Scottish Tories have decided to ‘park’ their tanks on Glasgow Labour’s lawn as the Labour Party stare defeat in the face as voters desert them in the upcoming City Council elections of 2017, one Conservative source thinks that 5 or 6 seat gain is possible, the jury is still out on that prediction

Dear All

Sometime ago I was speaking to a Conservative Candidate about the Glasgow City Council election of 2017, he was of the opinion that the Glasgow Tories could see their fortunes improve by getting 5 or 6 seats.

The sole Tory Councillor in Glasgow is David Meikle, he is the Cllr in Ward 6 which is Pollokshields, he is also the husband of the disgraced Natalie McGarry who I have blogged about in the past.

Due to a boundary change, where I live has been put into Ward 6 which is a 3 member Ward in the City, which breaks down to one Labour, one Tory and one SNP. I met many Tories while out campaigning for Brexit and even encouraged a few of them to stand for council.

Glasgow needs political diversity in candidates and more importantly councillors which I hope to be if the people of Pollok will trust me enough to give me their vote. I know that I will do a good job representing the people because I wouldn’t even consider doing this job to be average.

Scotland’s Tories have a problem, they have benefited from Labour’s failure to represent the people, and they benefited from Labour’s failure to be a strong voice for the United Kingdom. At present, there is a lot of appeasement mooted as a solution to Scottish Labour’s problems such as calls for home rule and federalism.

Both of these ‘solutions’ are limited to a small section of Scottish Labour and not even a talking point with the general public.

While the civil war in the Labour Party rages, this creates opportunities for people and parties, the Tories played a blinder when Kezia Dugdale dropped the ball and said she could see herself voting for independence, having lost core Labour voters who switched to the SNP, she also lost core Labour voters who voted Conservative as the main opposition to the SNP.

When you see headlines that Scottish Labour is on 15% of the vote for the upcoming council election, you cannot be surprised by this, I know I am certainly not. People like to be associated with success, but Scottish Labour has lost the public’s votes and goodwill, they have lost people as activists and they have also lost people willing to donate.

The Glasgow Tories may indeed pick up seats but it won’t be plain sailing, the Tories in Scotland is still have a problem, decisions made down south impact on Glaswegians and the revival of fortunes still looks a bit shaky in my opinion. The best chance of gains are in wealthier areas of the city of Glasgow, places like Castlemilk, Pollok, Govan, Drumchapel, Possil or Calton wouldn’t even get the Tories a look in never mind getting heard.

Deprived areas aren’t a happy hunting ground for the Glasgow Tories.

As Scottish Labour fall, the Scottish Tories see opportunity, which is why they have decided to plant their flag and hold a Conference in Glasgow. The gathering is scheduled at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in early March, deep in the heart of the campaigning season.

If is entirely possible that Glasgow Tories could get more seats if they play the Unionist card but things are a bit up in the air politically.

One thing which will not be happening is that I will not voting Conservative in May 2017; this is nothing to do with political beliefs but everything to do with the Conservative Candidate David Meikle.

During Brexit, I met a young man from the Conservatives called Robert Connelly, he was a hard worker and keen, what some people call a ‘Tenement Tory’, I would like to see him get elected and given a chance to prove himself to the people of Glasgow.

Any increase above one will be seen as a victory for the Glasgow Tories, but the real acid test is Westminster and Holyrood, and beyond the list unless this nut is cracked, the hard slog will continue for the Scottish Tories.

To make a breakthrough, the Scottish Tories need to say to Westminster Tories a simple word on certain policies……. No!

I don't think I have ever heard Ruth Davidson stand up and say no and get things changed, which doesn't make her position or her party's position as secure as they think. It is quite easy to be banished into the wilderness for another 36 years.

Sadly for them, going along to get along is a dangerous tactic which down the line will backfire and why ‘progress’ will be painful slow, and if a new centre party appears could see the gains given on loan going backwards.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University