Labour Party’s new shadow Scottish Secretary Dave Anderson fails to win any friends north of the border by his stupid crass remarks about doing a ‘deal’ with the SNP for power at Westminster, where is the sense in undermining the Scottish Labour Party, this is why some in Scotland want a separate party north of the border

Dear All

Recently I was talking to some other Labour members on various issues, although Labour CLPs aren’t allowed to meet, that doesn’t stop people meeting informally.

One of the issues discussed was the idea of a Scottish Labour Party separate from the rest of the Labour Party in the UK.

I said at this present moment in time, there is no appetite for a break away Scottish Party among the members.

Whether this remains the position within the party is open to debate, however, matters aren’t helped by Labour MP Dave Anderson who has been appointed by Jeremy Corbyn as the party’s new shadow Scottish Secretary. Anderson was appointed because Scotland’s sole Labour MP Ian Murray resigned to put pressure on Corbyn to resign.

I think Murray resigning was a major mistake, and now those chickens are coming home to roost.

Labour MP Dave Anderson said that Labour “may well” have to consider some sort of arrangement with Nicola Sturgeon’s party in order to form a government at Westminster. If you think back to 2015, Scottish Labour suffered the worst defeat in about 100 years under Jim Murphy.

The SNP won 56 MPs seat in a tsunami wipe out, good MPs in the Labour Party got wiped out as the public turfed them out in favour of some people bad rubbish such as Natalie McGarry.

It is understandable that Scottish Labour has now reacted furiously to SNP coalition comments from new shadow Scottish Secretary because in effect Anderson isn’t just talking the Scottish Party down; he is throwing it under the bus and undermining it.

Recently Anderson spoke out as being ‘snubbed’ by Scottish Labour; if I was the leader of Scottish Labour I would have snubbed him.

Labour MP Dave Anderson doesn’t represent a constituency in Scotland and doesn’t know the ins and outs of the Scottish political scene.

If Jeremy Corbyn wants a strong Scottish Party then his team is going the wrong way about it, it is true that the Scottish Party has problems, what they don’t need is additional problems heaped on them.

Scottish Labour will be facing another tough test in 2017 with the Council elections, and also the party needs to change the way they operate to reconnect with the voters. The days of taking the vote for granted are all over, to get elected you have to work for it if you are a Labour Candidate.

Jeremy Corbyn team and Scottish Leader Kezia Dugdale apparently are in an awkward position after she said if she hadn’t the support of her colleagues in Parliament she would have to resign.

Should she had gotten involved in the fight down the road, personally I would have said no, back the leader or just stay neutral, personally I am backing Corbyn in this campaign because he has been treated rather shabbily. Other people believe so too as all 6 Corbyn supporters won their seats on the Labour NEC after wiping out the pro Owen Smith faction.

A Scottish Labour spokesman said:

"Scottish Labour doesn't support any UK Government deal with the SNP. We will always campaign for a Labour Government, whether at Holyrood or Westminster."

Why no deal for Westminster?

Because you can’t do a ‘deal’ with the SNP, not even for power, they can’t be trusted and their only agenda is chaos at Westminster as previously graphically demonstrated by their actions.

If this is the best that Labour MP Dave Anderson as the new shadow Scottish Secretary can come up with then perhaps Jeremy Corbyn needs to do a reshuffle rather quickly.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University