Nicola Sturgeon Election 2017

Hello, everybody. It's... Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you,

Susan. It is great to be here in the east end of Glasgow. In the city

where in 2015, and again in 2016, this city delivered a clean sweep of

SNP victories. On Thursday... We have the opportunity to yet again

provide this great city with the leadership that it needs. On

Thursday, we have the opportunity to remove the dead suffocating hand of

labour from the city Chambers once and for all.

And to replace it with a vibrant, dynamic, ambitious city government

and the brilliant leadership of Susan Aitken. And then, a few weeks

later, in the general election on June eight, we must make sure that

Scotland's voices heard and it is heard loudly and clearly. Make...

Make no mistake, this general election really matters to the

future of our country. Which will determine whether Scotland continues

to move forward or is dragged back by the Tories. And it will ensure

that the decisions about the future of our country at what about that

turns out to be, is taken here, by the Scottish parliament and Scottish

people, not by an increasingly hardline right-wing Tory government

at Westminster. We know from experience in Scotland

and here in Glasgow that every vote for the Conservatives has real

consequences. We have seen the damage a Tory government has done to

Scotland over the past few years, the cuts we know about all ready to

Scotland's budget imposed by a Conservative government at

Westminster amount to ?3 billion. The Tories while giving tax cuts to

the very wealthiest in society are removing support from disabled

people from disabled people are losing ?30 a week, some are having

their mobility vehicles taken away from them. It is disgraceful. And

that is the damage a Conservative government has done with a small

majority. We in Scotland must not allow the Tories a free hand to do

even more damage to our country and the fabric of our society.

Theresa May has told us what this general election is about for her.

It is about removing opposition and strengthening her hand to do

whatever she wants. Let's make sure on June the 8th we send a loud

message from Scotland that we are not prepared to give a Conservative

government a free hand to do whatever it wants to Scotland. So,

let's take our message the length and breadth of the country over

these next few weeks and in doing so let us make the contrast between an

SNP government here in Scotland and a Tory government at Westminster.

The SNP is building 50,000 affordable homes across our country,

the Tories have imposed the bedroom tax and are removing housing support

from young people. The SNP is doubling childcare for every three

and four-year-old, for every vulnerable TV rolled over these next

few years, the Tories are removing child tax credits from thousands of

working families across the country and the Tories disgracefully

shamefully have imposed the appalling rape laws. On the NHS, we

know the pressures it faces but in Scotland we are investing to address

those challenges. Our front line Accident and Emergency staff all

over the country and we are owed them such an important debt of

gratitude, our staff face the same pressures the health service in

every part of the UK is facing but here in Scotland they are performing

much much better than any other part of the UK and we should be proud of

them for that. And we will continue to invest in our health service and

will support those who work in our health service. The SNP knowing that

we have to get more people into our health service is supporting and

protecting and continuing bursaries for nursing students, the Tories

south of the border have abolished those bursaries and seeing the

numbers coming into nursing plummeting. But as the difference

between an SNP government here in Scotland and a Tory government at

Westminster. And for young people, the SNP has put our trust in the

young people of this country. On Thursday in the council elections,

every 16 and 17-year-old across Scotland will have the opportunity

to vote. Just as they did in the independence referendum and last

year in the Scottish Parliament elections because we take a simple

view, if you are old enough to get married and have children, you

should be old enough to have a say in the future of your country as

well. So, we trust... We trust our young people and that will be

obvious on Thursday in his council elections but a few weeks later in

the general election the Tories will deny 16 and 17-year-olds the right

to vote and why, because the Tories know it does not see them to have

young people voting. The Tories put the interests of their party ahead

of the interests of the next of this country and that is another reason

not to vote Conservative this election.

And for our older people, while here in Scotland we are protecting free

personal care, and we are standing up for the women robbed of pension

entitlements by a Conservative government, the Prime minister

cannot even give a straight answer to whether or not she will protect

the triple lock on pensions. Let me make it clear today, every SNP MP

elected on June the 8th will vote to protect our pensions and protect the

interests of older people in our country. So, these... That is the

contrast between an SNP government in Scotland and a Conservative

government at Westminster and that progress is the progress we must

protect in this election. Where I grew up in the west of Scotland,

there was and still is a saying and it is this, you can't trust the

Tories. And that is just as true today as it was just a few years ago

when I was growing up in Ayrshire. Think about this, Theresa May is a

Prime minister who before she took office and entered Downing Street

told us that Brexit would be devastating for jobs and the

economy. And yet now that she is Prime minister, she is intent on

pursuing the hardest possible Brexit regardless of the cost even as we

start to see the evidence of the damage to our economy. She is a

prime minister of course who said just a matter of weeks ago that the

last thing the country needed was a general election. Remember, what she

said? No ifs, no buts, there will not be a general election called

early. And now she has changed her mind. Not in the interests of the

country but in the narrow partisan interests of the Conservative party

so my question is this, if we cannot trust the word of the prime minister

on Brexit or even on whether or not she would call an early election,

how can we possibly trust the word of this prime minister on our

economy, public services, support for the most vulnerable people in

society? Let me tell you... Let me tell you today what an SNP vote on

June the 8th will deliver. Firstly, it will re-elect the strongest

possible voices for Scotland to stand up for Scotland at Westminster

and I can tell you today, hot off the presses, the strong voice we

want to elect to stand up for Scotland to stand up for the east

end of Glasgow, a new cancer drug Glasgow East is David Linden. -- new

candidate. So, stronger voices... And SNP vote

will deliver stronger voices for Scotland. An SNP vote will also make

sure that we back our Scottish Parliament against a Conservative

Government that wants to undermine our Scottish Parliament. And it will

make sure that the future of our country is decided here in Scotland,

not by a Tory Government at Westminster. And as vote, as vote

for the SNP will make sure the Tories do not get away with

silencing all opposition, as they want to do. Because vote for the SNP

will make sure that there continues to be real and effective opposition

in the House of Commons. I can't tell you how proud I have been over

the past two years to watch Angus Robertson and our team of MPs

provide the only effective opposition to the Conservatives in

the House of Commons. And the tragedy today of Labour is

this. Not only is it abundantly obvious that Labour cannot win this

election, it is also clear, and has been clear for the past two years,

that Labour doesn't even have what it takes to be an effective

opposition. If Scotland wants to make sure the Tories cannot simply

do whatever they want to Scotland, if we want to make sure that our

voices are strong opposition in Westminster, the only way to do that

is for a strong, resounding vote for the SNP in every part of Scotland on

June eighth. Let's make sure that is what we deliver. Friends... Friends,

one of the secrets of the SNP's success over these past few years

has been that we never have, and we never will, take a single vote for

granted. We must, each and every day, earn and re-earn the trust of

the people that we are so privileged to serve. So what I ask you today is

this... Over the next few days, as we approach the council elections,

and then over the next few weeks as we approach the general election,

every SNP candidate, activist and member gets around the doors,

speaking to people on the doorsteps in communities, in workplaces, and

let us again take the message and make the case that the way to keep

Scotland moving forward, the way to make sure Scotland's voice is heard,

the way to make sure the only way to make sure we have protection against

a Tory Government that is increasingly hard-line and right

wing is to vote SNP and send these strong voices to Westminster. So,

friends, let's get out there. Let's get out there, let's work for every

single vote, and let us win this election in Scotland, let us win

this election for Scotland. Thank you very much indeed.

APPLAUSE. And this will of