SCOTLAND NEEDS CHAMPIONS - ALEX SALMOND'S SPEECH

SCOTLAND NEEDS CHAMPIONS - ALEX SALMOND'S SPEECH

Mr Salmond’s full speech is below:

At this election, more than ever before, Scotland needs champions.

And so on polling day, we are not just choosing MPs in the House of
Commons. We are choosing national champions to stand up for the people of
Scotland.

National champions and LOCAL champions, who will offer communities across
our nation the voices that they need.

Have no doubt the outcome of this election is in the hands of the people.

The people will decide whether Scotland is the winner.

And the London parties would do well to remember that.

Any party that takes the people for granted – any party that says
Scotland's votes are irrelevant will pay a heavy price on polling day.

Labour, Tory or Liberal - they have come together to try to cut Scotland
and the SNP out of the election debates. Just as they are trying to carve
Scotland out of this election.

The pundits and London politicians think they know what is going to happen
on polling day.

They say it is all about Gordon or David, Labour or Tory, tweedledum or
tweedledee.

But they are wrong.

These are the people’s elections and what will matter are the people’s votes.

And the seats we are fighting, the constituencies we look to represent.
These are not Labour seats, or Liberal seats or even SNP seats. They are
not the possession of any one party.

THEY ARE THE PEOPLE’S SEATS.

AND IT IS THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY WHO WILL DECIDE.

I remember last year how the pundits were so certain who was going to top
the Christmas charts. All bets were off. The X-factor had it sewn up.

The system, the slick PR, the prime time TV shows, would make sure of it.

But then the people decided they would have their say. They would decide.

They raged against the machine.

They voted - and they won.

There is much to make us rage with politics today.

Westminster expenses, greedy bankers, an illegal war, the deepest
recession since the 30s.

And the obscene decision to waste £100,000 million on new nuclear missiles
while public services are under real threat from the consequences of
recession.

That alone, that one choice, tells us everything we need to know about the
today’s Labour Party.

THEY HAVE LOST THEIR WAY, FORGOTTEN THEIR ROOTS.

THEIR PRIORITIES ARE NO LONGER THE PRIORITIES OF THE PEOPLE

There is rage at the metropolitan political consensus. A consensus of
cuts that has left the ordinary people of this country out in the cold.

Decisions taken in London that impact hard on families and communities.

This is the Westminster machine and people are raging.

Against a system that favours the few and ignores the many.

Against a way of politics that leaves the people on the outside.

I SAY TO THE LONDON PARTIES – THERE IS NOT GOING TO BE BUSINESS AS USUAL.

AT THIS ELECTION THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND WILL BE HEARD.

AND THEY WON’T VOTE FOR JUST POLITICIANS. THEY WILL ELECT LOCAL CHAMPIONS.

Around our shores, in our universities, colleges, in our successful growth
companies, there is so much potential.

Across our country talent we can build on, energy, determination we can
unleash.

There is too much at stake, too promising a future, to let the wrong
decisions, the wrong priorities stand in the way.

WE MUST NOT LET OTHERS HOLD SCOTLAND BACK.

So have no doubt, Scotland needs champions.

National champions and local champions.

We meet here today in Edinburgh East a seat the SNP is working hard to
win. And you heard earlier from George Kerevan. Someone who has what it
takes to be a local champion.

And you saw SNP candidates from across the country – from Dundee, Glasgow,
Inverness, Aberdeen, Moray, Ochil and Perthshire. SNP candidates talking
about the local issues they care about.

Setting out how they can make a difference for the communities they come
from, the communities they are working hard for, the communities they
represent.

That is what is important today and for this next parliament.

At this election we can elect a team of MPs who will champion the causes
that matter.

Working hard for the people they represent not only when elections are
looming, but every day and every week. SNP members in parliament and in
our council chambers.

People’s politicians. Local champions.

Scotland needs more of them.

We are told that the Parliament might be balanced with no majority. Good.
If so then let us balance it in Scottish hands.

We are told that the UK debt is now a crippling 1 trillion pounds. But
Scottish north sea oil and gas reserves are worth a trillion pounds and
yesterday just yesterday was revealed that the Norwegian oil fund has
increased by $100 billion dollars in a single year.

Some people say that the lights could go out in the UK through energy
shortages. But offshore Scottish renewables could produce 10 times our
own electricity requirements.

The London parties say that Scotland shouldn’t get the chance to vote on
our own independent future. Apparently they already know the result. Well
why don’t we let the people speak.

Because the threat to Scotland is real and pressing. Recovery is fragile.
We all know the pressures people are facing.

And yet, at a time when government should be doing all it can to help, the
London parties – Labour, Tory, Liberal – have the axe sharpened and
poised.

That is the biggest current challenge facing us as a nation – as a
national community. A challenge that is about more than budget lines.
Because the London axe is poised not just on Scotland's budget, but on
Scottish jobs.

On lifeline services.

On our health service, schools and police.

Poised on these things that really matter in our lives and for our
communities at a time when £100 billion - £100,000 million - will be spent
on new nuclear bombs.

Whether it is Gordon Brown or David Cameron sitting in No. 10, the next
London government is ready to unleash a sustained attack on Scotland and
our public services.

Tory or Labour the prospect is just the same and it is depressing, dismal
and desperate.

They plan immediate cuts. New cuts this year. Early cuts, deep cuts even
cuts targeted on Scotland.

Further cuts in the year ahead that Scotland's councils have warned could
be 'catastrophic' for the services communities rely on.

The shared agenda of the London parties is a threat not only to our
economic recovery, but to so much that makes Scotland what it is today.

To the social democratic ethos that means we as a community know the value
of looking out for each other; the value of investing in education, in
housing and in health.

WEALTH CREATED, WEALTH INVESTED AND WEALTH SHARED.

The London parties talk about cuts as though it was all about numbers on a
balance sheet. But we know different. Behind those cuts will be real
people, real services, real jobs.

At this election, the choice is clear. We must do all we can to protect
those people, those services and those jobs.

Thus Scotland needs champions. Now more than ever.

SNP MPs who will be at Westminster with a clear purpose – as national and
local champions. Working to win the best deal for our nation.

Giving the people in communities across Scotland the strongest voice.

The more SNP MPs elected the stronger Scotland's position will be.

Because at this election the message is simple.

MORE NATS MEANS LESS CUTS.

At this election people across Scotland have the opportunity to do more
than just vote for a politician.

THEY CAN ELECT A CHAMPION – A LOCAL CHAMPION, A NATIONAL CHAMPION

Today we launch an election theme.

BUT IT IS MORE THAN THAT. IT IS A CALL TO ACTION.

A chance to take that London script, Rip it up and create something
better, something bolder.

THE LONDON PARTIES ARE ENGAGED IN A PHONEY WAR. THE REAL FIGHT, THE REAL
FIGHT IS FOR SCOTLAND.