Fife’s newest councillor has given her first speech as an elected official and claimed the SNP is the only party that will put Scotland’s interests first.
Sharing a platform with the experienced campaigner Dennis Canavan and trade union leader Derek Durkin at a Trade Unions for Independence event at St Bryce Kirk in Kirkcaldy on Saturday, the newly-elected SNP councillor for Kirkcaldy East, Marie Penman, dismissed the “myth” that voting SNP in May’s general election would lead to another Tory government.
She said: “Sending more SNP MPs to Westminster gives Scotland more power in London. They might disregard the views of half a dozen MPs but with 30 or 40 of them we could actually hold the balance of power in the UK Government.”
Referring to Labour’s partnership with the Tory party during the referendum campaign, Ms Penman said many traditional Labour voters might find it hard to forgive this ‘betrayal’.
Former Labour MP Dennis Canavan also criticised both Labour and the Conservatives and said he saw no cause for optimism in the recently published white paper on further devolved powers for Scotland.
He said: “It’s not really worth the paper it is written on.
“Sovereignty for Scotland will continue to lie with Westminster for a Parliament to be meaningful, it needs the authority to raise its own revenue.
“The paper boasts that we can now raise 40% of our own taxes I say that’s not enough.”
As the event, attended by around 60 delegates, was being held in the church where former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s father used to be the minister, a member of the audience asked Mr Canavan if he thought Mr Brown was “deceitful” in the claims he made in the vow.
“I’d like to think he was more misguided than deceitful,” said Mr Canavan.
“I used to have a great deal of respect for Gordon, but my respect for him has dwindled.
“He suddenly appeared during the referendum campaign, after years of hiding from the people, and managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a phoney vow that read like something written on the back of a fag packet.”