Pressure on Scottish Labour as ALBA table motion condemning Starmer’s praise of Margaret Thatcher

ALBA Party have tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament that condemns the praise Sir Keir Starmer gave to the late Margaret Thatcher over the weekend. 

The motion submitted by the party’s Holyrood leader Ash Regan MSP, will now present a challenge to Scottish Labour MSPs as to whether or not they will oppose Starmer’s views.

In the motion, that will be published today, members of the Scottish Parliament will be asked to “condemn the comments of the Leader of the Opposition of the UK Parliament that the Conservative Government led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher brought “meaningful change to the UK.“ 

The ALBA Motion will also set out the role the Conservative Government led by Margaret Thatcher played in allowing key Scottish industries to fail as well as using Scotland as a test ground for the controversial Poll Tax - a policy that ultimately led to the end of the Thatcher era of Government. 

Commenting an ALBA Party spokesperson said: 

"Keir Starmer is trying to get elected to Number 10 by reading the Tony Blair playbook, but this is a different era and praise of Margaret Thatcher just won’t cut it. Across Scotland there are still many scarred communities that have yet to recover from the policies inflicted upon them by the Conservative Government led by Mrs Thatcher, therefore this motion is a challenge to Scottish Labour MSPs - will they back it by condemning the remarks or will they sit on the fence and let Keir Starmer sell the remaining principles they have in order to get the keys to Downing Street? “