A day in the race: August 20th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Three of the candidates are still in Scotland today, perhaps with one eye on the Edinburgh East primary that closes tonight at midnight. Or perhaps they’re all planning on visiting the fringe festival. Somehow I imagine the former is more likely.

DIANE ABBOTT‘s tour of Scotland continued today as she arrived in Edinburgh to talk with party members and attend a number of events, including the Festival of Politics.

Following last night’s debate in Glasgow about women in politics, Diane has today spoken out about the falling number of women in the Scottish parliament saying:

“I am very concerned that the representation of women in the Scottish parliament looks set to fall. The Scottish parliament was a great example of equality for women and showed what could be achieved with its innovative twinning strategy, which saw constituencies twinned together and represented by a male and female candidate. This was incredibly effective but the twinning’s strategy has been quietly dropped. More female MSPs have resigned than male MSPs, and some have been replaced by men. Without positive action, it seems that the number of women in the Scottish parliament after the next election will fall sharply. This would be a backwards step. Women have so much to contribute to British politics in its nations and regions. We should be going forward on this issue, not back. This is why I want to sound the alarm on this looming problem.”

DAVID MILIBAND has been in his constituency today meeting with local residents groups and holding his surgery. Tonight he will be awarding the Silver Clubmark Award to South Shields Judo Club. Tomorrow he’s in Stockton.

Operation Black Vote have released a video of Simon Woolley interviewing David:

ED BALLS attacked the government today over axed support for the video games industry. In a press release, Ed said:

“The Tory-Lib Dem government is putting the future of the computer games industry in Scotland at risk. The terrible news this week about Realtime Worlds could be just the start unless the coalition government rethinks its decisions which are costing jobs and risking the recovery.”

“While Labour set out plans to support the industry in March, the new government axed it in June and the result is job losses in Dundee in August. These are the stark consequences of a government which cuts at any cost and seems to think that unemployment is a price worth paying.”

This morning Ed was in Dundee, but he also spent some of today campaigning in the Murrays in Edinburgh South with Ian Murray MP and local candidate Bill Cook.

ANDY BURNHAM rolled his battle bus into Corby today. Last time he shared a stage with Elvis – we’re not sure if there have been any rock legend sightings this time.

He also took time to attack Andrew Lansley’s re-organisation of the NHS, saying:

“What he seems not to understand is that the NHS needs good managers. By wiping away the expertise currently in primary care trusts, he is opening the door to consultancy firms who know that hundreds of new, untested GP groups won’t have the experience to go it alone. “

“Mr Lansley says he will root out unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication – but he is diverting billions from patient care for his unnecessary structural upheaval.”

ED MILIBAND continued his travels through Scotland today. He also wrote a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg which attacked his about-turn on tax avoidance. Ed said:

“During the election campaign you made much of the Liberal Democrat commitment to tackle tax avoidance. You said, if in government, you would raise £2.4bn by attacking income tax avoidance, £1.4bn by halting abuse of corporation tax and a further £750m from stamp duty through tackling offshore registration by non-doms. You claimed that your plans to clamp down on tax avoidance meant that you would not need to raise VAT.”

“However, since the election you have had a very different message for the country. You have claimed that there is no alternative to the VAT rise, produced no credible plan to make progress on tackling tax avoidance, and we now hear from the Financial Times that HM Revenue & Customs is to soften its stance on avoidance in order to make cuts to its legal budget.”

“Will you explain to the country why you no longer feel it necessary to tackle tax avoidance? And will you publish a detailed timetable showing the timescales on which you expect to make progress?”