SNP highlights £4,000 boost of independence
SNP leader Alex Salmond today said the economic boost that independence would give Scotland is equivalent to £4,000 per head.
Scottish nationalists have set a target of growing the Scottish economy by four per cent a year for the next ten years.
“That would give a £4,000 a head boost to our national wealth and increase average wages by £2,000,” said Mr Salmond. “There would be an additional £19 billion in the Scottish economy and £8 billion more to invest in public services.”
His claim came as he unveiled a former union leader as the SNP’s newest high profile member.
Jimmy Reid was the leader of the famous Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in in 1971, which lasted 14 months and saved the jobs of 8,500 shipyward workers.
A Labour candidate for Dundee East in 1979, Mr Reid accused Labour of betraying the principles that were “fundamental to the Labour movement in Scotland”.
He was described by Mr Salmond as “one of Scotland’s most respected trade unionists.”
“I have waited a long time to see forces emerging within the New Labour party that would bring the party back to its roots,” Mr Reid said. “But I have been waiting in vain and with every year that passes, Tony Blair and New Labour move further to the right.”
Scottish Labour was today unveiling its mini-manifesto for older people. Scottish Secretary Alistair Darling said: “This election is a choice between two futures: A Labour future where there is security and dignity in old age for all Scots; and an uncertain future under the Tories.”
Scottish Labour is dismissive of SNP plans for a citizens’ pension, describing it as a promise it cannot keep. The SNP will never hold a majority in Westminster and will never be in control of the Treasury, it said, so the pledge “is therefore irrelevant.”
Elsewhere, Labour’s Welsh Secretary Peter Hain is visiting Scotland today, but is finding himself under attack from the SNP over an article in which he said there was a case for enhanced devolved powers in Wales.
Mr Salmond said: “This leaves a double question for Labour in Scotland and for Mr Hain as he pays his flying visit. First do they think the Scottish Parliament has been a success and if so, do they agree that a successful parliament opens the door to more powers?
“If it is time for the Welsh Assembly to take the next step forward it is surely also time for the Scottish Parliament.”
