Dear All
Some people like me believe that the
Scottish Labour Party should be a separate party but for different reasons,
some want unrestricted and unchecked power, some are closet Nationalists
seeking indy and some like me believe a separate party is needed in the
devolution era. London Labour control doesn’t work for Scottish Labour, it is
counter-productive and even harmful.
The recent Labour leadership contest and
the pronouncements of the candidates show clearly, they don’t understand the political
and social dynamics in Scotland. The main problems to a separate party separate
party are ‘closet Nationalists’ who need to be removed, and lack of talent in
the elected ranks. If I ask you to name the Scottish Labour Shadow Cabinet you
would probably be stumped, the reason why is that they haven’t distinguished
themselves in their work.
I can name Richard Leonard because he is
the leader and Monica Lennon because she is truly dreadful and a loose cannon.
The rest, I have no clue about because they like the Scottish Party have made
no real effort to exploit their briefs. You would think in the big portfolios
that the shadow health, education and justice ministers would be household
names, but you would be wrong.
Scottish Labour isn’t just ineffective as a
campaigning machine as the elections from 2007 onwards show; they are also
ineffective in the chamber of Holyrood.
This link gives you access to the list of
Bill which has been passed at Holyrood, other than the repeal of the Offensive
Behaviour at Football Act, where are the others? What has happened is the
Scottish Labour has meekly allowed Holyrood in the main to be turned into a
rubber stamp for SNP Bills only, and they have simply gone along with that with
the exception of the ‘fitba’ bill repeal. Of course there are other Bills in
the works, but like a roundabout the best that Scottish Labour can do is just
go round and round in circles.
Holyrood is like a student union debating
chamber.
George Galloway has a good turn of phrase;
he referred to the current Labour leadership contest as a ‘donkey derby’.
If it is a donkey derby down south, one wonders
what George Galloway would make of the situation in Scotland? The lack of
talent, work ethic, leadership isn’t a new thing in Scotland, but the morass
seems endless because ‘cometh the hour’ cometh no one. Scottish Labour is a
party so downtrodden and lost that it has forgotten its purpose. Not only are
they seen as the ‘branch office’ by the London Labour elite, they aren’t held
in high esteem which is why we have seen the sewage pour out of the mouths of
the candidates for UK Labour leader. As part of his pitch to be the deputy
leader, Ian Murray, the sole Scottish Labour MP has said senior figures such as
shadow chancellor John McDonnell should “never again” come up to Scotland and
change the party’s constitutional position without telling anyone.
And he is right on this, his direct plea to
Labour’s leadership candidates to stay out of Scottish politics if
they don’t know what they are talking about is something which anyone who understands
what is going on up here should tell them.
When you listen to John McDonnell MP, you
get two things, one he doesn’t understand Scottish politics and two; he doesn’t
understand the internal dire straits of the Labour Party in Scotland.
Personally, I would like to read the leaked
report of Lesley Laird in full because I am sure that this is a document which
could be added too. Although Ian Murray is right when he says that party must
“never again face both ways on the big issues of our time”, he isn’t in my view
a favourite to win the deputy leader slot, the smart money I suspect will be on
Angela Rayner.
There are five candidates left in the main
leaders race, looking at the candidates, I would be tempted to back Lisa Nandy
as an outsider. Keir Starmer doesn’t impress me and Rebecca Long-Bailey is just
thick, Jess Phillips may sound like a scheme Ned buts he is a middle class wolf
in working class clothing, as to Emily Thornberry, she comes across as just disingenuous
and despicable. I for one am not buy her as leadership material.
So, if I decide to vote in the main UK
election, I would go with Lisa Nandy and Angela Rayner because they seem the
best available people on the ballot paper. Whether these people can do what is
necessary is another matter, after all plenty to fix down south without even
looking at the Scottish problem. One thing for certain is major change is
needed and that includes getting rid of some staffers of the Corbyn era.
Seamus Mline and Karie Murphy have to be
removed.
On the other runners for deputy, the full
list is Angela Rayner, Ian Murray, Rosena Allin-Khan, Dawn Butler and Richard
Burgon.
Richard Burgon backs Rebecca Long-Bailey
presumably this is a tactical choice for his possible advancement because it
certainly isn’t going to work for the party. Burgon got where he is because the
rest of the Labour Party refused to serve in a Corbyn Cabinet. The Labour MPs
refused to serve for a variety of reasons, but a main one was the way that
complaints were handled, especially anti-Semitism.
Finally, it is interesting that Labour people
are writing reports on Labour’s failures, we have had the Lesley Laird Report,
we have Labour Together going a report and we now have a report being written
by Ian Murray which he told supporters he would present to the party’s
September conference on how Labour can win again. So many in the Labour Party
appear to have the knowledge on how to make the Labour Party better which begs
the question, why didn’t they impart their knowledge beforehand?
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
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