Jeremy Corbyn '˜campaigning for change' ahead of Scotland tour

Jeremy Corbyn said he will be 'campaigning for real change' as he prepares to take his UK tour of marginal constituencies to Scotland.

By The Newsroom Monday, 21st August 2017, 9:27 am Updated Tuesday, 12th September 2017, 11:52 am

Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn is set to undertake a tour of Scotland. Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

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The Labour leader is keeping his party on a campaign footing in case another election is called.

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Of the 64 seats Labour needs to win to secure a parliamentary majority, 18 - more than a quarter - are in Scotland.

Mr Corbyn is pledging to cross the country from “Govan to Stornoway” later this week as he holds a series of campaign events over several days, speaking to voters in key target seats.

Speaking as he prepared for the visit, he said: “Scotland is a great country, but its people are being held back.

“Too many are barely getting by, without the chance to live their lives to the full, while an elite few across Britain get richer and richer.

“That’s why I will be spending this week in Scotland, campaigning for real change.

“It’s a place full of friends, a country I love, with an inspiring working class history and a fantastic tradition of social progress, education and culture.

“But Scotland has suffered as much as anywhere from the way our government and economy are run.

“Hope has been dashed by the cruelty of Tory cuts and failure, delivered via the austerity conveyor belt in Holyrood.

“Labour’s message in the General Election was that things don’t have to be this way, and our manifesto put the disastrous growth of inequality centre stage.”

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The party already holds seven seats north of the border, after it surpassed expectations in the snap election.

It held on to Ian Murray’s Edinburgh South constituency, and won a further six seats held by the SNP.

Mr Corbyn went on: “My aim, and that of the whole Labour Party, is to listen to the hopes and aspirations of the Scottish people - and earn their confidence that the policies we are campaigning for are realistic, affordable and would transform their lives for the better.

“We need to win more seats in Scotland if we are going to form a Government that will make those policies a reality.

“With the Conservatives in complete disarray, propped up by Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, we are on a permanent campaign footing.