Scottish Labour yesterday restated its commitment to tackling knife crime with a minimum mandatory sentence and said that only this type of tough approach will produce the culture change needed to make Scotland safer and tackle blade culture.
Scottish Labour’s justice spokesman, Richard Baker, said:
"The failure to back tough action on knife crime is a huge indictment of the SNP and typical of the SNP's soft-touch approach to crime. Given more people were murdered using knives last year than any other weapon and in the last year alone knife murders in Strathclyde increased by 56 per cent, the SNP's complacency is remarkable.
"Scottish Labour's plans will ensure that the courts will deal with knife crime in the same way that gun crime is dealt with in Scotland."
Labour also welcomed a poll from BBC Scotland asking 1,000 adults to score policies from the main parties out of 10.
All political parties in Scotland were asked by BBC Scotland to submit their top 4 policies. Scottish Labour’s cancer waiting times guarantee is the most popular policy – and the top four policies are all Labour manifesto commitments.
By contrast, the SNP’s twin priorities of a referendum on independence and a local income tax are amongst the least popular. The single least popular policy is the Conservative policy to lower the school leaving age to 14.
The poll also asked people to rate various policies on financial powers for the Scottish Parliament. The findings show that 47 per cent of people back Labour’s plans for the Calman Commission, whereas only 22 per cent of people back the SNP’s policy of fiscal autonomy.
Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray welcomed the findings:
"This shows that Labour is right to focus on the things that really matters.
"Now the Tories are back, we need a Labour Government in Scotland fighting for really matters to families – faster cancer treatment, keeping frontline policing, no tuition fees, and making jobs and apprenticeships a priority.”
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