Edinburgh South MP, Ian Murray, made his keynote speech on Saturday to the Scottish Labour Party conference in Glasgow while protesters gathered in the city centre putting pressure on the Labour party to make a clear call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Earlier conference voted in favour of a motion supporting a call for a ceasefire, putting pressure on Murray and his fellow MP, Michael Shanks at a potential vote in Westminster this week.
Making his keynote speech as conference reconvened for the afternoon session, Murray opened by referring to the political instability across the globe.
He said: “The situation in Palestine is heart-breaking and intolerable. We all want the same thing. For fighting to stop now and for all hostages to be released.
“And we need that ceasefire to sustain so there can be a proper process towards permanent peace within a 2-state solution and recognition for Palestine.”
Also in his address he said the SNP could no longer shout “lonely Murray” after the Rutherglen and West Hamilton by-election last October, which resulted in Michael Shanks being elected bringing the number of Scottish Labour MPs at Westminster to two.
Labour’s Scottish shadow secretary also criticised the Tories for “[privatising] the NHS by the backdoor [and] the SNP […] doing it through the front door” claiming the SNP thought nurses should pay higher taxes while multinational energy giants should pay lower taxes.
Murray also said the Tories had crashed the economy “infliacting indescribable damage”. He pointed to Keir for Starmer’s “primary mission in government to grow the economy”, adding that under Labour, “every family in Scotland will benefit from that growth”.
Murray demanded that Rishi Sunak call the general election, and ended his address referring to the “two more seismic Labour by-election victories” in Kingswood and Wellingborough in England on Friday, saying that in Glasgow, they would turn the city red and Edinburgh could deliver Labour MPs again.
Sir Keir Starmer is to address the conference tomorrow – but the growing Scottish-UK rift on the party’s ceasefire position will be closely watched.
Jamie Smith is an MA Journalism student at Edinburgh Napier Univeristy and freelance reporter and podcaster, writing for the Edinburgh Reporter and ENRG, recording for Globe Unpacked (Spotify) on the Radio ENRG network.
