‘Pennies From Heaven, I Think It Is £20 Notes’; Scottish Labour donor and long time party member Alan Massie quits Scottish Labour and endorses Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, when you drop the ball in politics, someone needs to pick it back up, the Scottish Labour needs to create a high profile pro UK speaker, a Scotland Czar to reassure people to its commitment to the UK

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