Yousaf hails legacy of trade union campaigner Jimmy Reid ahead of lecture

First Minister Humza Yousaf has told how the “exceptional legacy” of trade union campaigner Jimmy Reid makes him “determined to lead Scotland to independence”.

The SNP leader said Mr Reid, who led workers at a closure-threatened Glasgow shipyard on a work-in in the 1970s, had “fought his whole life” for a fairer Scotland.

Speaking ahead of delivering the 10th annual Jimmy Reid lecture in the city on Thursday, Mr Yousaf said his “exceptional legacy lives on, and is now more relevant than ever”.

He said: “I am determined to lead Scotland to independence precisely so we can build the fairer, sustainable Scotland that Jimmy fought his whole life for – which is the Scotland I believe the vast majority of people want to live in.”

Glasgow-born Mr Reid served the city as a communist councillor, though he later became a supporter of Scottish independence.

He was also elected as rector at the University of Glasgow in 1971, after rising to prominence during the shipyard work-in – with his inaugural address hailed by the New York Times as being the “greatest speech” since Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Mr Yousaf said: “Jimmy Reid was a trailblazer in so many aspects of his life, and one of the most influential figures in Scotland’s 20th century political history.”

The union activist was promoting the “core ideas” of what is now called a wellbeing economy “decades ago”, the SNP leader added.

Mr Yousaf said Scotland is now “playing a key role in helping develop and spread” this concept around the world, with the First Minister saying his Government is also putting this “into practice at home”.

Speaking ahead of the lecture, he said: “Our ambition is to build better lives for this and future generations, with good jobs, lower poverty and higher living standards.

“Our prospectus for the economy of an independent Scotland puts wellbeing front and centre of our plans.

“We’ve set out how we would ensure a better, fairer working life for people – including improved access to flexible working, greater job security through strengthened workplace rights, collective bargaining and reformed models of corporate governance that evidence shows improves profitability.”

Dave Watson, director of the Jimmy Reid Foundation, said: “We are delighted that the First Minister, Humza Yousaf, will be giving the 10th annual Jimmy Reid Foundation lecture.

“The lecture is one of the ways the foundation remembers ‘The Rat Race is for Rats’ – Jimmy Reid’s famous rectorial address at the University of Glasgow on April 28, 1972.

“It has been an opportunity for leading figures from politics, trade unions and civic society to address, in more depth than other formats, the big challenges facing contemporary Scotland.”