AS a Scottish Labour Party member, and for some years a very active one, I'd be grateful if somebody in the party could tell me what we're about right now.
Because, amongst all the verbiage from our leaders, I see little in the way of traditional Labour values and even less in the way of vision.
At Westminster, Labour seems determined to portray itself as a slightly nicer version of the Tories. They would cut the deficit a little more slowly; spend one or two percent more on the NHS, while trying to reverse the reforms they themselves initiated when in office; and give a small boost to the minimum wage. In some areas, they'd match the Tories: the benefits cap would stay and, shamefully, they would be as tough as the Tories on immigration.
Meanwhile in Scotland, Labour is to be more patriotic. Best to ignore the comment of that great Englishman Dr Samuel Johnson that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". But the new emphasis on "standing up for Scotland" while offering centrist policies essentially means Scottish Labour has become the SNP, but without the final step to full independence. They do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
The difficulty for Scottish Labour is that there doesn't appear to be any incentive for those who have deserted the party to return. Why vote for the imitation when you can have the real thing? The problems are compounded by the fact that the SNP has a strong and talented front bench who comfortably out-perform Labour; they also have a much more diverse back bench which, while it contains the odd eccentric, gives them strength in depth at Holyrood; and of course they now have nearly 100,000 members - anybody know how many Scottish Labour have?
Labour has probably left it too late to sort itself out for May's Westminster election, but they might as well be hung for sheep as lambs. It's time to be bold and a good start would be to announce that, under Labour, the minimum wage would rise to the level of the living wage. As things stand, bad employers get away with paying poverty pay that people simply can't live on, so the state (that is,us, the taxpayers) has to supplement their income or they end up seeking assistance from food banks. In the UK, in 2015, amongst all the wealth we have as a nation? Come on Labour, pledge to fix that.
Doug Maughan,
52 Menteith View, Dunblane.
IT is surely time for the Labour Party to start recognising that, when Ed Miliband pledges to introduce what he fraudulently calls a "Home Rule" Bill, the main result is that trust floods away even further from the party ("Miliband vows Home Rule Bill in first 100 days", the Herald, Janaury 29) . It has long been accepted that home rule for Scotland would mean the devolution of all powers other than foreign affairs, defence and the wider issues of economic policy. Mr Miliband's version of home rule comes nowhere close to these requirements.
This cynical attempt to hijack the term "home rule" comes from a Labour Party which did not even want to fully devolve decision-making about the rates and levels of income tax, despite this tax amounting to only eight per cent of Scottish tax revenues. Even if Labour fully implemented the recent UK Command Paper, the Scottish Parliament would only control £15 billion of Scotland's £53bn tax revenue. Is Mr Miliband seriously suggesting that Holyrood control of less than 30 per cent of all taxes raised in Scotland amounts to home rule?
The Labour leader refers to the promised powers over welfare, but fails to note that, whilst the devolution of £3.2 billions of disability benefits to Holyrood is important, total welfare spend in Scotland amounts to £17.5bn. So, Westminster would retain control of 81 per cent of Scotland's welfare spend. Does Mr Miliband's use of the term "home rule" not amount to mis-selling here?
Home rule would, at the very least, need the devolution of sufficient tax powers to fund all of the Scottish Parliament's responsibilities. With the addition of disability benefits, the Scottish Government's budget will be around £42bn. In what way does Mr Miliband think that the Scottish Parliament controlling only 38 per cent of the taxes for its budget amounts to home rule?
The Labour Party's cynical attempt to hijack the term "home rule" is carefully designed to leave Westminster rule as little disturbed. Yet again, it owes more to party self-interest than integrity, with a casual disregard for the need to be honest with voters in Scotland.
Andrew Reid
The Old School, Dundas Street, Comrie, Perthshire.
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