LABOUR have been slammed for “turning into a Thatcher tribute act” after heaping praise on the divisive former Tory prime minister.
Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones sparked outrage on Tuesday morning by saying that Margaret Thatcher (below) had overseen a “decade of national renewal” – suggesting Labour wanted to follow in her footsteps.
He told Times Radio: “Both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair delivered that decade of national renewal for our country, in terms of economic growth and wealth creation.
“Clearly, I prefer the Tony Blair version to the Margaret Thatcher version, given that there were people that suffered as a consequence of Thatcher’s approach.”
READ MORE: How Scotland's oil funded Thatcher's devastating transformation of Britain
He has been urged to apologise for his comments.
SNP chief whip Owen Thompson, who represents former mining towns in Midlothian, said: “I hope Darren Jones reflects and apologises for these comments given the devastation Thatcher brought to mining communities up and down our isles. I expected better from Labour.”
Pete Wishart added: “Labour doing everything possible to endear themselves to the Scottish people again.”
And SNP activist Olaf Stando added: “Labour are turning into a Thatcher tribute act, and their plans for ‘national renewal’ are ripped out of the same broken Tory handbook.”
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