Ed Miliband is “getting it right” as Labour leader, according to the party’s shadow Scottish Secretary.
Margaret Curran also indicated she would back any shadow cabinet reshuffle Mr Miliband decided to have, a move widely tipped to take place when Parliament reconvenes next month.
The Labour leader has come under increasing pressure from within his own ranks for a perceived lack of action over the summer recess, culminating in him being named as the country’s most unpopular political leader in a recent poll.
However, speaking to The Courier after a tour of the Rosyth dockyard site for the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, which is being built at the Babcock port, Mrs Curran defended Mr Miliband.
She said: “Every time people have said ‘what has Ed Miliband got to say’ he then says something and he gets it right. People said about the squeezed middle, what does this mean? Now everybody uses the term.
“People talk about what he said about the banks. We need to do something about the banks, bring in a culture of honesty and he has called that right.
“The most important thing about Ed Miliband is he is right about this. He is right about the economy, and he is right to say that when the next election comes what we need is an offer to get people through this and a way the Tories and the SNP can’t offer.”
Asked whether she thought a reshuffle would take place, Mrs Curran replied: “Who knows? It’s a fact of political life you get reshuffles. It’s Ed’s decision and that’s fine.
“What matters is a Labour team and working together as Labour. Everybody has a role to play in it.”
Mrs Curran, who has covered 1,000 miles carrying out visits over the past two weeks, said a lot of families and communities were “struggling” because of the present economic climate.
However, she said she was “very proud” of the scale of achievement at Rosyth’s Royal Dock and the benefits contracts from the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier are having on Scotland’s economy.
Mrs Curran said: “We know there are 1,800 people working on (the project) and it is like a factory inside it.
“We need to understand what’s happening in our economy, and it’s good to see those kinds of opportunities, but there is no doubt independence would put that at risk.”
SNP defence spokesman, Angus Robertson, said: “In reality, and in all circumstances, Scottish yards will secure orders from around the world on the basis of their skills and formidable record of delivery (in the event of independence).”
Photo by David Wardle