Sir Keir Starmer says ‘no way’ to General Election deals with the SNP
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has firmly ruled out any deals with the SNP after July’s General Election, insisting there is “no way” his party could work with Scottish nationalists.
Sir Keir was adamant he would not work with the SNP, even if the July 4 election fails to result in an overall majority for Labour.
His comments came as he campaigned in the Glasgow East constituency, one of the Scottish seats Labour will be hoping to win from the SNP come polling day.
But asked if he could work with John Swinney’s party in the event of a hung parliament, Sir Keir made clear there would be “absolutely no deal with the SNP”.
He said there would “obviously” be no deal in advance of the election but added there would be “no deal the other side of the election, under any circumstances”.
The Labour leader added: “That’s not just a question of mathematics, that is because there is no way an incoming Labour government could ever work in any way with the SNP, whose only ambition is to break up the United Kingdom.”
Significant cohort
His comments came as Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told journalists the party was hoping to have a “significant cohort” of MPs from north of the border after July 4.
In the last general election in 2019 Labour won just one constituency in Scotland, though recently polls have shown support for the party rising, in some cases putting support for Sir Keir’s party ahead of the SNP.
Mr Sarwar, asked how many seats in Scotland the party could win this time, said: “I’ve got an old fashioned view, which is the more people you persuade to vote for you the more seats you win.”
While he said Labour had “come a long way” in doing that, he said that they had “still got more persuasion to do”.
But the Scottish Labour leader added: “We want to build a significant cohort of Scottish Labour MPs to get us over the line, to make sure we deliver a UK Labour government, but even more importantly go there to sit on the government benches, be round the table making decisions for the Scottish people.”
Sir Keir meanwhile stressed he wanted his party to take “every seat we are capable of winning here in Scotland”.
He stressed that while the “numbers really matter” it was also important to him to be a leader for all parts of the UK.
‘UK prime minister’
He said: “This is also personal. If I am privileged enough to come in and serve as the UK prime minister, I want to be the UK prime minister for the whole of the United Kingdom and that includes Scotland.
“Over and above the numbers, having strong Labour representation from Scotland sitting on the government benches matters to me in terms of the way I want to govern, which is for Scotland and with Scotland.
“Yes, the numbers are important, but there is something very deep about the way I see politics, which is also about the type of government we want to form.”
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Scotland still has a large pro-independence voting base and Starmer going straight in with the “F U, I’m your boss”. Gives a strong indicator of the relationship he’s going to have with the Senedd. Voting Plaid in July.
Had
Has.
Had
Aw bless
We’re doomed doomed I tell ye
Why does he think that wrapping himself in the Union Jack is going to help him in the task of getting SNP voters to switch to Labour?
Because he doesn’t care about Scotland (or Wales), he’s virtue signalling to the pro-Unionists south of the Scottish border.
Unionists who use it as a cloak for English nationalism. I’m absolutely fine With English nationalists, as I am with any. But to Make out it’s the same as Unionism is clear designed to confuse in order to steal what it means to be British and its origins.
Remember there are more people of Welsh heritage on the other side of Clawdd Offa than Cymru. He may be appealing to those Welsh people.
More disengenuous guff from Starmer. And why, pray tell, should we want to keep the corpse of the UK warm? What purpose does it serve? None that benefits working people, that’s for sure.
Starmer may be all bolshie right now but if he needs to do deals to get into No10 after the GE he’ll be dealing with almost anyone and the SNP might have a decent number of seats to give him a working majority. Good of him to show once again what a stupid pr**k he’s prone to be at times.
Best outcome for Scotland and Wales would be SNP and Plaid majorities in a hung parliament.
I agree, and in the case of Scotland I think that is doable, especially if the SNP double down on the likelyhood that a solely Starmer Labour government is likely to be as bad, or even conceivably worse than the Tories.
I think Plaid will struggle, it just doesn’t have the kind of appeal that the SNP has in Scotland. For a start, Plaid needs to grow a backbone so that it robustly stands up to Labour.
I suspect if he does fall short of a majority, he might actually end up doing a deal with the Tories, if SNP wasn’t going to work, and LibDems just don’t have the numbers.
He is the leader of one of the two main unionists parties outside Ulster, why would anybody be surprised by his answer. Poeople of Cymru listening to statements made by Labour MP’s elected in Cymru, should know the score by now when it comes to keeping the union together. He plays to the voter he needs to get him elected, and that voter, due to size of population, is, and always was, in England, and it is Englands needs, not ours or Scotlands, that will be served by both Labour and Tory parties.
Yeah, it’s supposedly a democracy, a Democracy where the only Voice that matters will only ever be English. Why we can’t wake up to this fact is beyond me.
Its not even English. Look at how the North of England is constantly screwed over. The only voices that matter are London and the surrounding areas
‘Oh dear, is that the Steve Bell identified ‘Mad Blair Eye Syndrome’ developing so early in Clark Kent’s left eye…
Over use of red and black in that picture, you have to wonder where he gets his inspiration from…n.c, reach, the tabloids…where?
This is becoming something of an identifier in suspect politicians, alien implant giving an anti-left wing perspective, perhaps!
Is Cleverly suspected of involvement cos he ain’t squealing…
If cardboard Conservative Keir Starmer thinks those independence voters in Scotland have gone away is going to have a very rude awakening. The appetite is still there believe me. Personally, I find UK Labour is aping English King Canute. He too arrogantly tried to hold back the tide. So Scotland & Wales beware of Trojan Tories baring gifts. The Labour locusts are on their way to devour any hope and aspirations you have.