Ian Murray arrived in the hall to a media scrum and was immediately scooped up by broadcasters. He spoke to us shortly afterwards.
TER : “It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride for you this evening, people are saying you’re in and people are saying you’re right, which is it to be?“
IM : “Well, let’s wait for the results. We’ve fought Edinburgh South like the marginal seat that it’s always been. We’ve knocked on tens of thousands of doors, we’ve delivered leaflets from spoken to people on the telephone. All of that we’ve done and hopefully the public will realise that my principled stance on the UK and the EU and Scotland and the UK and being honest with them and principled with them, has shone through and I hope that will be the result tonight.”
TER : “You’ve been quite vocal tonight about Jeremy Corbyn tonight as you have been throught the campaign, I think, and previously, and it’s your view that Jeremy Corbyn has lost Labour this election, do you think?”
IM : “Well, I’m only reflecting on what people have said to me, I’ve already been criticised on social media for listening to the public and reflecting on what the public have said and the public have said that he has been the problem and not just him as an individual because this isn’t about personalities, but the project itself and wherever you are whether you’re in Sunderland tonight Newcastle and Liverpool and Scotland and Wales wherever you are tonight, Labour MPs who’ve lost their seats or won their seats will tell you exactly the same thing. And if we don’t listen to people and reflect on that we deliver what we’ve delivered tonight which looks like a majority Conservative government and that’s heartbreaking for this country.”
TER : “If we hypothesise that you are going to keep your seat and that you waken up tomorrow morning. What do you do, then?”
IM : “We’re all going to be waking up tomorrow morning, if the exit polls are to be broadly believed with a majority Conservative government, and the worst Prime Minister that this country’s ever seen. That is the conclusion of the Labour Party in terms of what we’ve offered to the public. So we either listen and act on that and listen to the public and do something different or we won’t even be a credible opposition, let alone a credible alternative government.
TER : “It would seem that if Boris Johnson is to be believed there will be Brexit on the 31st of January. We’ve heard these kind of promises before. There are other people who are saying he can’t possibly make that happen. What do you think about that?”
IM : “Well, whenever it happens, I think we’re more when than if now, because of the majority it looks as if Boris Johnson may be able to squeeze this through. We’ll have to just fight tooth and nail to make sure that the future relationship which has to be done by this time next year, gives us the softest possible Brexit, but one thing will be clear. As soon as the UK leaves the European Union Boris Johnson will own every single job loss in this country. Every single drop in GDP. Every single negative impact of Brexit will be landing at Boris Johnson’s door. Sadly, that door’s number 10.”
TER : “Is there not a chance still that we could be leaving with no deal at all?”
IM : “Well, absolutely, of course because the transition period only lasts until the 31st of December 2020. So in 12 months time we might be having a similar conversation discussing Deal or No Deal. That is what we now need to focus on in the national interest. The Labour party needs to sort itself out to make sure it’s that credible loud voice and standing up for the national interest to make sure we don’t have a disastrous Brexit.”
TER : “This is the third General Election you’ve fought in five years. are we heading for another one soon?”
IM : “Well, if the Exit poll’s to be believed I wouldn’t have thought so. But who knows. And what I would say is that the public won’t hang around for the Labour Party to sort itself out. So it’s about time we did it. This is the fourth general election I’ve stood in since 2010. And it’s always been a disastrous night for Labour. Let’s stop this and let’s give the country what they need, and that’s a Labour government.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
