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Ruth Davidson promises 'blue-collar revolution' in Scotland

by Conrad Landin
in Aberdeen

RUTH DAVIDSON pledged to lead a “blue-collar revolution” and “make sure nobody is left behind” this weekend – but Labour accused her of “shameless soundbites.”

The Scottish Tory leader sought to reach out to working-class voters with pledges to improve vocational education and a “lifelong skills guarantee” to help workers change careers.

“For too many, it remains the case that vocational education is somehow a poor relation of the academic route – that it’s something lesser,” she said at the close of the Scottish Conservative conference on Saturday.

“What we need is nothing short of a blue-collar revolution, and a government led by me would deliver on it.”

Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: “Ruth Davidson claims she doesn’t want anyone left behind. That is shameless soundbite from a politician who has backed the bedroom tax, the two-child cap and subsequent rape clause, and stood by as austerity pushed millions into poverty and homelessness.

“Labour is committed to lifelong learning, but the most urgent reform our education system needs is more funding – we have over 3,000 fewer teachers under the SNP but Ruth Davidson won’t ask the richest to pay their fair share to deliver it.”

Ms Davidson said she would prioritise “bringing down the curtain on 14 years of SNP grudge and grievance” – with “no more constitutional games and no more referenda” on either Scottish independence or European Union membership.

But SNP depute leader Keith Brown hit back: “What Ruth Davidson describes as ‘constitutional games’ is the difference between having a home in Scotland, or losing that home as part of a hostile immigration environment.

"It’s the difference between support from a social security system with dignity and fairness at its heart, or poverty for those whose benefits have been cut by the Tory government.”

Ms Davidson also said it was “no wonder” that “angry voters [gave] both the Labour Party and our party an almighty kicking” in the local elections in England. The Conservatives lost 1,334 council seats, and Labour’s total was down by 82.

The speech in Aberdeen was Ms Davidson’s first public appearance after returning from seven months of maternity leave.

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