HAVING joined the Labour Party in 1977, I am a mere newcomer in comparison with Bob Thomson but see eye-to eye with him on the issue of party democracy (Letters, June 28).

No-one wishes to see a return to the days when policy was dictated by union bosses with block votes and debates were dominated by self-serving "activists", but the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction.

On the issue of Labour's candidates, in the past, it was a very important function of trade unions to provide exactly the kind of individual who had "faced an angry boss". These then became Labour MPs and councillors who had experience of working in hard and often low-paid occupations. Their decline has left us with a marked fall in the proportion of our representatives who are "real" people, with honourable exceptions like ex-Post Office trade unionist Alan Johnson, who famously "speaks human". Moreover, we were poorly served by the process post-1999 which delivered some lacklustre Labour MSPs, although it must be said that some of these had their Holyrood seats gift-wrapped by unions.

It is encouraging that Johann Lamont is engaging with Labour Party members and excellent events such as the current Scottish Fabians series are informing the policy development process under her leadership. It will be a further step in the right direction if the party can select a group of high-calibre candidates for elections at all levels from the young and emerging talent that we have in Scottish Labour.

The trade unions should play a major part in each of these processes, by providing practical inputs and high- quality candidates shaped by workplace experience.

Peter A Russell,

87 Munro Road, Glasgow.

GEORGE Osborne announced £11.5bn worth of cuts in Government expenditure and there was barely a whimper of protest from the Labour Party ("Osborne puts curb on welfare and cracks down on claimants", The Herald, June 27).

Given that a few days before the Chancellor's statement, Labour's Westminster leader had announced that his party would not reverse Tory/Liberal Democrat cuts, the reticence of the Labour Party to condemn them is perhaps understandable.

However, we now have the situation where the Labour leader in Scotland, Johann Lamont, openly opposes universal benefits such as free bus passes for Scottish pensioners, free prescriptions and free university education, and the Labour leader at Westminster states that if his party is elected it will stick by Tory spending plans.

The irony of the situation may not be immediately obvious to Labour members in Scotland but when their party lines up in support with the Tories and Liberal Democrats to oppose the SNP in the referendum they will also in effect be campaigning against the only mainstream party that is genuinely opposed to Westminster's cuts. The logic of this situation is that by supporting the continuing sovereignty of Westminster they are also in effect showing support for the expenditure cuts that all three Unionist parties agree they will not reverse.

Margaret Thatcher's passing this year sparked memories of the struggles of many in Scotland during the 1980s and early 1990s who opposed her economic policies. Who from the Scottish Left back then would have believed that in 2013 the Labour Party would be lining up with the Tories to campaign for the continuance of Tory cuts on the people of Scotland? That is the default position in which the Labour Party in Scotland now finds itself.

Gail Finlayson,

6 Larch Tree Way, Banchory.