Jeremy Corbyn to tour Scottish marginal seats this summer

Labour is targeting 18 seats if there is another General Election soon.

Published 21st Jul 2017

Jeremy Corbyn is to visit Scotland on a tour of UK tour of marginal constituencies to Scotland next month,

The Labour leader is keeping his party on an election footing in case Theresa May's minority government collapses and another election is called.

Of the 64 seats Labour needs to win to secure a parliamentary majority, 18 - more than a quarter - are in Scotland.

Mr Corbyn will hold a series of campaign events over five days in August, speaking to thousands of voters in seats where SNP MPs have wafer-thin majorities.

These includes Glasgow South West, Glasgow East, Airdrie and Shotts, Lanark and Hamilton East, Motherwell and Wishaw, Inverclyde and Dunfermline and West Fife, where swings of less than 1% are required for Labour to win.

A further 10 central belt constituencies would require swings of between 1.4% and 3.6%, while the Western Isles would take a swing of 3.4% to change hands.

The party already holds seven seats north of the border, after it surpassed expectations in last month's snap election.

It held onto Ian Murray's Edinburgh South constituency, and won a further six seats held by the SNP.

Mr Corbyn said: "Labour remains on an election footing as a government-in-waiting, ready to end failed austerity and ensure that Scotland has the resources it needs to provide the public services its people deserve.

"Unlike the SNP and the Tories, Labour will transform our economy through investment, insisting that the true wealth creators - that means all of us - benefit from it.

"The only way to remove the Conservatives from Downing Street, and have a government that works for the many, not the few, is to back Labour in Scotland.''

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: "The Labour Party is growing, with more members signing up every day. We continue to offer hope with our radical policies to transform Scotland as part of our pro-UK, anti-austerity message.

"I look forward to joining Jeremy in August as we take our message to the people of Scotland."