GRAY’S CRIME PLEDGE UNRAVELS

For Immediate Release – Sunday 20th March 2011

Attn.     News Desks
           Political Correspondents

LABOUR LEADERSHIP IN CRISIS AS CONFERENCE LOOKS TO LONDON

Scottish Labour have been plunged further into a leadership crisis after the main announcement in Iain Gray’s speech to his party’s conference was called into question.

Mr Gray pledged to end the practice of automatic early release in favour of shorter sentences at the time of sentencing – despite Scottish Labour’s ongoing campaigns for longer custodial sentences.

Yesterday, Labour leader Ed Miliband attempted to detract from the underperformance of Mr Gray by devoting most of the party political sections his speech at Labour’s Scottish conference to dealing with Westminster issues or policies south of the Border – even the future of “England’s forests” – as further evidence of Labour’s leadership crisis in Scotland.

The latest ICM poll shows that 43% of people think that Alex Salmond is the best candidate for First Minister, compared to just 9% for Iain Gray – behind even Tory leader Annabel Goldie at 10%.

Among those who voted Labour in last year’s UK General Election, 38% think Alex Salmond is best to be First Minister – compared to just 23% for Iain Gray.

Commenting, SNP Parliamentary Business Minister Bruce Crawford MSP said:

“Labour’s policies are unravelling before they’ve even printed a manifesto. Iain Gray has announced his support for more short sentences and fewer longer ones – the exact opposite of what is needed.

“It is SNP justice policies – with 1000 more police officers on the streets – which have delivered 32 year low crime rates.

“Under Labour, there would be fewer police officers and more crime.”

Mr Crawford added:

“Labour are facing a full blown leadership crisis in Scotland – which is why Ed Miliband is desperately trying to pretend that Scotland’s election in May is a Westminster poll.

“Ed Miliband’s speech reflects Labour’s growing panic about the Scottish election – where the SNP are already ahead of Labour in terms of who is best to govern Scotland, and Alex Salmond is five times more trusted to be First Minister than Iain Gray – as they try to turn it into a Westminster-focused contest.

“But this election is not about who rules in London – it is about who is chosen to serve Scotland, and the SNP are confident of success based on our record of good government over the past four years.”

ENDS

Notes:

The ICM poll of 1,003 voters, conducted between the 13th and 14th of March 2011, asked:

Putting aside your own party preference, which one of the following do you think is best qualified to be First Minister of Scotland?

Alex Salmond: 43%
Annabel Goldie: 10%
Iain Gray: 9%
Tavish Scott: 3%
Patrick Harvie: 1%
None: 6%
Don’t know: 28%