Why the SNP should be glad that Ed has won..

This is going to be a slightly controversial post, but let’s take a wee step back and examine what just happened this week in the Labour Party and what this means for the North British Branch. Apart from the high profile David M supporters ( Murphy, Sarwar, Bain, Harris..) , many in Scottish Labour are highly delighted at Miliband Minor’s win and the very public break with the New Labour brand, calculating that this will bring electoral rewards next May. That level of optimism verging on arrogance and complacency will only help our campaign, as Scottish voters don’t like being taken for granted.

However, what if Labour’s strategy for the next five years is to stop drinking Southern Comfort and sup Boddingtons, Newcastle Brown and Tennents instead ? Is a move to the left (actually the centre , it’s only the media that define the middle ground in politics to the right) going to prove a tonic to the troops but a turn off to the voters south of the border ?

When there’s a significant divergence between Scotland and England in terms of preferred political parties, then the pressure grows for change. Obviously the greater the vote for the SNP, the more legitimacy for independence and that is what we are all campaigning hard for. However.. what if.. Labour’s Year Zero (as their conference has seemed to be this week) and retreat to the heartlands gifts the ConDems their re-election but has Scotland rejecting them and their little liberal helpers completely ? The same level of pressure will build from all part of Scottish society and that delivered the parliament – not one political party can claim that result, it was a collective effort, the settled will of the Scottish people. We are moving to the next phase as the union is gradually and inevitably fragmenting.

 Incidentally one of the better quips from Labour conference was that well-known joker, Liam “there’s no money left” Byrne when he emphasised the importance of attacking the Tories instead of the Liberals – Business before Pleasure …

NEW LABOUR DONT GET SCOTLAND

The biggest political lesson to be learned this week is that still even after all these years New Labour just don’t get Scotland.

Firstly we had the Dark Lord Mandelson saying that Scotland will soon clamour for the public sector reforms already put in place in England – Er no thanks!

Then as if we didn’t know, Tory Blair – Sorry Tony Blair – puts the boot into Gordon Brown in an interview, followed by the revelations in his biography that he didn’t quite understand devolution.

  

Scotland has consistently rejected the Blairite reforms on public services such as Foundation Hospitals, school academies, and other reforms which are code for outsourcing and privatisation.  Indeed the example South of the Border is that these reforms have led to a reduction in services, so why should we go down that path? Even Scottish Labour haven’t put these forward when in government in Scotland, which begs the question – if their MSP’s recognise that their selections and elections would’ve been scuppered by openly advocating an advanced New Labour agenda, doesn’t that mean there’s a different dynamic in Scotland ? A different country perhaps ? Although that didn’t deter Wendy Alexander from championing home ownership at the expense of public sector housing investment – apart from PFI/PPP, the biggest failure of Scottish Labour is in housing policy. Remember this was devolved, and it’s entirely their failure to deal with the erosion of quality public housing through right to buy and insisting on stock transfer as the only game in town. An expensive and unnecessary delay that was an entirely political decision - instead of investing in council housing – and all because the public sector borrowing requirement had to be curtailed (cue ironic laughter).

Blair’s admission is more stark, when you consider the debate to move on from devolution is in the ascendancy.  It is obvious that Labour do not want to open the debate towards full financial powers or even Independence.

New Labour just doesn’t get it.   A political philosophy to suit natural Conservative voters was never going to have resonance here.

The debate thankfully has moved on both fronts, any move to towards a Blairite agenda will be a disaster for Labour.

David Mliband, the choice of both Mandelson and Blair to succeed as leader will turn voters in Scotland away in droves. Incidentally, your starter for ten as to who in Scottish Labour has turned their back on the ethos of democratic socialism and wealth redistribution is to examine the supporters list of the Heir to Blair…