Tagged with Johann Lamont

As Lamont resigns, only the independent voice of Scottish Labour can win

Johann Lamont and scottish flagJohann Lamont’s resignation this morning opens up the possibility of a new future which Scottish Labour desperately needs. Its ver survival is at stake.

It is an opportunity to declare the independence of Scottish Labour from Westminster, which it must do if it can again lead the Scottish people to a future that is in the best interests of its people. If it fails to do that, there os no doubt that the forces of nationalism will triumph over socialism in Scotland.

It is an opportunity to reject the politics of the Collins report and the Falkirk fiasco, and to put trade unions once again at the heart of Scottish Labour, which must become the voice of Labour again. Over Falkirk, the Westminster leadership, egged on by Progress, completely bypassed the Scottish leadership. Unfortunately it paid the price of leading from London in the disastrous rise and rise of the SNP that followed. The trade unions have half the votes at Scottish conference. Continue reading →

Scottish Labour repositions itself to the left of the SNP

photoThough the swirling waters of the River Tay looked freezing, the sun shone on Scottish Labour’s conference in Perth this weekend. And inside the conference hall, delegates seemed more confident than last year. Not necessarily that they will win the vote on independence – there is no complacency there – nor that they have got the better of the SNP, but that they have at least got it right about where they are now positioning the Scottish party. A clear and distinct Labour vision for Scotland within Britain. Firmly to the left of the SNP and with a clear commitment to more devolution, not only from London to Edinburgh, but within Scotland in opposition to the SNP’s centralisation. Continue reading →

Grangemouth, class aggression and the ‘national interest’

Grangemouth posterizedIt is in ‘the national interest’ that Grangemouth remain open say the Scottish Government, refusing to countenance closure. They are however seemingly content with the idea that this be accomplished by the Ineos workforce sacrificing wages, pensions, redundancy terms and shift allowances. The national interest is being defined as the continuation of production at the plant and the refinery across the road, and only this. It’s an illustration of who counts as ‘the nation’ and gives us an idea of whose interests count as national priorities. Continue reading →

Johann Lamont shows how to be a union-friendly leader

Johann Lamont, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, speaking to the annual conference of the train drivers’ union ASLEF in Edinburgh, delivered a clear message of support for trade union rights, trade union involvement in policy-making and policies that trade unions have been seeking.

She said she didn’t – and no one should – underestimate the challenge of wining back the trust of the people of Scotland for Labour – and that includes many trade unionists: Continue reading →

Scotland: at least Labour could oppose independence independently

In a part of Britain in which the population still gets overly excited about the ideological alignments of its football clubs, the British flag is not just a neutral patriotic symbol.

Thirteen-year-old Lee Heron was earlier this year sent home from his high school in Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, for wearing a Union Jack T-shirt his mum had bought him at Primark. This attire, his teacher deemed, was likely to inflame sectarian tension among the pupils. Continue reading →