SD wants to be seen on May 1st: "We are part of the labor movement"

It was a first of May where Stefan Löfven did not make the political statements that normally belong to the day. Expected, thinks the Swedish Democrats' leader Jimmie Åkesson. At present he sees no reason to raise the level of conflict in Swedish politics.

- He talked a lot about cohesion and I think that this whole crisis just underlines the need for cohesion. The time we have behind us has been marked by a great deal of polarization, social fragmentation, strong conflicts in politics, and suddenly we have a completely different situation. Maybe it can exist in some form even after this, and I welcome that, Jimmie Åkesson tells SVT.

Yet Jimmie Åkesson is critical of parts of the government's handling of the corona virus's effects.

- The fact that direct support to companies has been delayed for so long is directly harmful and something that will have huge consequences. The Karens deduction I think is also a shame, where you go out and promise the abolition of the Karens deduction and then it turns out that it will be SEK 490 for those who are at home on the first day of illness, says Jimmie Åkesson.

How long can you have peace of mind do you think?

- As long as it is required and as long as the voters and citizens of our country expect it. I agree with Stefan Löfven that this is not a crisis that is over for a very long time, but this is something we will probably live with over the summer, says Jimmie Åkesson.

- We have no ambition to raise the level of conflict more than we think is appropriate. When the government does things we think are good we should praise them for it and when they do bad things we should criticize them for it.

Lately, S has been favored in opinion polls, while SD has dropped, among other things. However, nothing Jimmie Åkesson says is worried about the current situation.

- I'm not very worried, I would almost be worried if it didn't. In a crisis, it is usually those who lead the country that benefit from it, at least in the short term. The interesting thing is how it will manifest itself after this crisis, if the opinion situation is stabilized or if it has any lasting effects.

In the future, Jimmie Åkesson does not rule out giving S competition in the square on May 1st.

- We have discussed over the years, not least with the party leadership that we have a lot of support within the LO collective and see ourselves as part of the modern labor movement. Actually, maybe we should also have events on May 1st, because a large part of our voters are employees, ordinary people, he says.