LEADERS’ DEBATE – TWO MINUTES TO SAVE TWO HOURS
SALMOND’S APPEAL TO SCOTS VIEWERS AHEAD OF LEADERS’ DEBATE
Scots voters are being invited to take two minutes to hear a message from the SNP tomorrow night which could save them two hours of their time later in the evening.
The special party election broadcast – billed as “2 minutes from Alex Salmond…Which could save you 2 hours later” – will be screened on all terrestrial channels, and will be UK-wide on Channel 4 and Channel Five, ahead of the leader’s debate on ITV.
That debate will focus on so-called “domestic issues” like health, education and justice – all of which are run in Scotland by the SNP
Government at Holyrood. As such, the ITV leaders’ debate will be almost totally meaningless to viewers in Scotland.
A link to the full party election broadcast, as well as still images from the broadcast, are attached below.
The full text of the broadcast from Mr Salmond follows below:
“Tonight is the first of the TV debates. Some of you may watch it, most of you will hear about it, but tonight what you wont hear about is Scotland.
You’ll see a long and probably long-winded debate about English health, crime and schools. None of it, none of it, will apply to Scotland. There wont even be any Scots in the audience – thats the audience that are not allowed to cheer or clap or react in anyway to what’s said.
“I say there should have been a real debate, with all political voices. Tonight there will be a cosy Westminster consensus. Three politicians disagreeing around the edges but basically agreeing on the things that matter most. The three London parties have the same agenda, theyre part of the same system, the same metropolitan machine. They want to cut spending, cuts that will threaten recovery, cuts that will undermine vital local services.
“The Labour Party have admitted that their cuts will be deeper and tougher than those of Margaret Thatcher. Just think about it. The Labour Party say that their cuts, thats Labour cuts, will be deeper and tougher than those of Margaret Thatcher that devastated so many lives and so many communities.
“Cuts in public services that make society what it is, the National Health Service, our schools, our police. Make no mistake, these are the targets of Tory cuts and Labour cuts and even savage Liberal cuts. But I say there is another way. Let’s protect these things that are really important, let’s invest in jobs and recovery, Invest in these vital local services and instead take the axe to the planned hundred thousand million pound replacement for Trident nuclear weapons and The five thousand million remnants of the ID card system. Cut the hundred million from the House of Lords or the ten million Scotland Office.
“Cut these things because they don;t matter to anyone and they don,t matter at all.
“That is the alternative agenda, which you wont hear from any of the London parties tonight. Tonight the people will be excluded from the debate but on polling day its the people not the politicians who have the power. That means that this time you can do more than vote for just another politician, elect a local champion, a local and national champion. An SNP MP who will work hard to protect the things that matter most.
“Tonight there will be no one to champion Scotland in the TV debate and the people will be silenced. But on May the 6th the people will speak and their voice will be heard.”
To download for broadcast or viewing Link: http://adelaide112.snp.org/press/
user: press
password: snp0press2
Note:
The Party election broadcast will be screened at the following times on Thursday evening – all before the ITV leaders’ debate begins at 8.30pm:
BBC 1 Scotland 18:55
BBC2 Scotland 17:55
STV 18:25
Channel 4: 19:55 (UK-wide)
Channel 5: 19:25 (UK-wide)
