‘Out of touch, incompetent and boring’ voters’ deliver a verdict on Scottish Labour but luckily the SNP will be a key ‘ally’ for Bute House return!

Dear All

In any political party, it is inevitable that there will be setbacks; however it doesn’t help if they are of your own making.

Scottish Labour is seen as “out of touch”, “incompetent” and “boring”.

That is what the public think after a recent YouGov poll.

If it wasn’t for the Westminster expenses scandal, the Scottish National Party would never have won in 2007.

Labour’s unpopularity saw them pay a heavy price.

In 2011, the Labour Party after spending four years doing nothing at Holyrood wasn’t seen as credible to take over the helm of government.

This led to a disaster for Iain Gray and the Labour Party.

When asked to pick three words they felt best described the party only 5 per cent chose “efficient” while just 8 per cent opted for “trustworthy”.

But when others were asked to choose another three words, 35 per cent of people said it was “out of touch”, 29 per cent “incompetent”, 26 per cent “boring” and 35 per cent “untrustworthy”.

The Labour Party needs fresh thinking, dynamic policies to get them back on track, Labour however seem to think that everything is business as usual, this is because the people in charge are already pulling down either MSP or MP salaries.

They say that oppositions don’t win elections but governments lose them, the task for Scottish Labour is simple; they need to establish their brand again in a dramatic fashion.

In the 2012 election the Labour Party ran with the social justice generation agenda in Glasgow, it was a successful campaign as no one was offering social justice as a core belief but only as a soundbyte.

Despite everything against them the Labour Party pulled out a majority because the people of Glasgow looked at the alternative and rejected it.

The chief opposition was Team Sturgeon who launched their assault on the City Chambers to a devastating defeat and humiliation.

The weak Glasgow SNP leader was branded as an example of poor leadership in action, the manifesto was seen by some to have the wrong priorities and the public got their chance at the ballot box.

No!

The SNP’s popularity is in part based on Labour’s unpopularity, and when the Labour Party understand that, then, politics will become very interesting again in Holyrood.

Of course the Labour Party will have an ally in becoming popular, the Scottish National Party.

The SNP have already started preparing the ground for a return of a Labour First Minster to Bute House.

It’s only a matter of time.

When Salmond steps down, a lot of the popular appeal of the SNP will go, and I am sure that everyone would agree that Nicola Sturgeon isn’t an Alex Salmond or able to generate the same type of loyalty among members or the public.

She would have to do an incredibly amount of work to win back my personal support.

‘There maybe trouble ahead’ but there won’t be any moonlight and roses, Labour will exploit their openings and build on them, Glasgow is the key and that lock can be unpicked fairly easily for a third Labour administration in Holyrood given the right policies.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University