I WAS in China recently and came across a headline in the Shanghai Daily: “Voters punish opposition Labour Party in Scotland”. When giants topple, the news travels around the world.
The question is, of course, can Labour recover? Having been active in the party for two decades until last year, I suspect the answer is No. At UK level, Labour has marched off into the wilderness. Its leaders oppose the Tories, but hate Tony Blair and New Labour. Jeremy Corbyn and his £3 supporters refuse to accept that elections are won in the centre and are content to be a protest party on the sidelines. They don’t really want political power, because that would involve making compromises in the purity of their doctrines. It’s puerile and self-indulgent, but that’s what this once-mighty party has been reduced to.
The situation is little better in Scotland. Scottish Labour’s leader may be less controversial, but where should she lead her troops? If she marches left, there’s competition from the Greens and numerous more or less oddball left-wing cliques. Ms Dugdale might eye the centre ground, where most of the votes are, but that’s held firmly by the SNP. Not all SNP voters support independence, but most of them do and won’t even look at a party that is pro-Union.
Scottish Labour’s best hope is to join the campaign for an independent Scotland, which is what a number of its senior figures seem to be edging towards. Once that constitutional question is resolved, as it surely will be, we can get back to the politics of the everyday, with our energies focused on tackling the many evils that still bedevil our fine but flawed land. That’s when a genuinely Scottish Labour party might once again be relevant.
Doug Maughan,
52 Menteith View,
Dunblane.
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