“Labour has cut the country in half, the SNP are about to piss their pants and even George Laird is saying independence in 2014 is now unwinnable”

Dear All

Politics isn’t straightforward by any means, when the election was over, the deals to run councils started.

In Alex Salmond’s own backyard, the SNP returned the largest number of councillors but not enough for a majority.

So, a coalition was formed of various parties and 10 independents to shut out the SNP.

Out of the 10 independents a small number was required to put the SNP in as the Council, but they couldn’t make a deal.

Which begs the question, why not?

The Scottish Conservatives because of the anti SNP feeling have come out rather well, getting their feet under the table in town halls; however the Tories are still a dead party.

In Glasgow, one single councillor returned in David Meikle, a lone voice in the wilderness but he worked during his tenure and deserved to be returned.

The dominant force in Glasgow still remains the Labour Party; despite previous problems they returned a majority.

In 2011, Muslim list MSP for Glasgow, Humza Yousaf boldly declared to the world and his brother regarding Glasgow, ‘this is an SNP City’.

I just shook my head at that statement, Labour are the party of the council and Labour are the party of Westminster and in 2016, the Holyrood election, the SNP are about to find out about the squeezed middle.

Frank McAveety and Bill Butler will try for their Holyrood seats again, Butler has the best chance, McAveety has a mountain to climb as John Mason is a hard worker. However being a hard worker isn’t enough, you need ideas and vision. McAveety will be working hard to get his profile back up for a serious challenge.

That campaign would be a good to work from a Labour perspective as everyone likes the Rocky story of someone on the comeback trail. And Frank McAveety has unfinished business, part two of the ‘resurrection story’ which he delivered at the SECC. I was down the front heckling because I was one of the people who put him out the door, bit of fun, if you don’t go to the count to heckle you have no business in politics.

Anyway back to the Tories and their emergence as a force by default, they have secured a bigger foothold in town halls despite a slump in the party's voting share and number of councillors.

Typically because others have jumped into bed with the Tories this has led to the SNP crying foul over anti-Nationalist coalitions.

Get over it!

Everyone knew what was going to happen; well I would suspect they have an idea that post election the reality was to shut the SNP out of as many Councils as possible.

SNP MSP for South Scotland, Chic Brodie, who represents South Ayrshire is a man who should be keeping his mouth shut, unfortunately he thought otherwise, he said:

"For Labour voters across the country the growing number of Tory-Labour pacts in councils across Scotland is a real betrayal of what they voted for. Scotland's councils need progressive partnerships to protect people from the Westminster-imposed cuts, not these deals that defy the Labour rhetoric”.

What he means by progressive partnerships is SNP Councils and SNP Government.

Brodie added:

"The decision to go into partnership with the party who are cutting disability benefits and refusing to invest in jobs and growth across the country is a kick in the teeth to those people suffering the effects of those Tory cuts and makes a mockery of Labour's claims to stand against the Coalition's cuts agenda. Voters in Scotland clearly rejected the Coalition parties, yet Labour is giving them a lifeline when they only won 9% of the councillors in Scotland. Labour voters didn't expect their votes would be used to let the Tories in the back door to form council administrations with Labour."

What a bad loser!

In Aberdeenshire, the SNP was by far the biggest party with 28 Councillors, but was shut out of power by a coalition of opponents which could have been swung their way if the SNP wasn’t run as effectively a one man band; it is a little more than that but not much more.

The failure to develop the Scottish National Party beyond a middle class clique has been the senior leadership’s downfall.

There is a genuine lack of talent in the Scottish National Party. The SNP don’t talk to people, they talk at people.

In East Dunbartonshire, the situation was the SNP as one of biggest parties, but suffered the same fate.

In Falkirk, the heartland of Eric Joyce, Labour did a deal with two Tories and an Independent to take control again, shutting out the SNP.

Leader of the Labour group, Craig Martin, said:

"This is great news for Falkirk and great news for Scottish Labour”.

Well he would say that!

Martin added:

"No party won an overall majority here but as the leading group, Labour has secured agreement of other members to lead the council and implement our manifesto. Jobs are absolutely key for Falkirk and we need to keep up our programme of regenerating the towns and villages. We will work in partnership with the Scottish Government where possible, but we will not be beholden to them."

So, what has happened, political parties have allowed Labour to establish the ‘Labourian Line’ cutting the country in half.

To adapt a quote from Full Metal Jacket:

“Labour has cut the country in half, the SNP are about to piss their pants and even George Laird is saying independence in 2014 is now unwinnable”

‘Labourian Line’!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University