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With SNP poised to win Glasgow East, Labour phoenix may arise from ashes



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Published Date: 07 July 2008
With Labour rudderless and at the nadir of its fortunes across the UK, the SNP are strong favourites and odds on to take the Glasgow East by-election.
In fact if the seat is not won by the nationalists by some way they will look rather foolish, considering the present state of the Labour Party. In many ways, all normal expectations are reversed and this is a seat that can only be lost by the SNP.

Would it not be ironic that the beginning of Labour's return from the depths of the political doldrums could be started by defeat in Glasgow East? This may be the perfect time to shake off the last remnants of Old Labour and for the dinosaur elements still holding the party back finally to retire and for a new, progressive leadership, in London and Scotland, to emerge and take over.

ALEXANDER McKAY
New Cut Rigg
Edinburgh

Supporters of the Left have been shocked by the consequences of Gordon Brown's abolition of the 10p tax band. This is not a unique example of Mr Brown's attack on the poor.

Complicated credit schemes devised by Mr Brown, when he was Chancellor, have resulted in some of the poorest people missing benefits which would have helped them out of poverty.

One example is the Pension Credit Scheme, designed to help the elderly on low incomes.

Did Mr Brown realise that the complex system of form filling and putting the onus on the elderly potential beneficiaries to make a claim might result in a massive reduced uptake of the scheme?

Many old people are too proud to claim what they are entitled to from Mr Brown's scheme, some do not realise they are entitled to claim.

The result is that more than half the old people who are entitled to claim do not. The saving to the Treasury since the scheme started is now billions of pounds.

Since the scheme started, over four years ago, many of these old people have died. Might not a few pounds extra to them have made their lives easier in their last years?

THOMAS THOMSON
Manchester Drive
Glasgow

It's not surprising that our MPs should vote to retain the Additional Costs Allowance (your report, 4 July) which helps to elevate their lifestyles to a level the electorate can only dream about. What is disappointing is that out of the 172 MPs who voted to retain the allowance, 146 should be members of the Labour Party.

What has happened to the party founded to safeguard the interests of the working class?

James Maxton and the other founding fathers would be horrified to see their cherished ideals overtaken by self-interest.

BOB MacDOUGALL
Oxhill
Kippen, Stirlingshire

Gerry Hassan (Debate & Opinion, 4 July) accuses Labour of "market fundamentalism". This is only true if words have no meaning. The Labour Party has been guilty of state fundamentalism – the idea that the state knows best on every issue.

As for "record levels of inequality" being a subject for condemnation, this should be rejected as both false and Marxist and, also, part of the problem and not part of the solution.

BRUCE CRICHTON
Victoria Road
Falkirk, Stirlingshire



The full article contains 541 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

 
1

Maisie from Morningside,

07/07/2008 00:59:39
...."if the seat is not won by the nationalists by some way they will look rather foolish..."
Actually, overturning a 13,000 majority would be an amazing achievement.

Get real - or are you from the Labour Party's propaganda unit?
2

Darien,

Panama 07/07/2008 01:23:19
McKay is an utter tumshie, and even a bairn can see that. If the SNP succeeed, Glasgow East will be a historic milestone on the way to Independence. And Mags Curran's face will be a joy tae behold. But we must take pity on her and those among us who espouse a dependency culture and lesser aspirations, or perhaps a nose in the trough, although it is a pity they cannot see there is no greater cause than the quest for nationhood, and that the gains for Scotland's people, and the wider world, will be immeasurable.
3

CRAGman,

07/07/2008 01:46:57
Actually, I thought Mr McKay was an SNP plant! maybe he lives in "Half Cut Rigg"!
4

EWB,

UK 07/07/2008 08:09:45
Any takers: Hamilton 1968 - Glasgow East 2008?

Don't forget that Winnie Ewing then lost the Hamilton seat in 2000, and so did Labour lose the general election. A few auguries here for Gordon Brown?
5

frank mcbride,

lusitania 07/07/2008 09:04:36
Alexander McKay is more delusional than AM2, W. Alexander and the venerable Lord Foulkes put together.

I fervently hope that he continues to produce copy for the Scottish Press.
6

The Batboy,

07/07/2008 09:11:58
#4 I prefer a few OGRES for Gordon Brown!
7

Martinh,

07/07/2008 09:14:50
There can be little doubt that the abolition of the 10p tax rate triggered a huge crisis in confidence in the Labour Party, as shown in recent opinion polls. However I must take issue with Thomas Thompson with his attack on Labour's Pension credit scheme, the aim of which is and always was to lift the very poorest pensioners out of poverty. I accept the point about complicated form filling, but a non universal benefit has to be by application, and perhaps the best way forward would be to simplify this rather than abolish it. The reality is, if claimed, guarrantees a minimum weekly income of £124 for a single OAP, and £189 for a couple. If the money allocated to State Pensions was applied universally, then these the very poorest pensioners would actually see their pensions cut substantially. Does anyone want that?

It is also pertinent to mention that a welcome result of the 2008 budget (rather than the disastrous consequence of the 2007 '10p' one) has resulted in the winter fuel allowance rising to £250, and 600,000 additional pensioners with retirement incomes out of paying income tax altogether. The Tories would abolish the targeted Pension credit scheme, I wonder how many pensioners thinking of voting Tory realise that?

As for the Glasgow East by-election, don't the media and politicians just love cliches like 'meltdown' and 'disarray.' They all do it and cannot be taken seriously. It is certainly a curious letter from Mr McKay however, who is attempting a double bluff and pretending that it would be a SNP defeat if they were not to take this (previously) rock solid Labour Parliamentary seat. Margaret Curran for Labour however is a serious candidate, and much respected in the Scottish Parliament, and will be a formidable figure for the SNP to overcome, and is unlikely to be fazed by political cliches. The loss of the seat would almost certainly lead to GBs resignation and an early general election. The thought of a Conservative landslide (in England) might y
8

Martinh,

07/07/2008 09:17:57
....might yet concentrate a few minds with regard to voting intentions
9

jj veritas,

07/07/2008 09:23:53
If postal voting is still allowed don't be surprised to see 30% still voting for Labour?
10

EWB,

UK 07/07/2008 10:02:20
#9: Postal voting has been positively encouraged by this Labour government because of the pathetic turn-out by the electorate.

In 2000, the local Labour party sent individual letters round to my father-in-law's sheltered accommodation advocating that the residents vote by post so as not to have to walk to the polling station. They even illustrated how to complete the ballot paper, with an X alongside the Labour party candidate's name.

If people can't get off their fundaments and go to their polling stations, they don't deserve the right to vote and postal votes should be reserved for exceptional circumstances, e.g. extreme disablility, your job takes you out of the country (Army, diplomat).

Sometimes I think the Australians are right to make voting obligatory. The only thing missing from their ballot papers is a space saying: I don's wish to vote for any of these candidates.
11

Martinh,

07/07/2008 10:30:13
#10. Postal voting was a much needed social reform, yes to encourage increased turnout, but also in recognition of the fact that many disabled and elderly people have difficulty in getting to the polling station and were thus discriminated against. Postal voting also allows flexibility with regard to election timing, allowing people on holiday or away from home to cast their vote. Some but not all countries with compulsory voting systems (eg Australia) allow postal voting for their diaspora.

The idea that if you can't physically make it to the polling station (then you don't deserve the right to vote is bizarre.
12

Mr. Lachie Todd,

Edinburgh 07/07/2008 11:50:37
The result of the Glasgow East by-election will be of the utmost importance to the Prime Minister, Labour Party in Scotland, AND future of Scottish devolved government.

The Labour candidate will in all probability be returned with a massively reduced majority but the Nationalists will have signalled conclusively to the Scottish people that they will not be deterred from their ultimate aim: a sovereign Scottish State.

The defensive Scottish Unionist parties are only too well aware that the Nationalists are playing a strategically long game.

However, IF some unlikely calamity should befall Labour then it will undoubtedly result in the end of Gordon Brown, a new Labour leader, an early General Election being called, and with an incoming Conservative government in England, signal the end of Scottish Devolution?

As a result, the whole exhausting constitutional wrangle will be played out again for many years to come, and ventually English MP's at Westminister may decide enough is enough?


13

Itchy,

07/07/2008 12:24:09
#7 "However I must take issue with Thomas Thompson with his attack on Labour's Pension credit scheme, the aim of which is and always was to lift the very poorest pensioners out of poverty. I accept the point about complicated form filling, but a non universal benefit has to be by application, and perhaps the best way forward would be to simplify this rather than abolish it"

That wouldn't be hard with its' 11 page form and 47 page booklet.
14

DAVID MCCANN,

07/07/2008 13:47:51
This surely cant be the same Alexander McKay who forecast last May that Alex Salmond was " Facing certain defeat and first vote rejection in Gordon", and that he would bring ridicule on his party and our country by getting elected via the list?
Rather it is Alexander McKay and the Labour Party who bring politics in to ridicule by their pathetic attempts to put a new spin on their miserable performance
15

EWB,

UK 07/07/2008 15:32:20
#10: I did acknowledge the need for postal voting in the case of those with "extreme disability" and I am aware of how much more liberal the provision of this facility has become. I first voted by post in 1966, and a polling officer came round to my digs in Edinburgh to check on my temporary residence there. However, I am aware that the practice is open to abuse. A recent election in Birmingham is evidence of that, e.g. one person voted on behalf of 30 others.

Like you, I think that everyone should vote: it is a civic duty, yet compulsory voting smacks of dictatorship. However, lots of those who could easily get to a polling station (they are open from 7 am to 10pm) could do so, but don't. Nor do they take up the postal-vote option.

While Labour has extended opportunity by making postal voting easier, they have created a climate of indifference or apathy ("No good voting: it won't make any difference). How do we change this scenario?

The Australian diaspora can vote overseas, e.g. postal or in person at Australia House in London, but they must register to do so before going abroad, or else they will be disenfranchised.
See: www.southern-cross-group.org
for discussion of this issue and to read about a recent enquiry launched by the Australian Senate into electoral matters.
16

Jock Tamson,

Scotland, Caledonia Alba 07/07/2008 18:52:16
Yon Alexander McKay is some cookie. Reminds me of yon Colin Wilson of Falkirk. Arch unionist who always got publihed in the Letters page, regardless of the garbage spouted onto paper and rebounded into cyberspace.

Personally I think he should add an initial to his name to put him on a par with L Ron Hubbard and sell his theories as a religion.
17

Jock Tamson,

Scotland, Caledonia, Alba 07/07/2008 19:17:50
OI, SCOTSMAN. WILL YOU DESIST IN TIMING ME OUT BETWEEN POSTINGS? DOES YOUR INCOME DEPEND ON LOG INS?

As I was trying to say before I was rudely cut off, a cursory glance at New Cut Rigg will show a myriad of blocks of flats. Anyone could live in them. I do not have an Edinburgh phone book so I have no idea if Alexander McKay is in it or, indeed exists, or is just a figment of the Scotsman's imagination.

This is just curiosity - not Stalinism - on my behalf. However, it should be said that the freedom of the press is a reaction to which there should be a reaction.

So, if reporters can nose around the publics' homes and businesses then the public can nose around that and those of the reporters.

Fair investigative do, no?
18

Martinh,

07/07/2008 19:22:00
#15. In Greece voting is compulsory and in person, otherwise you are fined. No-one would want that here, but yes I think voting is a civic reponsibility, even if it means a protest with 'none of the above' pencilled in. The vote is discounted but the vote still contributes to the turnout statistics. Postal voting gives flexibility, even if the system is sometimes abused (as in the Birmingham instance), but generally speaking it works well and should be encouraged for less mobile citizens. That is why the SNP in Glasgow East by election calling foul over the election timing (in the Glasgow Fair fortnight) is ridiculous. Are proportionally more SNP supporters on holiday than Labour ones?
19

EWB,

UK 07/07/2008 20:53:51
#18: probably not to your question about SNP supporters being on holiday; and you make a valid point about why people should register for postal votes.

In 1970, Wilson called the general election during the summer in the hope that many potentially Tory voters would be outside the country and not vote. He still lost that election.

What are your views on expatriates being allowed to vote in UK general elections for up to 15 years after they leave the UK? I find that the time-span is excessive. Otherwise I am in broad agreement with your points.

 

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