Tories have barely got going – they haven’t even started trade talks.​ ​“Because of Johnson’s hard line position, there is every chance the UK will leave without a trade deal next year. That would be a catastrophe for jobs.​” The Labour peer and adviser Bob Kerslake said at the weekend Corbyn’s resignation and a deal on staging a second independence referendum could be the price exacted by the Liberal Democrats and SNP for forming a post-election coalition.
Opinion polls suggest Labour is well short of winning enough seats to form a majority government, increasing speculation that Corbyn will have to strike deals with other opposition parties to block Boris Johnson from forming the next government.
Corbyn has repeatedly ruled out any pacts or deals, rejecting Sturgeon’s demands that he empower Holyrood to stage a fresh independence vote in late 2020. Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, has repeatedly stated her party would not do deals with a Corbyn-led government.
Kerslake, a former head of the UK civil service, told Sky News: “Labour … will seek to govern as a minority Labour government. But to be able to do that, you would need support from other parties.
“We don’t yet know in truth how that would play out, although the Liberal Democrats have said they could not support a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government and the SNP have said they would want a second referendum. All of that would form part of the conversation that Labour would be having informally with those two parties.”
Labour has rejected his assertions, insisting neither a second independence vote nor Corbyn’s leadership would be on the table.
Sturgeon was asked by Channel 4 News about the attacks on Corbyn’s suitability as prime minister by Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi, and whether that gave her pause for thought about propping up a minority Labour government.
She said: “I deplore Jeremy Corbyn’s lack of leadership on the issue of antisemitism and I don’t condone in any way, shape or form that failure on the part of him and of the Labour party to eradicate that from their ranks.”
But she said the SNP would exercise its duties at Westminster responsibly, pressing for its policy goals to be adopted by the next UK government. “We will not be signing any blank cheque to Jeremy Corbyn or to any leader of the Labour party.”
The Tories, placed at 28% in a Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times last weekend, deny Holyrood’s budget will be cut and dispute Sturgeon’s claim they plan wholesale privatisation of the NHS in England.The Tories, placed at 28% in a Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times last weekend, deny Holyrood’s budget will be cut and dispute Sturgeon’s claim they plan wholesale privatisation of the NHS in England.
The Scottish Tory manifesto says Johnson’s NHS funding plans for England will increase Scotland’s funding from the Treasury by £3.3bn by 2023. It says Scotland will get a further £1.4bn thanks to a £14bn increase in school funding in England, plus a share in Johnson’s “shared prosperity fund”, designed to replace EU structural funds post-Brexit.The Scottish Tory manifesto says Johnson’s NHS funding plans for England will increase Scotland’s funding from the Treasury by £3.3bn by 2023. It says Scotland will get a further £1.4bn thanks to a £14bn increase in school funding in England, plus a share in Johnson’s “shared prosperity fund”, designed to replace EU structural funds post-Brexit.
Sturgeon will also claim the SNP will put increased NHS funding in England and Wales at the heart of her party’s post-election negotiations with Labour if there is a hung parliament.
She wants to increase NHS spending in England and Wales by £136 a head, bringing it to Scottish levels. She said that would involve an extra spend of £35bn by 2023-24 but the SNP did not answer questions on Tuesday night about how that figure was calculated.
Labour and the Tories argue they already have very ambitious NHS funding proposals. The Institute for Fiscal Studies calculates that the Tories’ existing plans would increase NHS funding by £23.5bn in real terms, taking inflation into account, to £140bn in 2023-24.
The IFS says that is equivalent to £34bn in cash terms, without taking inflation into account.
The IFS says Labour’s spending plans would involve even larger increases in NHS funding, taking it to £143bn by 2023-24. That is equivalent to a £26.7bn increase in real terms, compared with spending in 2019-19, taking inflation into account. NHS budgets would grow in England by 3.8% a year, the IFS said.