JOHANN Lamont was last night embroiled in the growing crisis over Unite's influence on the Labour Party, after the union boasted it was behind one of her flagship policies.
In a leaked document from last month, Unite political director Steve Hart said the Scottish leader's high-profile Devolution Commission on giving Holyrood more powers had been set up "at our behest", because Unite was unhappy with the party's "dry constitutional position".
Hart, who has since left his post, also said Unite "headed off some bad changes" to the system which saw Lamont elected leader in 2011. Before the contest, Scottish Labour considered reforms which would have diluted the share of the vote given to unions in an electoral college, and given more say to councillors. The idea was abandoned.
Lamont won the leadership thanks to union support in the electoral college, despite her rival, Ken Macintosh, winning support from the party's ordinary members.
Unite's claims were yesterday backed up by other trades unionists. However, a senior Labour Party source described any suggestion that Lamont was not the driver of the Devolution Commission as "complete and utter b*****ks".
Alex Salmond last night demanded Lamont "break her silence" on the scandal engulfing Labour over its links to Unite, which erupted after the Sunday Herald reported claims that the selection of Labour's Westminster candidate in Falkirk had been rigged to help Unite favourite Karie Murphy, with people being signed up as Labour members without their knowledge.
After David Cameron taunted Labour leader Ed Miliband in the Commons this week about Unite's influence, Murphy's employer, MP Tom Watson, quit as Labour's general election co-ordinator.
Miliband has since had a public row with Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, pitching the party against its biggest donor and threatening the link between Labour and its trades union affiliates. After McCluskey claimed Unite was being unfairly blamed in a "stitch-up", Miliband said he would not tolerate "bad practice or even corrupt practice", and referred the party's report on Falkirk to the police.
The First Minister said the affair has exposed as "empty rhetoric" the idea Scottish Labour ran its own affairs, as the UK party had led the investigation while Lamont was sidelined. He said: "Johann Lamont has stood by, silent and immobilised, while Labour has imploded in Falkirk. It has exposed the total pretence that she leads Labour in Scotland. It is time for Johann Lamont to break her silence on Labour's civil war."
Despite her public silence, Labour sources last night insisted Lamont had been active "every step of the way" in private, raising concerns about Falkirk with Miliband, and pushing for the inquiry, which ended with Labour taking over the local party in Falkirk and suspending its chairman, Stephen Deans, and Murphy.
Unite continues to push two other candidates for Scottish Westminster seats: Archie Dryburgh in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale; and Alan Moir in East Dunbartonshire. The crisis over Unite has raised questions over its influence on Labour in Scotland. Lamont is a Unite member, and the union gave £500 to her 2011 re-election campaign. Although only 10 of Labour's 37 MSPs declare Unite membership in the register of interests, six of them are in Lamont's shadow cabinet.
MP Anas Sarwar, Lamont's deputy leader, calls himself a "proud member" of Unite. Just three of 65 SNP MSPs are Unite members. Hart's leaked report, presented to the union's executive council last month, said Scottish Unite had "assisted Labour to realise that it must argue for a progressive future within the UK, not simply around a dry constitutional position", adding that Lamont's Devolution Commission was set up "at our behest".
The commission was the centrepiece of Lamont's first conference as leader, in Dundee in March 2012.
A senior Labour member said Unite had tabled a motion on more powers before the Dundee gathering, but it was never made public. Instead, Labour's Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) discussed it in private, and agreed a statement on a Devolution Commission which led Unite to pulling the motion, avoiding a debate.
Although Lamont was given credit for the commission, the source said: "The SEC gave her [Lamont] the responsibility to get on with this, but the driver for it was Unite. It was not her initiative in the first place."
In a coded acknowledgement of Unite's role, the only non-politician on the Devolution Commission was Unite regional political officer Jackson Cullinane, who is now the chairman of Scottish Labour. An SNP spokesman said: "Clearly Johann Lamont is no enthusiast for more powers for Scotland, and is being dragged along unwillingly to maintain the fiction of more powers following a No vote."
JOHANN Lamont was last night embroiled in the growing crisis over Unite's influence on the Labour Party, after the union boasted it was behind one of her flagship policies. In a leaked document from last month, Unite political director Steve Hart said the Scottish leader's high-profile Devolution Commission on giving Holyrood more powers had been set up "at our behest", because Unite was unhappy with the party's "dry constitutional position".
Hart, who has since left his post, also said Unite "headed off some bad changes" to the system which saw Lamont elected leader in 2011. Before the contest, Scottish Labour considered reforms which would have diluted the share of the vote given to unions in an electoral college, and given more say to councillors. The idea was abandoned.
Lamont won the leadership thanks to union support in the electoral college, despite her rival, Ken Macintosh, winning support from the party's ordinary members.
Unite's claims were yesterday backed up by other trades unionists. However, a senior Labour Party source described any suggestion that Lamont was not the driver of the Devolution Commission as "complete and utter b*****ks".
Alex Salmond last night demanded Lamont "break her silence" on the scandal engulfing Labour over its links to Unite, which erupted after the Sunday Herald reported claims that the selection of Labour's Westminster candidate in Falkirk had been rigged to help Unite favourite Karie Murphy, with people being signed up as Labour members without their knowledge.
After David Cameron taunted Labour leader Ed Miliband in the Commons this week about Unite's influence, Murphy's employer, MP Tom Watson, quit as Labour's general election co-ordinator.
Miliband has since had a public row with Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, pitching the party against its biggest donor and threatening the link between Labour and its trades union affiliates. After McCluskey claimed Unite was being unfairly blamed in a "stitch-up", Miliband said he would not tolerate "bad practice or even corrupt practice", and referred the party's report on Falkirk to the police.
The First Minister said the affair has exposed as "empty rhetoric" the idea Scottish Labour ran its own affairs, as the UK party had led the investigation while Lamont was sidelined. He said: "Johann Lamont has stood by, silent and immobilised, while Labour has imploded in Falkirk. It has exposed the total pretence that she leads Labour in Scotland. It is time for Johann Lamont to break her silence on Labour's civil war."
Despite her public silence, Labour sources last night insisted Lamont had been active "every step of the way" in private, raising concerns about Falkirk with Miliband, and pushing for the inquiry, which ended with Labour taking over the local party in Falkirk and suspending its chairman, Stephen Deans, and Murphy.
Unite continues to push two other candidates for Scottish Westminster seats: Archie Dryburgh in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale; and Alan Moir in East Dunbartonshire. The crisis over Unite has raised questions over its influence on Labour in Scotland. Lamont is a Unite member, and the union gave £500 to her 2011 re-election campaign. Although only 10 of Labour's 37 MSPs declare Unite membership in the register of interests, six of them are in Lamont's shadow cabinet.
MP Anas Sarwar, Lamont's deputy leader, calls himself a "proud member" of Unite. Just three of 65 SNP MSPs are Unite members. Hart's leaked report, presented to the union's executive council last month, said Scottish Unite had "assisted Labour to realise that it must argue for a progressive future within the UK, not simply around a dry constitutional position", adding that Lamont's Devolution Commission was set up "at our behest".
The commission was the centrepiece of Lamont's first conference as leader, in Dundee in March 2012.
A senior Labour member said Unite had tabled a motion on more powers before the Dundee gathering, but it was never made public. Instead, Labour's Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) discussed it in private, and agreed a statement on a Devolution Commission which led Unite to pulling the motion, avoiding a debate.
Although Lamont was given credit for the commission, the source said: "The SEC gave her [Lamont] the responsibility to get on with this, but the driver for it was Unite. It was not her initiative in the first place."
In a coded acknowledgement of Unite's role, the only non-politician on the Devolution Commission was Unite regional political officer Jackson Cullinane, who is now the chairman of Scottish Labour. An SNP spokesman said: "Clearly Johann Lamont is no enthusiast for more powers for Scotland, and is being dragged along unwillingly to maintain the fiction of more powers following a No vote."
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