Dear All
In the Labour Party in Scotland, some people believe that
their ‘problems’ could be solved if the Party in Scotland was separate from the
main party.
This wouldn’t solve Labour problems.
In that vein it is easy to understand why Kezia Dugdale
dismisses a Scottish Labour breakaway; it would at best create a few headlines.
Labour in Scotland is stuck, if they continue with the
present system, were they have little effect on policy, they are screwed, if
they go their own way, there is a vacuum regardless talent need to make the
party into a force.
Two people are standing for the Scottish Labour leadership Kezia
Dugdale who is regarded as the favourite and Ken Macintosh.
Ms. Dugdale has backed greater autonomy for Scottish Labour,
but the question is, if a devolved decision conflicted with what some term as ‘London
Labour’, what happens then?
The obvious answer is that if Ms. Dugdale was leader, she
would be overruled.
The idea of a Scottish Labour leader is somewhat silly; the
reason for this is that the leader of the Labour Party is the leader for the
Labour Party in all of the UK.
The Scottish leader
simply is allowed to lead when the Labour leader of the UK isn’t here, so I see
the title as not leader but simply ‘manager’.
Ms. Dugdale said:
“I favour a much more autonomous Scottish Labour Party, I’d
like to see us set our own policy here but I don’t support an independent
party, I think that’s wrong”.
Having your own devolved policy isn’t anything new, the crux
is that when a Scottish Labour MP goes to Westminster, the party whips in
London tell them what to do, not Ms. Dugdale.
Cowdenbeath Labour MSP Alex Rowley believes the party should
be free from the “constraints” of the UK party in order to rebuild.
This is an idea worth kicking about as there are a large
body of Scottish Labour who see this as a way forward.
May’s electoral defeat brought home to the party the simple
fact that their internal problems, voter disengagement, lack of grassroots and lack
of work ethic by some of those elected to public office killed off the party.
Ms. Dugdale added:
“I’d like to see us on more regular occasions have a
slightly different, a more nuanced position on the issues in Scotland, standing
up for Scotland’s interests. We can do that with greater party autonomy, that
doesn’t mean we are an independent party, that would mean completely separating
ourselves off from our UK colleagues and I don’t want to do that, I don’t think
that’s right. Especially if you follow the logic of the referendum, which is
that we pull and share the resources of our great country.”
Let’s say for talking sake, she gets her ‘greater autonomy’,
does a bit of tinkering and still her grassroots don’t come back, what does she
do play the wanting more autonomy game, and for how long? Or does she try and
shift the focus towards something else and hope that will permanently closed
down discussion on this issue.
Labour needs a united party in the UK because of the numbers
game of who becomes Prime Minister.
Macintosh has said something rather novel that the next
deputy leader of Scottish Labour should be drawn from local government.
I would say this idea has merit regardless of who wins and
should be considered, at present if you aren’t an MSP or MP, you don’t get a
look in.
Kezia Dugdale said in the past I believe, she wasn’t leader
material, at FMQs, she has scored some
decent success, however I was told at the weekend, when interviewed she didn’t
do as well. In politics, you have to be able to think on your feet, it should
be noted that at FMQs, this is a team effort which isn’t representative of her
abilities.
Dugdale insists she was the right person to lead the party
despite being branded “deputy disaster” by presenter Gordon Brewer.
In case you don’t know who Gordon Brewer is, he is a BBC
interviewer, he is every quick and is lazer sharp in tearing apart politicians.
Ms Dugdale said of the ill-fated election campaign:
“I take responsibility for my part in that campaign but
let’s be honest, the Scottish Labour Party’s problems didn’t happen overnight
and they won’t be fixed overnight. That’s why I’m setting out a platform of how
I’m going to rebuild the Labour Party, I’m saying let’s take forward our
values, everything else is baggage, and let’s rebuild over the long term.”
In respect of the problems, she is right, this didn’t happen
overnight, but over several decades, and it won’t be a simple fix, actually it
will involve quite a lot of pain, you see it isn’t just some of the elected
that need removed, some of the Labour staff need to be replaced by more
experienced and dare I say it passionate campaigners.
Labour needs a new approach to dealing with people, organisations
and civic Scotland.
At present, the Scottish Labour Party will be staying as
part of the Labour Party in the UK; however, continual defeat may mean that
position will be looked at again.
When a party has been seen to lose its way and doesn’t
represent the majority of people, it will struggle badly.
It will be interesting to see if whoever is appointed as
leader will be leading from the front because in 2016, things don’t look that
it will be a good year for Labour at Holyrood, then comes 2017, the council
elections, if Labour doesn’t change then whoever is leader will have effectively
an untenable position.
Defeat after defeat followed by impeding defeat.
2016, Labour need to produce a new vision of the Scottish
Government.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
The Labour party in scotland needs to change George the problem is how much to re engage with the general public, and be seen as credible.
ReplyDeletethey wont learn Georgie boy
ReplyDeleteWhat is needed is for a group of like-minded Labour party councillors to tell Westminster Labour to bugger off.
ReplyDeleteA Scottish Labour party would benefit the Labour Party as a whole. The needs for the party are different in Scotland than England.
We desperately need proper opposition up in Holyrood. The SNP have turned out to be no better than any other party in Government, and in some cases worse. Education for starters, with standards slipping in the past few years. That is unforgivable. And Wee Nippy is out on a jolly to New York to see how things should be done?
Health too is failing. Job creation is a mess.
Had we had an effective opposition, and the ability to prevent a majority government in Scotland, the policies would have been more effective, rather than this blasting everything through. The only oversight is via committees, which are controlled by the SNP and therefore they will rubber stamp everything.
Dugdale is not right to head up an opposition in the form of Labour. It needs a proper political bruiser, not necessarily a current MSP, but there are some very experienced councillors out there who could take up the challenge.