Scottish independence: Alex Salmond drops the mask and says that Scots women being made unemployed is a “good thing and an encouraging sign”, does a woman who can’t feed her kids enjoy a feelgood factor not knowing where the next meal is coming from?

Dear All

For some time I have been saying that the Scottish National Party is anti working class, the SNP is run as a party within a party.

A chicken has come home to roost as Alex Salmond has said that the 13,000 rise in female unemployment was encouraging.

If you are one of the 13,000 women who have lost their job, does this fill you with “hope”?

Political parties have treated this statement by Salmond with contempt and scorn, Salmond is a First Minister for rich people, poor people he managed to dupe at the 2011 election into voting for him.

Any ordinary working class person can clearly see including his political rivals that he isn’t living in the real world.

In his padded Bute House residence, he enjoys a luxury lifestyle and chauffeur driven car, plus all the other perks as First Minister.

For Salmond the choice is never about ‘heat or eat’, but rather whether or not to have a second helping of food stacked on his plate.

Salmond was never one of us.

His bizarre claim of how wonderful it is that women are being put out of a job was made during a grilling in front of the assembled heads of every Holyrood committee on his plans for government.

Labour MSP Margaret McCulloch, convener of the equal opportunities committee asked him to explain:

“Why has there been such a dramatic rise in unemployment for women, and why is it so peculiar to Scotland?”

Salmond replied:

“The way you should judge that is to look at participation in the workforce. The best contrast is with Northern Ireland, which has the lowest level of female unemployment across the UK but by some distance, and certainly by a huge distance from Scotland, also the lowest level of women in work participating in the workforce. Scotland has the highest participation rate and the highest employment rate of women in the workforce. Obviously we want to see unemployment decline as much as possible, but the fact that more women are no longer economically inactive is a good thing and an encouraging sign.”

Being made unemployed is a “good thing and an encouraging sign.”

When you don’t have money to pay the bills is that supposed to be an encouraging sign as well?

Salmond added:

“Look at employment figures for women and don’t be too discouraged by the trends at the moment. What has happened in female employment is that there has been a sharp decline in inactivity, that’s people not presenting for work or looking for work. We’ve got more percentage of women in work than England, Wales or Northern Ireland so it’s important to look at labour market trends. Why do people come out of inactivity into activity? They come out because they are encouraged by the view that they might find employment. If people think there is no hope or little prospect of getting employment, then they will stay in inactivity. They’re not recorded in the unemployment stats because they are not looking for work, so I think it’s important that we look at employment figures in Scotland as being one of the criteria when we assess how equal we are becoming as a society in terms of employment.”

Scots Labour MSP Jenny Marra said:

“Only Alex Salmond can believe that more women signing-on is an ‘encouraging sign’. Only in the unique world of the First Minister can more women being on the dole, or under-employed, or earning less than the living wage be seen as sign of ‘hope’. Women across Scotland will be astonished at the complacency of the First Minister who simply doesn’t understand what it is like to struggle to get on.”

Alex Salmond is a First Minister for the rich, he gives rich people council tax freezes, he gives rich people free prescriptions and he thinks working class Scottish women thrown on the scrapheap is a “good thing and an encouraging sign.”

Bam!

If you want to save Scotland, then Vote No to independence, Alex Salmond has lost the plot, and you don't invest in a collapsing market, his stock just went through the floor.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University