This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/27/nicola-sturgeon-boris-johnson-is-dangerous-and-unfit-for-office-snp-manifesto

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Sturgeon: I would have no great objection if Corbyn were replaced Trident, austerity and independence: SNP sets out aims for post-election talks
(32 minutes later)
SNP leader hints she would back Labour leader’s exit if it helped form anti-Tory coalition Nicola Sturgeon launches manifesto with pledge to put Scotland’s interests ‘front and centre’ in progressive alliance
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. Nicola Sturgeon will put ending austerity, the removal of nuclear weapons from Scotland and a second independence referendum in 2020 at the heart of her party’s post-election negotiations with Labour if there is a hung parliament.
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. The SNP leader added that those worried about a Jeremy Corbyn government should be “reassured” that her party would insist on zero tolerance of antisemitism, Islamophobia and any form of racism.
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. Setting out the list of demands as she launched her party’s general election manifesto in Glasgow on Wednesday morning, she told activists that the SNP would “put Scotland’s interests front and centre in a progressive alliance to lock the Tories out of government at Westminster”.
“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.” Calling for a “real end to austerity”, she stressed that the next UK government must make right the cumulative cuts Scotland has suffered over the past decade, which she estimated to be £13.9bn.
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. Reminding activists of the financial package agreed by Theresa May with the DUP after the 2017 election, Sturgeon told activists: “A party seeking our support must be prepared to set out how they would repair the damage of a decade of austerity and put back the money that has been lost.”
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. Sturgeon said that she would negotiate to increase NHS spending in England and Wales by £136 a head, bringing it to Scottish levels and involving an extra spend of £35bn by 2023-24, although no information was made available about how that figure was calculated.
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. She is also proposing a NHS Protection Act that would include a double lock for devolved assemblies to consent to any post-Brexit trade deal.
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. Attacking Labour’s proposed windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas industry as the latest example of Westminster “pocketing” Scotland’s oil revenue, she contrasted this with £200bn to renew the “immoral” Trident, saying: “A key SNP demand for our support will be the removal of Trident from Scotland and saving of billions of pounds to be invested instead in our precious public services.”
“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.” Emphasising that Brexit “is nowhere near being done”, in a reversal of Boris Johnson’s catchphrase, she said: “Scotland will pay a heavy price for the Tories’ Brexit obsession and Labour’s neutrality.”
Labour has rejected his assertions, insisting neither a second independence vote nor Corbyn’s leadership would be on the table. Describing an SNP victory in Scottish seats as “a clear instruction” that voters want a second independence referendum in 2020, she said: “People are becoming increasingly sick of hearing Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn talking about not allowing Scottish people to choose their own future.” To cheers and applause, she added: “Well I’ve got news for them: it’s not up to you.”
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. My message to any party seeking SNP support after the election is: if you cannot support this most fundamental of democratic principles then the SNP cannot and will not support you.”
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.” Taking questions from the media following her speech, Sturgeon was challenged on whether she would continue to support Corbyn in a minority government given the renewed heavy criticism of his handling of antisemitism.
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.” This morning, Paul Edlin, president of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, told the Scottish Daily Mail that Sturgeon would be doing “a deal with the devil” if she were to help Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street.
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. She responded: “I deplore Jeremy Corbyn’s lack of leadership on antisemitism,” adding that the SNP would exercise its influence “responsibly” in any post-election negotiations. “We would not signing any blank cheque to Jeremy Corbyn or to any leader,” she said.
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. “In addition to all of the other things, we would be very clear in our expectations to any party leader who wanted the support of the SNP to make clear its zero tolerance of antisemitism, Islamophobia, to any form of prejudice or racism. And to those worried about Jeremy Corbyn, it should give a degree of reassurance that SNP MPs are able to apply that pressure.”
Asked whether she believed Corbyn was personally antisemitic, she replied: “I don’t know Jeremy Corbyn personally well enough to answer that question, but I do say unequivocally and emphatically that he has failed to get to grips with this problem within his party.”
She added that Boris Johnson “has a charge sheet of his own to answer” on racism.
She refused to say whether she would support moves to replace Corbyn as Labour leader in order to facilitate a post-election deal: “I don’t choose the leader of the Labour party, I wouldn’t choose Jeremy Corbyn, but I’m not in charge of that decision.”