Labour 'doing great', Jeremy Corbyn says on Edinburgh visit

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn insisted Labour is "doing great" as he made his first visit to Scotland since being elected party leader.

The veteran left-winger made the comments as he met Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale for talks at Holyrood.

Mr Corbyn told journalists outside the Scottish Parliament: "We're doing great, party membership is going up after my first conference as leader and things are going really well."

He has already insisted there is "no question" of him treating Scottish Labour as a "branch office" - an accusation levelled by former leader Johann Lamont against party bosses in London.

Prior to his arrival in Edinburgh, he stated: "Kezia Dugdale is leader of our party in Scotland and I will be working alongside her to win back support for Labour."

Today, he added: "Kezia and I are going to have a good chat today and we're going to get planned ahead as to how we're to do the campaigning."

Polls suggest the SNP are on track to win a second majority term at Holyrood in the Scottish elections in seven months.

It comes after Labour lost all but one of the 41 Westminster seats it held in May's general election

Mr Corbyn has already claimed Labour's demise in Scotland was caused in part by its involvement in the cross-party Better Together campaign, as well as its failure to offer an alternative to austerity.

Meanwhile, the SNP called for Mr Corbyn to use his visit to Scotland to end what they said was "chaos and confusion" within Labour over Trident.

It comes after Mr Corbyn said he would not push the nuclear button if he was prime minister - a stance questioned by some Labour figures.

SNP depute leader Stewart Hosie said: "Labour's position on Trident has become utterly indefensible.

"After days of chaos and infighting, Jeremy Corbyn must use his trip to Scotland to make clear whether he is leading Labour - or whether Labour is leading him.

"Jeremy Corbyn needs to be straight with the people of Scotland - will Labour oppose Trident nuclear weapons on our shores or simply allow the Tories to go ahead with this outdated and unwanted project?

"The longer Labour remain such a deeply-divided party, the less chance they have of providing any effective opposition to the Tories.

"On two key issues of Corbyn's campaign - nuclear weapons and austerity - the divisions in the Labour Party will allow the Tories to steamroller through their cuts to social security and the spending of £100 billion of nuclear weapons."


Jeremy Corbyn Features in First Political Broadcast as Labour Leader
Jeremy Corbyn Features in First Political Broadcast as Labour Leader

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