HUNDREDS of Labour supporters gathered in Glasgow’s city centre early yesterday morning to see Jeremy Corbyn start his marathon eve-of-poll campaign tour of Britain.
Standing outside the Buchanan Street TGI Friday’s, Corbyn insisted the country could wake up to a Labour government on Friday morning.
He said: “This campaign is a choice, and there has never been a clearer choice.
“The choice is another five years of a Tory government, underfunding of services all across the UK, including here in Scotland, or a Labour government that invests for all, all across Britain.
“If you want a Labour government, if you want to get rid of a Tory government, our party is not doing deals, we’re not offering anything other than us, our manifesto and our principles.”
It was the first of six rallies for the Labour leader.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon made her final appearance of the campaign in Leith, telling supporters: “We have the opportunity to send a positive message about the kind of country we want to be – fair, prosperous, open and outward-looking.
“It’s also an opportunity to stop the Tories in their tracks.”
She added that Theresa May had “arrogantly thought all she had to do was say ‘strong and stable’ over and over to cruise to a landslide victory – I bet she’s regretting that now”.
Ruth Davidson said it was only the Scottish Tories who could “be trusted to stand up to the SNP”.
“With us it’s clear,” she said. “No to a second referendum, no to more uncertainty, and no to the division it would cause our country.”
Just before Corbyn started to speak in Glasgow, the party announced that Diane Abbott was to take a break from frontline duties due to illness.
Asked how long that break would last, Corbyn said: “I’ll be talking to her later on today.”
He said: “Of course Diane is somebody that works extremely hard and represents her community very well and I have to say has received totally unfair levels of attack and abuse not just recently – over many years.”
Abbott has endured a difficult election campaign.
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