We have seen a scathing attack this week by the Conservative Party and allies of Boris Johnson against those MPs who made a stance and called for the PM to go following 'partygate'. Is it any wonder that Christian Wakeford, former Conservative MP for Bury South, crossed the floor and joined the Labour Party? There is mounting speculation that others will follow his lead after the findings from the Sue Gray inquiry.
As much as Johnson talks about being a defender of the Union, he and his band of Brexiteer followers have shown their true colours: the Conservative Party is a party for southern England only. Just last week, Jacob Rees-Mogg accused Douglas Ross, leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party in Scotland, of being a “lightweight”.
These are not the words of a party that has the best interests of the UK at heart but a loathing of anywhere that is north of the Watford gap. It’s no wonder that current polling suggests that Labour will win back its northern heartlands as the Conservatives are quickly losing touch with the concerns of the ordinary people of Britain.
Polling aside, now is the time for Labour to reach out and demonstrate to voters why they should be backing Labour to replace this incompetent incumbent administration. Let’s not forget, they wined and dined whilst the rest of us stuck to the rules and, sadly, for many people lost loved ones during the lockdowns.
I could dedicate the rest of this column to outlining why Johnson is a goner and why he will be out of office soon but that is a side issue as the outcome of his departure from Number 10 is inevitable. I would rather focus on what the Labour Party has to do in the meantime, as if there is one thing we know about the Tories it is that they will do anything to cling to power.
You know something is changing when Ruth Davidson, former Conservative Party leader in Scotland, comments on GMTV that the Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer looks and feels different – that you can now see an opposition that is hungry for power and can see a path to victory at the next election.
That election will be fought on key Labour issues but Starmer can’t rely on Johnson alone to make it attractive to the electorate. It needs to outline a clear vision of what it stands for and how it will make things better for the people of Britain.
It’s good to see that under Starmer there is a renewed hunger for power and appetite for electoral success. This should be at the core of any aspirational Labour Party but after what will be 13 years of Conservative power by the next election, assuming it takes place before 2024, the key topics will be the cost of living crisis. Many families across the UK will be facing a dilemma of “eat or heat”.
This is not the Britain I recognise. As a country, we can be better than this and it starts by removing the Conservatives from power and Labour stepping up and dealing with the imbalances in our society that the last three Conservative prime ministers have presided over.
With inequality growing at an alarming rate, the Labour Party will need to convey a sense of hope underpinned by a positive vision that supports working families as they attempt to make ends meet. That means adopting policies that will support business, support working families and a plan for the UK economy.
Barrie Cunning is a former Scottish Labour candidate and is the managing director of Pentland Communications.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel