Time might be up for the old guard

Saturday 21 April 2012

The fight for North Lanarkshire will be one of the fiercest of the local election campaign, reports Gerry Braiden in the third of The Herald's battleground profiles.

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After last May's Nationalist tidal wave in Lanarkshire, it was the clearest indication that change may be on the way in Old Labour's last stronghold. After an application to build on a small gap site in Wishaw was passed, groups of middle-class residents in the public galleries began chanting "You're out in May".

Things are often vicious in Lanarkshire. May 3 might well up the ante. Labour has much to lose and even the Politburo of the Peoples' Republic of North Lanarkshire has considered time might be up.Last May, the SNP broke out of Cumbernauld and into the industrial heartlands of Airdrie, Coatbridge and Motherwell.A key figure in that success, Holyrood minister Alex Neil, is leading the SNP charge and has been in a public slanging match with council leader, the veteran Jim McCabe.There are several capable councillors within the Labour administration and the party can knock on doors talking up some policy successes such as schools investments and employability initiatives in the face of ever-declining budgets.It can also point to an inexperienced SNP group, riven with factionalism and driven from the back seat by Government ministers, while Labour believes it is having considerable success picking off individual Nationalist councillors and candidates.The rise of the SNP machine in recent years has left it short on experience and talent at local levels and while current SNP leader David Stocks is by all accounts a decent sort, it may not be enough to hold together an administration. And Labour has a lot to lose, beyond power and the perks of office.The dynasties of Frank Roy, Helen Liddell, John Reid and Jack McConnell, the backbone of west of Scotland Labour for a generation, will fall like a pack of cards if North Lanarkshire goes to the SNP.

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Time might be up for the old guard

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