Labour must gain people’s trust if it wants to win back ground lost to the SNP in Dundee, the shadow secretary for Scotland has admitted.
Margaret Curran said having an “honest conversation” with voters about how to improve living standards and tackle economic problems was the route the party would take in an attempt to recover from a Scottish decimation over recent years.
At one point, all Dundee’s Parliamentary representatives and the city council were Labour-controlled. Now, though, the local authority is an SNP majority and the only national Labour politicians in the city are Dundee West MP Jim McGovern and list MSP Jenny Marra.
In an interview with The Courier ahead of a question and answer session at Discovery Point tonight at 7pm, Ms Curran also claimed Labour’s energy plans would save over 15,000 pensioners in the city up to £200 a year on gas and electricity bills.
She said: “Dundee really matters to us and we really want to win back support and trust in Dundee. There’s no hiding the fact Scottish Labour has been through a difficult period and now the challenge is re-engaging and gathering trust.
“I think the most important thing is to be honest with people, hear what people are saying and respond to their issues. The point is about having answers to the biggest challenges and we need to have an honest conversation with people.”
Labour plans to scrap Ofgem the energy regulator it set up and create a new watchdog with a statutory duty to monitor wholesale and retail energy prices.
The new body would also have the power to force energy suppliers to pass on price cuts when the cost of wholesale energy falls and there would be a legal requirement for energy companies to put all over-75s on their cheapest tariff.
“Ofgem is not living up to the challenges of the current time since the years when we set it up,” said Ms Curran. “In Government you need to understand when circumstances change you have to change with it.
“At the core of this, we have to reform the markets. With the big six, when wholesale prices shoot up all bills go up but when wholesale prices drop prices don’t come down and that is crippling families.
“People are asking how do they heat their homes? How do they pay for food or bills? We need active intervention in the energy markets.”
Ms Curran, who branded the so-called Bedroom Tax “unfair” said the next UK General Election would be a “living standards election” and claimed people will have seen several years of falling living standards by the time the vote comes round.
She claimed Labour’s policy to reinstate the 10p tax rate introduced then scrapped under former Prime Minister Gordon Brown would benefit 2.2 million basic rate taxpayers in Scotland.
Ms Curran would not confirm what further powers would be devolved to Scotland in the event of a no vote in the independence referendum but it is understood that Labour’s Devolution Commission will publish their first interim report at their Scottish conference in April.
* Today’s newspaper edition wrongly stated that Ms Curran’s Discovery Point Q&A was held on Wednesday. We would like to confirm that it takes place tonight, March 7.