Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale today hailed what she says is her party’s ‘stunning success’ in the General Election.
Just two years after losing all-but-one seat in Scotland, Ms Dugdale said ‘Scottish Labour is back’.
She said the result showed that voters responded to Labour’s pro-Union, anti-austerity vision of a future for the many, not the few.
Ms Dugdale said Theresa May had ‘gambled and lost spectacularly’ and should now resign although it appears that Mrs May is not listening as the Prime Minister is off to Buckingham Palace to speak to Her Majesty The Queen this lunchtime.
Ms Dugdale says that Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP suffered a ‘catastrophic result’, and that the result is the ‘final nail in the coffin’ for plans for a second independence referendum. She urges the First Minister to ‘get back to the day job’.
The results for Scottish Labour are explained thus :
· Around a quarter of Labour’s gains across the UK were in Scotland.
· Edinburgh South victor Ian Murray secured the largest parliamentary majority in Scotland.
· Labour won back Glasgow North East just two years after the SNP broke the BBC’s swingometer in the seat in 2015.
· Labour staged a stunning recovery in the polls, rising from just 13 per cent in April to 27 per cent.
The Scottish Labour leader said: “This was a stunning General Election result that proves Scottish Labour is back.
“Just two years after we were nearly wiped out in Scotland, we have staged a remarkable recovery and overturned some gigantic SNP majorities, and pushed the Nationalists incredibly close in many seats.
“I am incredibly proud of the campaign we ran in Scotland, which focused on our belief that together we’re stronger with Scotland as part of the UK, coupled with Jeremy Corbyn’s positive vision of a country for the many, not the few.
“We now have seven MPs from diverse backgrounds who will do a fantastic job standing up for their constituents in Westminster.
“Theresa May has gambled and lost spectacularly and she should now resign as Prime Minister – and Ruth Davidson should tell her that.
“As for the SNP, this was a catastrophic result and is the final nail in the coffin for Nicola Sturgeon’s plans for a divisive second independence referendum. She must now immediately abandon that plan and get back to the day job of running our schools and hospitals.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
