SNP has damaged rather than improved Scotland, says Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has accused the SNP of causing “damage” to Scotland rather than improving the country.

The Prime Minister paid a visit north of the border on Thursday, and spoke to Scottish journalists at a community centre in Glasgow.

With less than six months to go before the Scottish Parliament elections which could weigh heavily on his political future, Sir Keir hit out at the SNP’s near-two decade record in power.

“John Swinney always points fingers because he never takes responsibility for his own record,” Sir Keir said.

“We’ve got an election coming up in May, they’ve been in power for a very, very long time, what he needs to do is explain what his record is.

“I don’t hear him going out there and saying ‘vote SNP because we’ve done all these things’, because he can’t say that, he hasn’t got a record to stand on.

“He will always point fingers at other people.

“When you’ve been in power for a very, very long time – they’re asking permission to go into a third decade in power – you do need to show what you’ve done.

“What they’ve done is damage rather than improve and that’s why, in the end, he’s got no positive case to put to Scotland.”

The Prime Minister also used the visit to reignite a row with the Scottish Government over nuclear power.

Scottish ministers have consistently said they would block the creation of nuclear energy sites north of the border through planning law, which gives an effective veto, in opposition to UK Government efforts to expand the sector.

The Prime Minister said that rather than engaging in “political to and fro” with Mr Swinney, he wanted both governments to work together to create jobs.

“I defy him to reflect on that, change his mind and work with me to ensure we can bring even more of those jobs to Scotland,” the Prime Minister said.

An SNP spokesperson said: “Keir Starmer won’t need to worry about being in power for a long time. He’ll be out when the SNP win a majority in May.”