Yes voters who have never voted SNP will be key in May, outlines Murphy

In a speech in Edinburgh today, Jim Murphy, recently elected Leader of Scottish Labour, will explain how the 190,000 Yes voters who have never voted SNP are integral to deciding the outcome of the general election in May.

Speaking to a variety of people – including business and civic leaders, and party supporters – Murphy will stress the importance of putting the referendum in the past and reaching this group of voters by laying out to them Scottish Labour’s vision for a fair Scotland.

Murphy will argue for bridging the gap between Yes and No camps, and moving forward together:

“There are a group of voters who will be decisive in deciding whether the Tories are re-elected or whether they are kicked out. Nearly 200,000 yes voters who voted Labour at the last general election but who stayed at home at the Scottish Parliamentary elections.

“They voted yes, largely because they wanted rid of the Tories and wanted change.

“Now they can decide whether to vote Labour to get rid of the Tories or to vote SNP and keep the status quo. At the General Election these will be the most important voters in the UK. They will decide whether to hand David Cameron his P45.”

He will explain how changes across the globe are creating the feeling of instability – noting political crisis in Greece and the rise of ISIS effecting in particular countries in the Middle East. Situating his argument in this wider context, he will also outline the problems facing Scotland:

“And in this the first week of the sixth year of falling incomes, too many families are at their breaking point. The fall in real incomes since the global crash has been so prolonged that for lots of people this no longer feels like a temporary readjustment, a few bad years that will be made good on later.

Where once the ambition was building assets for many now the ambition is simply managing their debt. Around the western world people are nervously waiting for central banks to announce the first interest rate rises since the start of the great recession. The financial pressure people feel has created a deep anxiety, a fear that their family’s fortunes are now in reverse.

“Family time has come under stress as people struggle to find time for between work and care. Young people worry about missing out on the opportunities their parents had, older people worry about their children and about how they will be looked after towards the end of their life.

“Across the advanced economies two-thirds of people said that when our children grow up they would be financially worse-off than their parents. Here in the UK the survey found that three quarters of us believe our kids will be worse off. Just a quarter believe the next generation will do better. Despite having free tuition here in Scotland our young people leave university with big debts only to find that job opportunities and home ownership that were open to parents, or even older siblings, are closed to them.”