Angela Rayner, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Anas Sarwar, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party visit Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries in Glasgow

The Scotsman

Angela Rayner, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Anas Sarwar, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party visit Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries in Glasgow.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 Well, obviously, the SNP have been calling for the Labour

00:22 Party to commit to the full devolution of employment law.

00:25 Will you commit to that?

00:27 They won't need it, because I want employment law

00:30 across the whole of the United Kingdom to be uplifted

00:32 and better.

00:33 That's why we've got a New Deal for Working People.

00:35 I want the New Deal for Working People to be here in Scotland

00:38 so we have those protections of employment law.

00:41 I was my great Manchester MP.

00:43 I saw what the Tories did during furlough.

00:45 They tried to give us less because we were in Orvern.

00:48 We don't need as much in our area.

00:50 I don't want to see those disparities.

00:52 I want to see us having real good employment

00:54 practices across the whole of the United Kingdom

00:56 so the New Deal for Working People

00:58 will be in effect across the board

01:00 rather than it being split off between the different nations.

01:02 That's what I want to see, and that's the focus I've got.

01:05 So whether you're in Manchester or Edinburgh,

01:07 you will have good employment practices under UK Labour

01:10 government.

01:10 So is that a no-go then?

01:12 My focus is on getting the New Deal for Working People

01:14 across the United Kingdom, not devolving

01:17 that particular issue.

01:18 That's what I want to see.

01:20 So we've always said that I can completely understand

01:23 the argument when you see the carnage caused by UK Tory

01:26 government to workers' rights and to working people

01:29 across the country.

01:30 But what we have in Angela's New Deal for Working People

01:33 is a bold, radical plan to give people new rights on day one

01:37 when they start their job in terms of banning the zero-hour

01:40 contracts finally, ending fire and rehire,

01:43 increasing the living wage, equalising the living

01:45 wage in terms of those aged over 18.

01:47 That is a positive, radical plan that

01:50 is good for Scotland, good for the whole of the UK.

01:52 We've always said that our priority, first and foremost,

01:54 is make sure that's delivered.

01:55 And then how we entrench that is going to be

01:57 the next phase of that challenge.

01:59 I'm Alistair Grant, and I'm the political editor

02:01 of The Scotsman.

02:02 And I'm here at the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft

02:04 Industries, the supported employment manufacturing

02:07 facility in Glasgow, where Labour's deputy leader,

02:11 Angela Rayner, has been on a visit with the Scottish Labour

02:13 leader, Anna Sarwar.

02:15 Labour very much stepping up their campaigning ahead

02:17 of that expected general election next year,

02:20 but also, of course, ahead of that key by-election

02:23 in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, a by-election that

02:26 could very much be a bellwether for whether there is that Labour

02:30 revival in Scotland.

02:31 So today, Angela Rayner facing a lot of questions

02:33 about the two-child benefit cap, something

02:36 that's been a bit of a row for the Labour Party

02:38 over the last couple of weeks.

02:39 Michael Shanks, Labour's candidate in Rutherglen

02:41 and Hamilton West, making clear he

02:44 doesn't support that policy, but also

02:47 sticking to that party line, that Labour

02:49 line that they will be coming into government

02:51 if they do win that general election in a very

02:53 difficult financial situation, and they

02:55 won't be able to do all the things they want to do.

02:58 But other parties have been trying to exploit

03:00 that perceived division between the Scottish Labour

03:03 Party and the UK Labour Party on the two-child benefit cap.

03:07 Angela Rayner today, very much, again,

03:09 sticking to that line about the difficult financial situation

03:13 in the party, not being able to do all the measures that it

03:16 would want to do, but having this overall anti-poverty

03:20 package.

03:21 I also asked her if she would commit

03:23 to the full devolution of employment law.

03:25 That's something the SNP want to see.

03:27 Humza Yousaf, the First Minister,

03:28 was tweeting about it this morning,

03:30 and calling on Labour to commit to that.

03:33 Angela Rayner essentially ruling that out and saying,

03:36 as far as she's concerned, it won't be needed,

03:37 because they'll be putting in a package across the United

03:40 Kingdom and won't be treating the nations differently on this.

03:44 So I think you can expect to see senior Labour

03:46 people up in Scotland quite a few times in the future

03:50 as we approach that by-election in Rotherglen and Hamilton

03:54 West, which we expect to take place in around October.

03:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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