Politically ass raped at the polls: Scottish Labour get totally wiped out in the Holyrood 2016 election, Kezia Dugdale loses her seat, she led the Scottish Party to an even worst defeat than Westminster 2015 as leader, in Glasgow; there was the long slow death of Glasgow Labour, all constituency seats lost, it was brutal, it was humiliation, it was politics

Dear All

Kezia Dugdale was the deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party that suffered the worst election defeat since 1918 during the Westminster election.

In the space of 12 months, she has become the leader and led the Scottish Labour Party to an even worse defeat at the Holyrood 2016 election..... in her own right.

Do you remember my post of 20th April called, ‘what is this shite’?

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/what-is-this-shite-scottish-labour.html

In that post, I said that Dugdale by her stupidity was gifting the Tories a coup, and that Scottish Labour was heading to not just defeat but third place.

Kezia Dugdale lost her seat along with the deputy leader Alex Rowley, lost the election, lost the trust of the voters and cannot motivate her own members to be activists.

I love this phrase so I think I will use it to focus minds, Kezia Dugdale's party was politically ass raped at the polls, the night before the election, some senior Labour figures were out drinking wine and going to the theatre while I was out campaigning, I hope they enjoyed their show.

The annihilation was more of less total, the humiliation was brutal but well deserved, Dugdale had it coming.

I don’t as I said previously support Kezia Dugdale as Labour leader; she isn’t a leader of men, she isn't focusing on priorities which need attention.

Yesterday at the BBC Big Debate Henry McLeish popped into to say that Scottish Labour should be fully independent of the Labour Party, this is a line he has been spinning for some time.

If Kezia Dugdale cannot get it right in a devolved situation can anyone explain why they think she will be able to get it right if Scottish Labour was a separate Party?

Is there a section of the population who don’t vote Labour because it isn’t under total Scottish control?

Has Dugdale a secret room at Scottish Labour with a raft of policies sitting there archived waiting to be rolled out if Scottish Labour was independent?

Someone needs to buy Henry McLeish a ‘happy meal’ and take him to a hospital ward to colour in some children’s books.

Henry McLeish is yesterday’s man who doesn’t understand Labour problems.

So, what are Labour problems?

Doing fuck all for the people, an example told to me in a loud angry fashion at a polling station was the G51 parking issue in Govan.

People don’t want this scheme pushed on them, but the Glasgow Labour Council is pushing it onto very unhappy and angry residents.

I explained to the woman, I knew about the scheme since I was the sole Labour activist doing Govan during the Holyrood election in the Pollok side of the ward. I also said to her that I didn’t agree with the scheme that effectively punishes residents because they live next to a hospital, and the council want to use it as a cash cow to generate money.

The woman spoke with hatred of the current Labour Councillors who she explained weren’t listening, not attending their meetings and didn’t give a fuck, also the Pollok Labour Candidate Johann Lamont was said not to be supporting the residents.

This is something that Johann Lamont should address as a priority if she is interested in ever winning back the people of Pollok.

Johann Lamont got 8834 votes and lost, this is well down on the 2011 result of 10875 and a win.

The campaign had flaws and problems!

It seems that last of the 'class of "99' were reduced to helpless bystanders, but they weren't just bystanders in the short campaign, they were bystanding for years, this defeat is their own making.

Scottish Labour spent decades not listening to people, over time so many people were fucked off with them that the SNP tsunami in the city was always likely.

My friend went to the former Pollok MP Ian Davidson for help, Davidson’s help was ‘you write the letter and I will sign it’; needless to say my friend wasn’t impressed. He was just another person in a long long line of people who Scottish Labour ‘representatives’ took for granted because they had such big majorities.

Now in the cold hard light of the new political era, the Labour Party will have to work for every vote and take up every complaint.

I expected that all Glasgow Labour MSPs would lose and they did, you see puppies aren’t just for Xmas!

Puppies aren’t just for Xmas?

Yes, to explain, if you have a lazy bastard who doesn’t work, they are an anchor round Labour’s neck, they will drag the party down, the business of politics is still winning.

And Scottish Labour has too many losers in its ranks, too many with a sense of entitlement who lack a work ethic.

Hats off to the Scottish Conservatives, they had an excellent night in Glasgow, they have been clever, having such influence in Scotland for Union which helped.

When Kezia Dugdale said she might back an independence vote; this drove Labour supporters to the conclusion that to save Scotland’s place in the Union they need to vote Conservative.

Well done Kezia!

Oh and the classic policy of being against Trident renewal was damaging, I said publicly as you know that I don’t support this, it was a ‘catchy vote loser’, Jackie Baillie MSP agreed with me and she won her seat while Dugdale lost her seat rather badly.

I will say it again Kezia Dugdale got want she deserved, she got Scottish Labour pushed into third place because she isn't seen as an effective leader in the same way Ruth Davidson is seen by the public. I did point out that 15 minutes as FMQs does not make up for doing nothing meaningful for the rest of the time.

Penny dropped yet Kezia?

To show the scope of the problem, Patricia Ferguson, a three-times Scottish Executive minister, secured little more than half her SNP rival Bob Doris's 13,000 in Maryhill and Springburn.

Bob Doris is a complete arse!

Imagine it the SNP can put up a complete arse like Bob Doris and win a seat, in the old days Labour could put up a donkey and win it, times have indeed changed.

At the Glasgow count, I had a great time, I spoke to many parties to get their impressions of how their campaigns worked and fared in this election, always handy to get feedback.

Now, it’s time to get rocking on the EU referendum, I will not be offering my services to the Pollok Labour Party.

Finally, the SNP crowd at the Glasgow count numerous times said hello as they passed me, presumably my reputation as a political campaigner precedes me, something the Labour Party should remember for 2017 when I stand for public office again.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University