Dundee business mogul and Apprentice star Mike Soutar has thrown his support behind Labour, saying Scotland has gone backward under the SNP and Conservatives.
Mr Soutar – best known as one of Alan Sugar’s trusted advisers on the hit BBC series – revealed his support for the party at an event with Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Sir Keir was setting out his “down payment” to voters, promising an incoming Labour government would kick start a “decade of national renewal”.
Explaining why he was backing the party, Mr Soutar said: “Under the current Conservative and SNP administrations, Scotland has gone backwards economically, productivity has declined, growth is in reverse and ambition has stagnated.”
The businessman added: “Scotland produces fewer new business startups per head than anywhere else in Britain.
“Yet Scotland is one of the most enterprising nations on Earth, it shouldn’t be this way.
“And that’s why I back the vision and commitment of Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, Anas Sarwar and Labour.
Mike Soutar: I support Labour’s vision
“I support their vision to deliver the conditions required for economic recovery, to restore Scotland’s position as one of Europe’s most innovative and enterprising places to do business.
“Change is coming and Scottish business will be right at the heart of that.”
Mr Soutar went to school in Fife, where he was a pupil at Glenrothes High School between 1978 and 1984.
He has been on The Apprentice interview panel since 2010, with his forensic questioning and ability to find each contestant’s weak spots proving a hit with viewers.
Mr Soutar’s support comes as a new poll suggests Labour is in “touching distance” of returning 30 MPs from Scotland in the election, up from just a single seat at the last Westminster election.
Some polls have suggested that while the SNP are likely to win in Dundee they may be facing a wipe out in Fife if the predictions prove to be correct.
The party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner used her speech at the same event to tell Scottish voters that “we need you”.
She said: “Whatever Scotland decides will decide whether the rest of the UK gets change too.
“I don’t say this lightly. We need you.
“We want an end to this chaos, but we’ll only get it if Scotland chooses to vote for it.”
Mr Starmer also used his trip north to reject claims thousands of jobs at risk due to his oil and gas stance.
Some in the north east of Scotland have said the next government has 100 days to save 100,000 jobs in the sector.
Keir Starmer rejects claims his plans risk oil and gas jobs
“I do reject that analysis,” he said when questioned on potential job losses.
“In fact, I am absolutely convinced that the transition could bring more jobs to Scotland and jobs that will last for decades.”
SNP: Labour could preside over austerity on Steroids
SNP leader John Swinney has warned that a Labour government could preside over “austerity on steroids” if the party continues the Conservatives’ plans.
The party has said it will not raise taxes and will stick to the current Government’s plans on borrowing and spending, Mr Swinney said.
But he urged Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer – who was in Greenock, Inverclyde at the same time – to commit to an emergency budget in the early weeks of a new administration which would target funding towards health and education and bring austerity “to a grinding halt”.
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