Bob Thomson explains why Labour is still losing.
I made a couple of visits recently which brought home the problems for Scottish Labour. Last December I was in the Palace of Westminster for first time in three years. It reminded me exactly why I have stayed away and reinforced my intention not to go back any time soon. Westminster is an unreal world which is out of touch with reality (the expenses debacle shows just how badly). It contrasts starkly with the accessibility of Holyrood. In London, even soft left Scottish Labour MPs are in complete denial over loss of power in Scotland and seem to think the best solution is to be more vicious against the SNP than they are against the Tories. Probably because they know that in Scotland there is an alternative to voting Tory.
Then I was at the Scottish Labour Party Conference in Dundee in March. There were few MPs (perhaps not so surprising) but there were also few MSPs and indeed few ordinary party members present. If it hadn't been for Trade Union delegates the conference could have been held in a side hall. In debate after debate I was struck by the hypocrisy of front bench speakers attacking the SNP for not implementing policies Labour failed to implement over eight years in power such as teacher and police numbers and student debt. And since the party isn't exactly bursting with front-bench talent they don't even do it well. There was no serious analysis of why Labour lost the Scottish Parliament election and why we were failing to make an impact in opposition. Most trade unions act and think as Labour loyalists when in fact they were being New Labour apologists. On PFI/PPP the platform, except the trade unionist Chairman, continued to support this disastrous policy while rubbishing the SNP's only sl ightly better Scottish Futures Trust alternative. The three UK Cabinet Ministers who spoke did not address the Scottish dimension or provide any Scottish solutions.
We lost because of the neo liberal economic and war policies of UK Labour government. Scottish Labour failed - unlike the Welsh Labour Party - to put 'clear red water' between them and New Labour. The people who inhabit the Labour Party bureaucracy either don't know about devolution or more probably arrogantly ignore it. I am constantly getting emails about policy initiatives which only apply in England but fail to say this. When I point this out, I receive no reply.
So much has been said and written on this subject that it is not worth running over it all in depth. So let me simply give you what I see as the six big problems Labour faces in Scotland if it is going to do anything to make the country fairer and more left-wing:
There are no leaders. Scottish Labour in Parliament is filled with competent people and padded out with some incompetent people. But any really good people have either been forced out (by Rosemary McKenna's hit squad before the 1999 election) or have just walked away. Realistically, there isn't a single serious leadership candidate from either the left, centre or right of the party who it is possible to imagine actually making an impact on Scotland. Only followers are left.
There is no party. The membership has at least halved in recent years. Labout used to be a grassroots organization but now party meetings - on the occasions where they are quorate - are filled with only two kinds of people; those who have jobs and those who want jobs. There are no activists and there are almost no enthusiasts. It is an organisation without a party and nothing good can come from that. There is no independence. In my view Labour has actually been saved in Scotland by being forced to go into coalition with the Lib Dems. In my view, if they had been able to, they would have been even more cautious and New Labour. If you look at how Labour in Scotland talks about things it mainly seems to be about how little they could get away with doing before anyone would start to complain. And while I was no fan of Wendy Alexander, at least her high opinion of herself made her more likely to do something different and independent. Iain Gray has lived of Westminster patronage since he lost his seat in 2003 and the signs are he is paying it back with New Labour nonentities like Rhona Brankin and Richard Baker trotting out a London-friendly line wherever they go. It has no friends. The unions ought to have been helping Labour to realise its situation and find a way out of the hole. They haven't. In fact, the main thing the unions have done is to cover the party's backs while it just kept on digging. And in ten years Labour has had almost nothing to do with all the other political movements in Scotland (such as the anti-war movement) and so have just been written off by most. The Party has no friends to have a quiet word in its ear. There are no big ideas. All Labour in Scotland talks about is the same set of non-policies that get trotted out in London. There is nothing new or different about what they are saying. You can probably guess a Scottish Labour speech before you hear it - for any half-good idea there will be five times as much effort spent attacking other people's ideas. Labour needs to have some kind of purpose if it wants to achieve anything. Getting power back is not itself a purpose. It doesn't know how bad things are. Perhaps the biggest problem the party has is that it doesn't even seem to realise how bad things have got. Scottish Labour MPs seem almost to be in an alternative universe in which they didn't lose in 2007. Glenrothes sorted that out so now its back to getting MSPs to do what London tells them and things will be fine. But they won't. MSPs, meanwhile, are only a bit better. They think they are working as an effective opposition and, in any case, surely everyone hates Salmond so just keeping up the attacks will do the trick. They keep believing they can win by throwing mud at others, but they don't know it isn't working and they won't admit they are a poor opposition for it.
Scottish Labour's structure and bureaucracy requires real devolution from London. It is ridiculous that Ian Gray is Leader of Labour MSPs not Leader of the Scottish Labour Party. And at least I got a vote in his leadership election which I didn't get for Gordon Brown; indeed we have not had a say in our UK Leader since 1994. More importantly Scottish Labour must fairly quickly devise a new, radical policy agenda. Real powers for the Scottish Parliament such as tax raising and borrowing, re-nationalising Scotrail, encourage co-operatives and community enterprises, more social housing, regenerate rural areas, act against poverty, promote income fairness and last but not least oppose Trident renewal. Only then will Scottish Labour revitalise/regain members and reconnect with Scottish voters.
Bob Thomson has been a member of the Labour Party for 45 years and is a former chairman and treasurer of the Scottish Labour Party.
http://www.scottishleftreview. org/li/index. php?option= com_content& task=view& id=236&Itemid= 1
(On my Mac I'm getting the message this site is corrupted so please be aware. This whole post was sent to me by email and is from a most reliable source)
Posts
14 comments:
Seems to me Bob Thomson is a bitter old man and it shows in his comments.
If he believes in a Scottish labour party in an Independent Scotland then why doesn't he just say so.
"in Scotland there is an alternative to voting Tory"
there is it is called not bothering to vote and my guess is you will see a lot more of it.
Actually Niko, this article came from (by email) a senior labour party member who supports every word of it.
Yes voter apathy is be great and that will allow some quite unsuitable people to get elected by default.
Spot on Subrosa.
Labour seem to have abandoned policy for anger and attack.
Their main problem certainly is a lack of talent at the top. Iain Gray is a weak, and unrecognised figure in Scottish politics. To be honest, I really struggle to think of anyone useful to lead them, and it's now got to the point that the armband will be passed around after every defeat in the mindset of "Och, I'll have a go", in an amateur politics version of me and my flatmates trying to kill a wasp. No skill involved, but if we each have a turn at swinging the newspaper, surely we'll hit something...not exactly a strategy to fill one with confidence.
I have always thought, however, that if Scotland became independent, Labour'd be a true force. No more are the statures of John Reid, Robin Cook, Darling etc likely to see the chamber in Holyrood, but the talent at Westminster is better than up North, and if Salmond had to take on a real opponent, it'd be mighty interesting to watch.
Their only saving grace is that the Tories and LibDems are still not even a thought on Scottish voters' minds, thus saving Labour the embarrassment of becoming the 3rd party.
The post looks fine on my PC in Firefox and the link to the scottishleftreview works.
We do need a left wing party (in opposition), and may well find out what it is like not to have one, because they will ignore him.
Good to know the link works fine Brian. I sometimes get a corruption warning with this Mac but not too often. Must be my security software going OTT.
Oh labour will ignore this, they don't like advice. 'We're above listening to the oldies unless they're the Kinnocks'.
Aye I thought it was a good article too PD.
Left you a wee note on your blog ;)
Goodness me no Niko. He sounds like a real Labour, as opposed to New Labour, person, calling for social housing, co-operatives, opposition to Trident, fairness, etc. The kind of Labour yer grandad was... decent and fair.
Not a bitter old man, just someone telling it like it is.
But just as a wee test Niko... can you name a couple of policies that Iain Gray has come up with, independent of Gordon and Spud?
Because all I ever hear from Labour in Scotland is about how much harm the SNP and independence would do.... how it would ruin the economy, leave us vulnerable etc... although the last time I looked the whole UK economy was pretty well ruined and, the country pretty vulnerable.
"Glenrothes sorted that out ..."
Glenrothes showed us how far New Labour was willing to go to hold on to power. Ordinary folks won't trust them ever again. They're finished as a party.
Subrosa,
Madame, excellent late afternoon reading - now I know what "busted flush" means when refering to Labour in Scotland.
I do not see a bitter old man, I see someone who is desperate for someone to sit up and listen while being ignored by his party. Whilst it's too late, Labour will rise again in an Independent Scotland perhaps in the guise of a party of conscience?
Furthermore, Denial in Westminster, denial from all the mainstream UK/Unionist parties would be more accurate, Denial in the Armed Forces too, they cannot bear being reminded that the SNP control things North o' the border.
Soon enough the Great British war machine will grind to an embarrassing halt, wings clipped already due to poor funding and mismanagement of the UK economy. Illegal wars, dying for what? Shame on the PM and his predecessor Bliar - war criminals and should be in the Hague IMO.
Call a GE, lets have one at Holyrood too and get on with our Independence Referendum, time to jump start Scotland into this Millenium and onto something more decent, honest with humility and dignity.
Ditch the European Union in favour of the Council for Europe, protect our industry, invest, erradicate poverty, onwards and upwards as we once were.
Halt the decline, ditch the Union.
Saor Alba
Crazy Daisy
Ahoy there CD, how's it floating?
I'm right behind you on the Council of Europe idea and of course Scottish independence.
Interesting to know the military are so anti-Scotland, but I knew they gave this country little in the way of regard.
I read in those lines a genuine, heart felt admission that the 1987 policy review has been a disaster for a party that once had principles worthy of support but threw them away to gain electoral credibility in 1997.New Labour had to gain the temporal support of middle England who, still were of a mind to follow Maggie's principle that greed and 'self' were good for them and it didn't matter if it beggared their neighbour and this country in the process.
Shame on all who were of a mind not to bring Westmidden to account for themseves or their policies.
I knew a leader of the trade union movement in Scotland who was besmirched and hounded from office by the comrades for his opposition to New Labour's privateering and carpetbagging.
...and his was genuine opposition, not the mealiemouthed utterances so
prelevant of the senior union management these past 20years or so.
It's not just Westmidden that needs to be reclaimed, well leastways by those folk who consider it worth the having.
Like wise the trade union rank and file need to reclaim their organisations from the abuse of their comrade management over recent years.
...and I suspect Bob will be another to feel the wrath of the control freeks. That is,if he has n't already been in receipt of yon.
Tom, I do hope labour supporters read your comment and ponder. As far as I can see it you're bang on with your evaluation. Thank you :)
I have a theory.
The old Labour party, the one I would have voted for, died in 1994. In its place is, to put it mildly, a version of Thatcherism Lite, where the market is not the enemy, the market is your friend.
As a result, New Labour has lost sight of what the old Labour used to stand for. It has no ideas, other than the ones coming from Conservitive discussion documents. It has no leadership, i mean after Question Time the other week does the Gray man honestly look like the next First Minister. Oh and they don't stand up for the common 5/8ths as the 10p Tax scandal and the closure of schools in Glasgow demonstrate.
Do you know Allan, I have a friend from Ayrshire here tonight, and she just said more or less the same as you an hour ago.
She now votes SNP because, being a medic, she is extremely impressed with Nicola Sturgeon.
You're right, labour as it was is finished.
Post a Comment