'The Tories don't get Scotland or Glasgow'

 

Stewart McDonald, Glasgow South: "If we ever needed evidence that the Tories don't get Scotland, and Glasgow, we saw it in today's Queen's Speech.

"The government will commence with HS2, despite absolutely no intention of bringing this major infrastructure project to Glasgow. This is not good enough, and I intend to make the strongest possible case for the benefits of HS2 to come to our country so that we can create jobs and connect Glasgow to the rest of the UK."

Anne McLaughlin, Glasgow North East: "The speech talked about the Conservative Government working to 'reduce the threat from nuclear weapons' and yet when Able Seaman William McNeilly had the courage to blow the whistle on significant safety breaches at Faslane, he was taken into military custody. I have real concerns about those revelations and will continue to make the argument that the best way to 'reduce the threat' is to remove these weapons of mass destruction from our waters."

Carol Monaghan, Glasgow North West: "This a continued attack on the most vulnerable in our society: the poor, the disabled and the long-term ill. The first wave of austerity has pushed many families into poverty, and this situation is going to escalate under these "reforms". Whilst "capping benefits" may seem on the face of it a means to encourage people into work, without considering the barriers that prevent people from entering the workforce, these reforms are hard-hitting and damaging."

Chris Stephens, Glasgow South West: "Public Sector workers will feel the full brunt of Tory Austerity. A freeze on pay and erosion of terms and conditions are all greater evidence of a Tory austerity agenda that will corrode our society and tear its fabric apart.

The proposed EU negotiations will see the UK Government chip away at maternity rights, rest breaks and paid holidays.

This programme will only result in a low wage, low reward economy, this benefits no one."

Patrick Grady, Glasgow North:"The priorities in the Queen's Speech are not the priorities Scotland voted for. Across Glasgow and the country, people voted against austerity and for a progressive alternative. I'll be working with my SNP colleagues in the city to speak up loudly for our local communities. And as the new SNP Westminster spokesperson on international development, I want to see the UK play its part in global efforts to tackle poverty and climate change."

Alison Thewliss Glasgow Central: "The Queen's Speech does nothing to address poverty; there is a further commitment to cap benefits, when so many people are already forced into destitution.

There was no clear benefit to and the priorities of the Tory Government - like bringing back the right to buy Councils houses - are not supported in Scotland. High the elected Mayors for the North of England are also an admission by the Tories that long-term London-centric policies have been damaging the rest of the UK."

Natalie McGarry: "The Queen's Speech today was unsurprisingly light on detail on the spending cuts planned by the UK Government but we know that the Tories are planning yet more damaging austerity which can only harm people across Scotland and here in Glasgow.

George Osborne has promised tens of billions of pounds of cuts, including £12bn further cuts to welfare, and yet he still won't say where the axe will fall.

It is the people with the least who always suffer the most from Tory cuts.