Monday 23 July 2012

Scottish Labour is dead ... that's all ...

Here we are on the Monday after yet another opinion piece by Gerry Hassan on why we need a rejuvenated Scottish Labour Party. The Herald and Daily Record carry stories which reveal the crushing reason why Gerry is tilting at windmills. The cosy nepotism of Scottish Labour is writ large in the appointment to a Glasgow Council post (which increasingly looks as if it was never advertised) of one Tom McAbe; rejected Labour MSP.

Scottish Labour is so immured in the stench of its own and Westminster's sewage as to be beyond salvage. The left of centre in Scotland is now SNP territory, further left you have the Greens and far out the SSP.

The real question, for Gerry, is just what is the point of 'Scottish Labour' except as a right of centre, neoliberal puppet party of Westminster's two Tory Parties?

The 'Yes' campaign has Dennis Kavanagh as a representative of what New Labour in Scotland have forgotten.New Scottish Labour has alienated Henry McLiesh for going native and sidelined Chisholm for much the same reasons.

Today Milliband's big idea is that Tony Blair will 'save the Union', as if! Rather than using opposition time to bring forward a fiscal autonomy bill for Scotland which would also work to force the reforming of the arcane, venal and dictatorial parliament at Westminster Milliband appears to be wishing for in his Independent interview. Meanwhile over in the Guardian Mr Ed is talking more horse about the need for politics to reform a UK business culture which merely reflects the Westminster political culture - venal, self centred, expense and tax fiddling, above the law, too big to fail, etcetera.

The truth is, Gerry, there are no ideas in New Labour except for the dead hand of the status quo. New Labour in Scotland can not be saved, not even if you put 40 million volts through it. New Labour in Scotland has nailed itself to its perch because it is now struggling to hang on.

 In the meantime the SNP is picking up more doubters to its cause with sensible and consultative governance and putting ideas into practice that help all of Scotland's people - council tax freeze .... etcetera.

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