GRAY DIAGEO HYPOCRISY EXPOSED

LABOUR LEADER FAILS TO PUT JOBS BEFORE PARTY POLITICS

Labour leader Iain Gray’s hypocrisy in his attempts to attack the Scottish Government over Diageo has been exposed as an interview with the Scotsman – prior to the Diageo announcement this week – reveals he would have taken part in the march for jobs – despite attacking the First Minister for it.

In the interview he also welcomed the efforts of John Swinney and the First Minister to produce an alternative plan to Diageo’s Kilmarnock closure.

Reported in the Scotsman today Mr Gray said:

"I would have gone on the protest march as first minister.

"Labour's take on this has been to work with the trade unions. That's why I probably would have gone on the protest march because the trade unions were a big part of organising that."

He added: "John Swinney and the First Minister have got involved in the campaign and they have made sure that Scottish Enterprise has worked to try and produce the alternative plan."

SNP MSP for North Ayrshire Kenneth Gibson, who took part in the campaign against Diageo’s closure plans said:

“These comments expose the utter hypocrisy of Iain Gray’s actions in Parliament. Fighting for jobs in Scotland should always come before party politicking, and that is the test Iain Gray keeps on failing.

“Labour must, like the Scottish Government, focus on working with the taskforce, the trade unions and the company to ensure the best deal for those workers and for Kilmarnock who are now facing up to a future without Johnnie Walker.”

“Instead Iain Gray decided to attack Mr Salmond for attending a rally which he himself said he would have gone to had he been First Minister.

"Iain Gray has no idea what direction he or his party are facing. He is fumbling his way through leadership and letting his party down. It's not just that he doesn't seem to know what he or his party believe from one day to the next, he cannot remember what he has said from one day to the next.

“After his poorly judged response to the Megrahi case, Iain Gray has once again displayed why he is not Scotland’s First Minister.”