Unemployment reaches 4 year high as Starmer fails workers
The UK Labour government has let down workers in Scotland as unemployment figures reach a four-year high, say the Scottish Greens.
From hiking employers' National Insurance Contributions that hit small independent businesses the hardest, to abandoning people in Grangemouth whose livelihoods were wrecked by a billionaire CEO who lives in Monte Carlo, Labour has continually made decisions that negatively affect workers.
The Scottish Greens have called for the reversal of the employers' National Insurance hike, the devolution of workers’ rights to protect Scottish workers, and a worker-led transition for high-emissions industrial zones such as Grangemouth, Mossmorran, and Peterhead.
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said:
“Workers have been let down by Keir Starmer's pitiful economic policies and Rachel Reeves' Tory-lite financial rules.
“These so-called Labour politicians are content to allow multi-national corporations like Amazon to get away with paying little to no tax whilst hammering working-class traders like electricians, plumbers and independent stores who have been forced to lay off workers because of the employers' national insurance hike.
“If Labour was serious about creating jobs here in Scotland, the UK Government would commit to the kinds of infrastructure projects that can fuel our green industrial revolution. Labour should be delivering properly integrated, accessible public transport across the UK, investing in a community and worker-led just transition, and negotiating freedom of movement with the European Union to allow Scottish workers to study and gain experience across the continent.
“Socialist economic policies that have the wellbeing of people and planet at their heart would create sustainable jobs for workers. They would also open doors and generate opportunities for our communities to thrive. But we’ve seen the exact opposite from Labour. It’s never been more obvious that Labour has abandoned its working-class roots.”
Maggie continued:
“Politicians who have lied to workers in the North East and in our industrial communities about the ‘never-ending’ future of oil and gas should hang their heads in shame. Fossil fuels have been in decline for years, but too many politicians have been prepared to string workers - and their communities - along for too long.
“We need workers to be at the heart of Scotland's transition away from the declining fossil fuel industry, because it is their communities and future on the line here.
“In the past few years, there have been more jobs than ever before opening in green industries across Scotland, yet workers are trapped in a dying industry.
“Whether in the North East of Scotland or at Grangemouth or Mossmorran, we must support workers and their needs, not the billionaire CEOs.”