– Must think twice – VG

With one week left until the election, the parties are fighting an intense battle to hijack voters. While party members stand and knock on doors, the politicians are out on their last election campaign assignments before election day, and Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre has on Monday taken the trip to Groruddalen together with city council leader Raymond Johansen.

When asked if Støre wants voters to vote to ensure a strong Labor Party, even though they may be tempted to vote for a party that can “keep the Labor Party in their ears”, he answers:

– I want to say very clearly that choosing parties that have one issue is not the whole answer to what it takes to succeed. If we are to succeed in climate, we must also succeed in work, welfare and justice.

– If you think “well, well, I vote for a party I do not think can implement, but it is a reminder that it is important”, I think you have to think twice, Støre adds.

What are Støre’s thoughts about becoming prime minister? Get to know him better here:

Want Red and MDG over the bar

In September, the Labor Party was at 23.3 percent on the average of polls, calculations made by Poll of polls. The polls also show that it may look bad for a majority consisting of the Labor Party, the Socialist People’s Party and the Socialist People’s Party – Støre’s preferred government constellation.

Une Bastholm, party leader in MDG, believes Støre and the Labor Party will need help from MDG with climate policy in the event of a change of government.

– Nobody chooses what time to live in. We have come to a time now where I think we have no choice, Bastholm says to VG and emphasizes:

– We must make every effort to slow down the climate crisis. I know that Støre and the Labor Party have some good intentions in climate policy, but what they need help from us is to prioritize it, and in addition be able to move in oil policy.

At the bottom of the parliamentary party polls for September, both KrF, Venstre, MDG and Rødt are watching around the barrier limit with between 4.0 and 5.1 per cent support. The barring limit of four is of great importance for how many seats the parties get in the Storting, and of great importance for whether the red-green side actually gets a majority.

– How it will be distributed is one of the exciting moments until 13 September, Støre says that the four parties are watching around the barrier limit.

– Who do you want above, and who do you want below?

– I want a majority for a change, but I also think that we should not want our opponents hurt. I do not want anyone below the threshold. I think that each party is fighting for itself, and I hope that the voters listen and make wise choices.

– But then you want Red and MDG over?

– I perceive that they want a change, so I can only hope to get an expression. I think it is right with a barring limit, but at the same time you can say that if everyone falls below the limit of 0.1, there are many votes that do not result in mandates, he says.

– I have always said that this election is not over until it is over. I think one of the biggest threats to bringing about a change is that people are if someone sits and thinks it is given because the polls have shown one or the other. Here it can fluctuate, and last week we will take it very seriously. I think the last week provides opportunities for us, but so does the right.

– Oslo is leading the way

During the trip to Groruddalen, city councilor Raymond Johansen is shown municipal measures that the Labor Party will apply to the whole country, and the round trip starts with a flick with one of the municipality’s “pink buses” – a door-to-door public transport service for the elderly – as the Labor Party will now roll out nationally.

After a coffee visit at Årvoll farm, the trip continues to Furuset school, which also has an offer Støre will transfer to the rest of the country: free SFO for all first graders.

In Oslo municipality, all first graders are offered free SFO, while some districts also have a free offer from 1st to 4th grade, such as Furuset school.

– Oslo is leading the way. They do things here that are triggered by the political will in the city, says Støre about the free offer at the school.

Free SFO for all the country’s first classes is one of the election promises from the Labor Party. On the red-green side, Rødt and SV are for free SFO and Labor for free SFO in the first instance for first classes, while the Center Party wants free core time for low-income families.

– Do you guarantee that SFO will be free?

– Kids who are outside the school fence, while others are inside SFO is a recipe for class division. Therefore: Yes, I can guarantee that we will follow up our program. But we have to do this stone by stone, so we start with five hours of free SFO for the first classes, and then we get to build it from there.

– Meals, then – should you have it?

– It is our goal that we will work for a school meal, but so far it has been something the municipalities follow up themselves. In Oslo, several schools have taken their own budget to do so. It does not take much money – this can be about a bread meal.

– The principal here said that an offer of food was very important to take the students to SFO. Do you have time to wait to introduce food at SFO?

– We must make sure that the children get good meals in SFO. We meet a Conservative who says “it is food or knowledge”, and I say that the Conservatives have lost the word “and”. It’s food and knowledge.

– The right wing often says that they do not understand where you should take the money from if you are going to do SFO for free for everyone. What is your answer then?

– The answer is that if you prioritize 7 billion in cuts in wealth tax, then you have spent money you could have spent on something else. This is one of the purposes that is not very expensive, but which has a very big effect for very many, and most of all for the children who really need it, he says.

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