Robina Barton, Labour candidate for Orkney & Shetland said today:
“On Da Level, a report by the Shetland Commission on Inequalities, states that 1 in
15 people in Shetland are income deprived; half of all households are in fuel poverty;
and food parcels have trebled since 2010. I couldn’t find equivalent data for Orkney
but the Orkney Community Plan makes clear that Orkney, too, is home to individuals
and families who are struggling.”
“In our islands we face other kinds of inequality – difficulties relating to transport,
digital connectivity, access to medical services, and sustaining our agriculture and
fishing industries. We need our government to be are aware of the challenges we
face and we need a government that is interested in working with us to tackle them.
The Tories have no interest in tackling inequality. The SNP profess to have an
interest but have signally failed to use any of their extensive devolved powers to this
end.”
And she concluded:
“I am standing for Labour because tackling inequality and making life better for
everyone is at the heart of their mission. They, and I, stand for the many, not the few. ”
General Election 2017: Orkney and Shetland Candidates
Labour: Robina Barton
SNP: Miriam Brett
Liberal Democrats: Alistair Carmichael
Independent: Stuart Hill
Conservative: Jamie Halcro Johnston
UKIP: Robert Smith
Categories: Uncategorized
I’ve been reading Robina’s piece in conjunction with today’s release of the Labour – Head Office, Manifesto and there is much in it with which we in the SNP can agree with. But and it’s a big but and that is the rejection of the right of the democratically elected Parliament of Scotland to ask for a second Referendum once the outcome of the Brexit negotiations in about two years time are known.
Does this mean that Labour’s Head Office is now turning its back on the UN Charter (Article 1, Para 2) agreed to by Labour’s 1945 Government of Atlee and Bevan at the signing in June/July in San Francisco in 1945 and fully endorsed at the first meeting of the newly founded UN, held in London on January 10th hosted by Labour’s PM Atlee and Foreign Secretary Bevan?
I would also like to know how Robina can square the circle whereby Scottish Labour voted overwhelmingly to reject Trident and its base on the Clyde, yet the Head Office Manifesto clearly states their agreement to a new generation of useless weapons of mass destruction at an estimated cost of £110 billion, so where does Scottish Labour really stand? Do you stand by your Scottish Party’s Conference decision or will you just follow Head Office orders once again?