EAST LOTHIAN NEEDS A LOCAL CHAMPION, NOT LOCAL INFIGHTING

EAST LOTHIAN NEEDS A LOCAL CHAMPION, NOT LOCAL INFIGHTING

CHAOS CONTINUES FOR LABOUR IN EAST LOTHIAN

Following the news that Anne Moffat is to sue her local Labour party, the SNP's candidate Andrew Sharp has criticised the Labour party for putting party politics before constituents.

The news comes after Moffat finally lost her battle to retain the candidacy of Lothian's seat, following months of disarray in the seat. Moffat has been critical of both Gordon Brown and Iain Gray over the handling of the whole fiasco, in which she claims she had been bullied.

Commenting, the SNP's candidate in East Lothian, Andrew Sharp said:

"All this shameful Labour infighting does nothing for the people of East Lothian.

"They are in complete disarray, it just seems to get worse and raises more questions about what sort of operation they have been running for years in East Lothian.

"This crisis just further exposes the sad fact that they are more concerned with internal party politics than with cutting a better deal for the area. The trust in Labour around East Lothian has just disintegrated, from 'Cash for Peerages' to Anne Moffat's 'gold plated safety net', they have lost the respect of the electorate.

"This whole debacle has been immensely embarrassing for Iain Gray. He has been completely silent on the issue and appears just to be hiding away from it all, pretending it isn't happening. His constituents are not impressed."

The SNP's Campaign Coordinator Stewart Hosie added:

"This whole mess just seems to escalate week after week and the people of East Lothian are suffering as a consequence.

"With the General Election not far away, what the area needs is a local SNP champion to work hard for East Lothian at Westminster by standing against Labour squabbling and standing up for Scotland - someone who will champion local priorities, not their own priorities."

“Labour in Scotland is now drowning in a sea of sleaze reminiscent of the dying days of John Major’s administration in the 1990s.

“There are serious question marks over the way Labour has been running Glasgow City Council and using taxpayers’ money, Scottish Labour MP Jim Devine has been charged with false accounting over his expenses, Labour MP for East Lothian Anne Moffat has been controversially deselected but will pocket £30,000 a year in a pension despite only being an MP since 2001, and another former Labour minister, East Kilbride MP Adam Ingram, has been caught trying to gain financially by using his ministerial contacts. Labour have badly let down the people of Scotland.”

SNP RETAKE THE LEAD IN HOLYROOD POLL

SNP RETAKE THE LEAD IN HOLYROOD POLL

Commenting on the YouGov poll published in the Scotland on Sunday which shows the SNP retaking the lead from Labour in the Holyrood constituency vote, the SNP's Westminster leader Angus Robertson said:

“It is hugely encouraging that the SNP has retaken the lead in voting intentions for the Scottish Parliament’s constituencies in the mid-term and shows the underlying strength of the SNP vote.

“It re-emphasises how the coming election in Scotland is a straight two-horse race between the SNP and Labour - that only the SNP can challenge Labour’s Thatcherite cuts agenda for Scotland.

“All in all, the SNP is in a good place to start the election campaign, and the figures demonstrate that last month’s claims the Tories were fighting the SNP for second place were complete hogwash.”

The results of the Holyrood Constituency vote are:

SNP - 34%

Labour - 31%

LibDem - 14%

Tory - 14%

Other - 7%

LABOUR'S STAMP DUTY TAX A RIP OFF FOR SCOTLAND

LABOUR'S STAMP DUTY TAX A RIP OFF FOR SCOTLAND

VIRTUALLY LITTLE BENEFIT FOR SCOTTISH 1st TIME BUYERS

Labour's stamp duty changes in the budget will have little to no effect in Scotland for first-time-buyers and appears designed to help the south of England, according to figures from the Halifax.

SNP MSP Bob Doris, Member of the Communities Committee, says the figures expose another example of the Labour party ripping-off Scottish voters.

Figures from Halifax show that the average first-time-buyers price in Scotland is the lowest in the UK. At £92,815 it is far below the £125,000 threshold, never mind the new £250,000 threshold Alistair Darling announced.

It will mean Scottish first-time-buyers will benefit the least from the increase in stamp duty thresholds - while the south of England will benefit most.

The only places in the UK where the average first-time-buyers' price is above £125,000 is in the southern England regions of Greater London (£214,724); the South East (£163,453) and the South West (£137,769).

Commenting Bob Doris said:

"This shows public funds are once again being used to rip-off people in Scotland.

"These figures show that the average first-time-buyer in the south of England will benefit from the change in stamp duty - but that the average first-time-buyer in Scotland will not.

"Just look at the comparisons.

"Barely a quarter of first-time-buyers in Scotland will even come close to paying just over £125,000. So three quarters of first-time-buyers in Scotland will see no benefit at all.

"Yet in Greater London a huge 95% of first-time-buyers will pay over £125,000 and in the South East the figure is 80%.

"So, over 9 out of 10 London first-time-buyers and 4 out of 5 South East first-time-buyers will benefit from the stamp duty changes - compared to a mere 1 in 4 in Scotland.

"This just shows that Labour and no different from the Tories. Whether its "deeper" cuts than Thatcher or this first-time-buyers con it all adds up to Scotland getting ripped off."

POLL SHOWS ONLY SNP CAN CHALLENGE LABOUR and THATCHERITE CUTS

POLL SHOWS ONLY SNP CAN CHALLENGE LABOUR and THATCHERITE CUTS

Commenting on the YouGov poll published in the Scotland on Sunday, the SNP's Westminster leader Angus Robertson said:

“We welcome this poll as the figures show the SNP is the only party which has substantially increased its vote since the last Westminster election, up from 18 to 24 per cent.

“The election in Scotland is a straight two-horse race between the SNP and Labour, but only the SNP can challenge Labour’s Thatcherite cuts agenda for Scotland.

“Our ‘More Nats, Less Cuts’ slogan has only just begun and already within just a matter of days a quarter of Scots back it. When Alistair Darling blurted out that Labour cuts will be ‘tougher and deeper’ than Thatcher’s, he pulled the rug from under Labour’s election campaign.

“The SNP’s election strategy is to make it clear that Scotland needs to elect SNP MPs as local and national champions, which was introduced at party conference last weekend, and we’re confident that strategy will find resonance with the people of Scotland.

“It is also hugely encouraging that the SNP has retaken the lead in voting intentions for the Scottish Parliament’s constituencies in mid-term, and that more people in Scotland are satisfied with the Scottish Government than the UK government during these tough economic times.

“All in all, the SNP is in a good place to start the election campaign, and the figures demonstrate that last month’s claims the Tories were fighting the SNP for second place were complete hogwash.”


The results were (with changes from 2005 in brackets) as follows:

SNP	24%	(+6%)
Labour	37%	(-3%)
Tory	18%	(2%)
LibDem	15%	(-8%)