#WorkTrialsOnTrial

SNP Westminster Leader: May and Corbyn must ‘walk the walk’ on workers’ rights

Westminster SNP Leader, Ian Blackford MP has challenged Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn to “walk the walk” on workers’ rights by backing a key private member’s bill put forward by Glasgow South's Stewart McDonald MP.

Glasgow South MP Stewart McDonald has put forward a bill to end exploitative unpaid trial shifts for people who are looking for work.

Addressing the SNP Conference in Glasgow, Mr Blackford - the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber - will also say the Tories’ credibility on the economy lies in tatters, and will demand an end to austerity with a meaningful fiscal stimulus in the forthcoming budget, and an urgent halt to the shambolic roll out of universal credit.

Commenting Ian Blackford MP said:

"It is the SNP who are putting forward the progressive alternative in Westminster, such as our bill to end exploitative trial shifts. It is a scandal that disproportionately effects our young people just starting out and those looking to get back into work from unemployment or having a child.

"No one should be deprived pay for a fair day's work- Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn must support this bill. They may be keen to talk the talk on workers’ rights – now they must walk the walk.

“After seven years of damaging austerity and economic mismanagement, the Tories have left a legacy of failure, and millions of people across the UK are paying the price.

“With wages lower in real terms than when they came to power, deep cuts to social security, a soaring national debt and a generation of young people that face being the first in modern times to be worse off than their parents – the Tories credibility on the economy lies in tatters.

“Far from building a country that works for everyone, the Tories are in danger of creating a country that works for no one but the wealthiest few."

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