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Starmer to make first visit to Scotland as prime minister – BBC News
Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Megan Bonar
- Role, BBC Scotland News
Sir Keir Starmer is due to visit Scotland later in his first visit to the country since becoming prime minister.
Scotland will be his first stop on a tour of the UK and he is expected to meet First Minister John Swinney.
Sir Keir said on Saturday he wanted to establish a “different and better” way of working across the United Kingdom.
The visit comes days after his party won a landslide victory in the general election which saw a dramatic upturn of Labour’s fortunes in Scotland.
Labour now has 37 Scottish MPs – up from just one in 2019 – while the SNP’s tally fell by 39, leaving them with just nine MPs at Westminster.
After holding his first cabinet meeting on Saturday, Sir Keir announced he would travel to all four nations in the UK before flying to Washington for a NATO meeting on Tuesday.
He said: “For the first time in 20 plus years, we have a majority in England, in Scotland and in Wales and that is a clear mandate to govern for all four corners of the United Kingdom.
“Therefore I will set off tomorrow to be in all four nations. I shall go first to Scotland, then to Northern Ireland, then to Wales and then back to England where I will meet the first ministers.
“Not just to discuss the issues and challenges of the day, of course we will do that, but also to establish a way of working across the United Kingdom that will be different and better to the way we’ve had in recent years and to recognise the contributions of all four nations.”
The prime minister added he knows that those with “skin in the game” know what is best for their communities.
First Minister John Swinney congratulated Sir Keir on his appointment during a phone call on Friday and said he was committed to working with the new government on “areas of mutual interest”.
A spokesperson for the first minister said he believed there were ways in which the two governments could work together for the “benefit of people in Scotland”.
The spokesperson added: “The first minister has outlined his priorities in government and believes there are many ways in which the two governments can work together to deliver progress on them for the benefit of people in Scotland.”
Image source, Getty Images
During the election campaign, Keir Starmer visited Scotland on a number of occasions in an attempt to win over Scottish voters.
One of the party’s most notable policies is to set up a nationalised energy company, GB energy, headquartered in Scotland. No location has been announced but there has been speculation it might be in Aberdeen.
The Labour campaign was rewarded with the party gaining 36 seats across the country, including all of the six seats in Glasgow.
The central belt saw big gains for the party with most of its results following vote share swings of about 20% from the SNP.
Other big wins came in Edinburgh, Fife and Tayside.
The Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, hailed the result as “historic”.
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