Keir Starmer rejects deal with SNP “before or after general election”

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has denied any form of electoral agreement with the SNP on “constitutional” issues ahead of Britain’s upcoming general election.

Sir Keir has dismissed speculation that his party may consider offering a second referendum on Scottish independence if SNP support is needed to form a minority Labor coalition or government.

“Look, I’ll meet Nicola Sturgeon, if she wants to, to talk about the challenges of the day,” he told Scotland. daily check-in. “But on the Constitution … we are quite clear that the current focus is on recovery and the climate challenge.”

The Labor leader suggested his party’s stance on the Scottish independence referendum would not be softened – even after the expected resumption of the Covid crisis.

Sir Keir said the big issues for the whole of Britain before the next general election would be “generational questions” on health services, the economy and the climate emergency.

“In my opinion, they can only be answered by a strong Labor government in Westminster,” he said. “The central question will be that if you want a Labor government you have to vote for Labour. “

“You can’t vote for another party and get a Labor government in Westminster. That will be our strategic approach to these elections, and there will be no coalition and no coalition will emerge before these elections.

Sir Keir accused the SNP of a ‘massive failure to deal with the climate crisis’ ahead of the crucial COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in November – claiming the Scottish government had promised only one in 20 offshore jobs ten years ago .

“Your degree of progressivism is a test of what you do on climate change and they have clearly failed at that point. The SNP has not delivered on the promises made to the Scottish people,” he said.

The Labor leader has also rejected criticism of climate crisis targets by some members of his own party and has now pledged to achieve a “substantial majority” of greenhouse gas emissions reductions by 2030.

in an interview with IndependentSir Keir said the party’s commitment – effectively putting Britain on a path to zero 20 years ahead of Boris Johnson’s 2050 target – was stronger than ever.

The Labor leader’s previous reluctance to publicly reaffirm a commitment inherited from Jeremy Corbyn has raised fears among activists that he is shrinking from radical action on global warming.

But Sir Keir said the commitment was “exactly the same as in our 2019 manifesto”, adding: “The ambition – not just ambition, determination and commitment – on the Green New Deal is as strong as the Labor Party’s now.”

The Labor leader said Boris Johnson was ‘missing’ on climate change ahead of the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.

Both the Prime Minister and Sir Keir will be in Scotland today. Labor Leader is in Glasgow to discuss climate change with Scottish Labor Leader Anas Sarwar and the local Youth Forum.