Scottish Labour yesterday confirmed that it would make a manifesto commitment to ban the cruel practice of setting snares in Scotland if elected on 5 May. The proposal has won the backing of animal rights campaigner and Queen guitarist Brian May.
Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said, "It's great to have Brian May's backing for Labour's pledge on snaring. Scottish Labour is prepared to lead the way on snaring, just as we did on hunting.
"In this day and age, cruelty to animals is totally and utterly unacceptable."
Mr Gray has also repeated his call for minimum mandatory sentences for knife crime, as new statistics show that murders have increased by almost a third in Scotland and knife murders have increased by 56 per cent in Strathclyde in the last year.
The figures released by police forces come after a weekend of knife violence that has claimed two lives.
“These figures are absolutely shocking, Mr Gray said. "Murders in Scotland are up by almost a third and it's no wonder that people are sick of the SNP’s complacent soft-touch approach to crime in Scotland.
“It’s time that we had a government in Scotland that put victims’ rights ahead of criminals and if I am elected first minister I will do just that.”
Scottish Labour yesterday said that the Tories have abandoned their pledge to introduce mandatory knife sentences for knife criminals as the Conservatives published their manifesto.
“The fact that this change only merited a single sentence in their manifesto shows just how little regard the Tories have for the work of knife crime campaigners," said Labour’s Justice spokesman Richard Baker.
“Labour’s message is clear. Carry a knife and go to jail.”
Speaking following the publication of the Tory manifesto, Iain Gray said: "This is a half-hearted attempt to disguise their cosy pact with the SNP because it is pretty clear the Tories want the SNP to win the election.
"They are still the party of unfairness and have set themselves against ideas to help working families.
"Charging more for prescriptions, charging students thousands for the chance of going to university, not sorting out buses that don't serve local people, bigger water charges, abolishing protection for agricultural workers – all these show that the Tories just don’t understand families."
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