Jeremy Corbyn's Labour project is "only beginning" – even if he fails to become prime minister in next month's election, a shadow minister told a cheering crowd at a general election rally in Glasgow.
The Labour leader was in Scotland's biggest city on Sunday evening with two weeks to go until voters in the UK go to the polls, and he urged hundreds of activists to make the most of the "10 days left to achieve our hopes and dreams".
Shadow minister Ian Lavery, Labour's election coordinator, who's defending the Wansbeck seat in the north of England, spoke before Corbyn's speech and insisted that the Labour leader is at the start of a "long, long, long process" of creating a new style of politics in the UK.
Corbyn previously told BuzzFeed News he would continue in his role even if he lost the election but later denied saying that, adding: "I told them I would carry on as leader because we'll have won the election by then."
However, Lavery said: "People don’t want austerity, people have had enough of cuts. Today’s economy is completely fractured – it’s broken, it only serves the rich and the wealthy, and we’ll change that.
"We want change that and we’re in the process – it will be a long, long, long process – of changing politics in Britain. Whatever happens at the election isn’t the end of the Corbyn project, it’s only the beginning of the Corbyn project."
I'm in Scotland this evening. Scots have a choice at #GE2017 between Tories & SNP delivering for the few or… https://t.co/FwIzlEQyun
After Lavery's speech, Corbyn took to the stage for a speech that was in equal parts an attack on the Conservatives and a rallying cry to Labour activists to persuade their friends, family, and colleagues to vote for the party next month.
Corbyn also took time to address the "added dimension" of the SNP in Scotland, claiming that the party's policies in Holyrood have contributed to the "tragedy" of 260,000 children north of the border living in poverty.
"Our vision challenges the notion of Scottish independence because we say that if we all stand together things can, and they will change," said Corbyn. "We are offering hope to the people of Britain who are crying out for it."
Speaking to the activists, Corbyn warned that the "establishment" will deploy "all sorts of power and tricks" in the final 10 days of the election campaign but urged them to "be strong" and take the "enormous opportunity" on offer next month.
"It's a simple choice before the country in this election," he said. "The Labour way of working for the good of the entire community, or the Tory way perpetuating the grotesque level of inequality that already exists within our society.
"We know which way works – the Labour way, for the many not the few."