I READ with interest Ian Bell's reflections on why and when it started to go wrong for Labour in Scotland ("The strange death of Scottish Labour", The Herald, May 8).
I have always thought that Labour started to lose Scotland because of their acceptance of the introduction of the Poll Tax.
The "Can pay. Won't pay" campaign won support from across Scotland but Labour were told by the Labour MP for Cunninghame North, Brian Wilson, not to get involved, and to pay the tax because, if I remember correctly, it would be "naive" to think such a movement would have any success.
There were many Labour supporters and activists who ignored that advice and worked hard within the anti-Poll Tax campaign alongside SNP supporters. Some switched to the SNP at that point. The success of the campaign led to the abolition of the Poll Tax and the eventual downfall of Margaret Thatcher. Scotland celebrated, but the Labour Party could only watch.
Then in the 1990s Labour in Scotland were told by the "head office" that they were no longer supporters of unilateral nuclear disarmament but were now multilateralists. And then Labour gave Tony Blair, whom Margaret Thatcher liked to call "her greatest achievement".
If there is any chance of the Labour Party surviving as a political force in Scotland it is my opinion that they have to address these failings. They have to admit that over the last 25 years they have put the interests of the British Labour Party before the interests of Scottish people. They have to be seen to be honest in their dialogue with a well-educated Scottish electorate. They could start by facing up to the fact that Tony Blair is a war criminal and should stand trial as such.
Richard MacKinnon,
0/1 131 Shuna Street,
Ruchill,
Glasgow.
AS the Labour Party lick their wounds and ponders what went wrong in the election , they could do worse than think on the words of Bertold Brecht: '' There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.''
James Mills
29 Armour Square, Johnstone.
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