Major Error of Judgement; Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell plunges Scottish Labour into turmoil as independence row heats up, undermined the Scottish leader, undermined 59 prospective Labour Party Westminster candidates, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson commented, “Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell would happily sell Scotland down the river if they thought it could give them a sniff of power.”

Dear All

When you make a mistake, you can either do two things recognise it; or double down and keep making it. After SNP leader using the Edinburgh Fringe for a sympathy vote, along comes Labour MP John McDonnell not understanding Scottish politics. In what must be seen as a betrayal of the Scottish Party and its leader Richard Leonard. We have McDonnell saying that a Labour government should not block another futile Scottish independence referendum.

So, why is McDonnell willing to stab the Scottish Party in the back?

Well if you look at polling over sometime, the Scottish Labour Party has done badly, in one poll; it said that the SNP would win 49 seats if there was a general election for Westminster. Given the likelihood of a hung UK parliament, it seems that in power politics, the Scottish Labour Party wouldn’t count in the arithmetic of a Labour minority UK government with a possible deal with the SNP. Scottish Labour sits on 11% for Westminster voting intentions which is incredibly poor for a party once thee dominant force in Scotland.

 

Scottish Labour has been thrown under the bus as John McDonnell tried to justify the decision which he says UK leader Jeremy Corbyn agrees with by a yarn about democracy.

He said:

"What I said yesterday, that was not picked up, is actually what I want is a Labour Government, and let us demonstrate as a Labour Government what we can do to transform people's lives. And if, after a few years, people want to come back and say they want to test the water on an independence referendum then fair enough, that's up to the Scottish people and the Scottish Parliament. I'm not here to block a democratic exercise by any means."

McDonnell added:

"For me, the priority is a Labour Government. If the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish people determine that they want another referendum, I'm not being set up by Nicola Sturgeon because that's what she's trying to do. She's trying to say it's the big bad English yet again trying to prevent us holding a referendum. No we're not. What we're saying is it's unnecessary. We will campaign against having a referendum, but we are not using parliamentary devices to block it — it's as simple as that."

The key part of his diatribe you should pick up on is, "For me, the priority is a Labour Government”.

Which if that is a minority government propped up by the SNP, the Scottish situation is firmly a distance second. This stance flatly contradicts Scottish Labour's pledge not to grant Holyrood the power to hold another referendum, and will be seen as another reason why the Scottish Party should split from the main UK party. It seems that the Labour Party likes the idea of Federalism, but in the meantime this is humiliation for Scottish leader Richard Leonard.

What Labour Party supporting Unionists members and voters will think of McDonnell’s unwanted and unhelpful statements is anyone’s guess but to hazard a guess, I would say not very happy. I would also draw your attention to the Kezia Dugdale statement where she said she could support independence under certain circumstances, this lead to a flood of Labour voters casting their votes for the Conservatives. Is history about to repeat itself at Holyrood or Westminster which ever comes first?

Leonard met with McDonnell yesterday and said he “made clear to him that a second independence referendum is unwanted by the people of Scotland and it is unnecessary”.  

He added:

“The 2014 referendum was a once in a generation vote. There is no economic case for independence, especially with the SNP’s new position of ditching the pound and new policy of turbo-charged austerity to bear down on the deficit.”

A dozen Scottish Labour general election candidates have now released a joint statement insisting they “oppose another independence referendum”. This would beg the obvious question of why it isn’t that 59 out of 59 Scottish Labour general election candidates signed the joint statement? I suppose to be charitable time pressure of getting a statement out for going to press could be the reason.

Martin Whitfield, Labour MP for East Lothian, said it was “deeply disappointing that John McDonnell has doubled down on his desire to ignore the party’s manifesto”. It is entirely possible that Mr. Whitefield according to polling could lose his seat, but does deeply disappointing really express the stupidity of the McDonnell intervention? Whitefield branded it “an insult to Richard Leonard and the entire Scottish Labour Party, which is working hard to win back the trust of voters and help elect a Labour Government at Westminster”. An issue for Scottish Labour is trust, Whitefield rightly indentified that bunny.

In March, Richard Leonard in an attempt to win back Labour voters who voted Conservative insisted a future Labour government would block a second referendum, even if the Scottish Parliament requested the Section 30 power to hold it.

Speaking at the Fringe event, Mr McDonnell claimed Mr Leonard "understands where I'm coming from".

I think many people understand exactly where Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell is coming from, willing to sell out the Union under the guise of democracy. With things exceptional bad in Scotland for Labour, we shouldn’t forget the recent Brecon and Radnorshire by-election result.

The Labour Party polled a miserable 5.3% of a 59.7% turnout.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has since accused Labour of planning "a pact with the SNP in order to parachute Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10" despite John McDonnell saying he would not have a working arrangement with the SNP "because we're a socialist party; they are not".

He added:

"My own view - I think they're Tories, it's as simple as that, and I always have thought that."

Ruth Davidson added:

“The fact is this - Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell would happily sell Scotland down the river if they thought it could give them a sniff of power."

Finally, what John McDonnell did wasn’t just to undermine the Scottish Labour Party and the leader Richard Leonard; he also undermined 59 prospective Labour Party Westminster candidates.  A remarkable achievement in such a short visit to Scotland and in such a short time frame! What would be seen as a more remarkable achievement would be if he became Chancellor of the Exchequer after the next Westminster election. McDonnell claimed Mr Leonard "understands where I'm coming from" but to give the George Laird view, it is important to let him know where he is going, not to 11 Downing Street anytime soon.

Yours Sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University