Dear All
In some respects, the next fight for
Holyrood, is more than just party politics, it is a fight to remove the SNP
from power. As the chess pieces move around the board, so do people and their
money it seems. One of Scotland’s biggest Labour donors has quit
the party after 30 years and endorsed Ruth Davidson as the best
leader to defend the Union.
How did Scottish Labour get into this
pickle, it comes from the time when Kezia Dugdale was leader and dropped the
ball as the party most able to sucure support to save the union. She said she
could see circumstances to back a referendum on Scottish Independence. After
she well and truly put her foot in it pro UK supporters and voters in the
Labour Party withdrew their backing.
This eventually led to the Scottish Labour
Party being kicked down the road to being the third party of Holyrood.
Pretty much all Kezia’s fault, she open the
floodgates and Labour votes simply poured away from the party.
The latest person to leave is Alan Massie,
an Aberdeen property tycoon who has given Labour £400,000 since 2011.
What might also might not be known is he sponsored a pro-Union fringe at last
week’s Scottish Tory conference in the city. In the Aberdeen area there is a
strong pro uk support, and that is headed up by Allan Sutherland who has
created a group called Scotland Matters.
Scotland Matters is a group that wants the
opposition to the SNP to develop policies, long term policies to move Scotland
forward, not just catchy sound bites of policy on the hoof to make the six o’clock
news. Mr Massie last gave a recorded donation to Labour in 2016, when he backed
Owen Smith’s leadership campaign against Jeremy Corbyn. He has also backed
former Scottish leaders Kezia Dugdale and Jim Murphy in the past. So, I think
it is safe to say where his politics come from, the centre right or Blairite
side of the party.
Now that Alan Massi has switched his
support to Ruth Davidson, it will give her and the Scottish Conservatives a
real boost, at present the Scottish Conservatives are in poll position to
attempt to win Holyrood 2021 and with the constant rumours that Nicola Sturgeon
is preparing a ‘getaway plan’ it is game on.
Massie told the Times:
“Ruth Davidson, in terms of central,
middle-of-the-road stuff is what the Labour Party should be doing but this is
not what we are doing. I think Corbyn will sell out Scotland.
I am impressed by Ruth and in terms of the
Union; I think she is the only credible voice, because I don’t think Labour can
be trusted with the Union.”
Well, I am sure that this will give
Scottish Labour leader food for thought, but a quick question for you to mull
over, who is seen as carrying the pro UK standard for Scottish Labour?
Can you name that person?
I would say you probably can’t because the
pro UK voice isn’t forefront, it is lost among other issues and the day to day
matters.
Scottish Labour needs to make a high
profile of a pro UK Scottish czar in the party, the ‘go to person’, the person
to face off the SNP.
During the
Scottish referendum of 2014, Massie gave £13,729 worth of premises to
the Better Together campaign, his contribution was extremely valuable, so why
wasn’t someone in Scottish Labour watching out for his interests?
Massie added:
“unsupportive wreckers” were now running
Labour, so there is a challenge for Scottish Labour right there, finding out
how and why the party has come to present this impression to people such as
Massie.
Conservative MSP Maurice Golden said:
“Ruth Davidson has always, and will continue
to, oppose another divisive independence referendum and the damage it would
cause.”
A Scottish Labour spokesman said:
“There is no evidence that the people of
Scotland want a second independence referendum and the next UK Labour manifesto
will oppose one.”
Finally, you make remember I wrote on the
blog that Scottish Labour needs to restructure in order to win power; that is
right across the board, the party is too Holyrood focused and that is part of
the problem. The tunnel vision, the blinkers on has made the party unable to
look at the bigger picture which is Global UK. Too much time on tat and
inaction has led the Scottish Labour Party into a cul de sac.
The proof of the pudding is the ballot box
results, the polls, and the work currently being done by the party, they need a
new agenda, because Scotland Matters.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
2 comments:
Another great blog George. It does frighten me that the McNazi party (SNP) could still be in power after 2021.
Sounds like the Scottish Tories have their heads screwed on, unlike their Westminster counterparts and Labour both sides of the border.
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