As Scottish Labour regroups after the General Election, the temptation will be to focus on organisation and structure. Important though these are, the real question the party has to ask itself is – what is Scottish Labour for? After the 2007 and 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, Scottish Labour held reviews that gave detailed consideration to […]
Posts under ‘British Regions/Nations’
Trade union shows how not to consult its members on London Mayoralty
Jun 2nd, 2015 by Jon Lansman.So far the selection of the candidate for London Mayor has left much to be desired. A selection process was imposed on London that no section of the party in London wanted – not the trade unions, not the constituency parties, not the regional board of the party. Then the process was designed as if […]
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Devo Manc: ‘Northern Powerhouse’ or northern poorhouse?
Jun 2nd, 2015 by Mick Moran and Karel Williams.Manchester is a great world city which has long divided observers. In the mid-nineteenth century, what was for de Tocqueville a ‘foul drain’ and for Taine ‘Babel built of brick’ was for the Edinburgh Review, by contrast, ‘foremost in the march of improvement, a great incarnation of progress’. Most recently, with ‘devo Manc’, the city […]
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Why Labour lost – the disturbing perspective of Annette from Scotland
May 18th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.I certainly don’t agree with all of what is said here. For instance, it assumes much of the English and Welsh political landscape is similar to Scotland. The piece below, however, contains some very uncomfortable truths for all Labour people. It behoves us all to pause and reflect on some of the disastrous decisions made […]
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After the debacle: why Welsh Labour should work with Plaid Cymru
May 17th, 2015 by Nick Davies.The election result was terrible for Wales. If five years of self-defeating, poverty creating state-shrinking austerity from the coalition was bad enough, five more years of the Tories governing alone will be worse. The assault on the public sector threatens thousands of Welsh jobs, the £12 billion in ‘welfare’ cuts will make life even more […]
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On the resignation of Jim Murphy
May 17th, 2015 by Guest.The following statement was published yesterday on Revitalise Scottish Labour, the website associated with the trade union left in Scotland and Scottish Labour activists involved in the Campaign for Socialism Today’s Scottish Executive (SEC) was, to put it mildly, something out of the ordinary. The meeting was presented with a report on the general election that […]
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The defeat of Scottish Labour – post rational politics or shifting plates?
May 15th, 2015 by Neil Findlay.So it wasn’t a tsunami, earthquake, tidal wave or landslide – it was all of them and as many other cataclysmic metaphors as you want to throw in. Scottish Labour was obliterated at the polls with majorities in the 10’s and 20’s of thousands wiped out at a stroke with only Ian Murray left clinging […]
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Labour’s SNP Lessons
May 14th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.The cataclysm came and Scottish Labour was obliterated. There are calls for Jim Murphy to go, calls that should be heeded for the good of the party. Yet what exactly happened in Scotland? We’ve visited some of the reasons, but there are wider points Labour needs to take on board from the SNP’s success that are […]
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The SNP offered hope, the Tories spread fear and loathing
May 10th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.We now know what happened, but why did it happen? How was it that an election campaign characterised by two different approaches, one upbeat, one defeated-looking; one that had momentum and enthusiasm and the other little more than desperate personal attacks, climaxed as it did? The result, which was unexpectedly very bad for Labour, is going to […]
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Jim Murphy has no mandate and must go, say Scottish unions
May 9th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Trade unions in Scotland have called for Jim Murphy to step down as leader of Scottish Labour as Neil Findlay who stood against Murphy for the leadership last year with the backing of the Left and almost all trade unions announced his resignation from the shadow cabinet at Holyrood where he held the fair work, skills and […]
