Scotland\u2019s influence in Britain will be strongest when you have a Scottish Labour Party working with a Labour Government. If you want a Britain that places Scotland and its interests at the heart of the Westminster debate, if you want a politics that is committed to smashing the class ceiling, if you want to see more money for Scottish public services or Scottish community energy projects then that’s the change we can deliver for Scotland. (Keir Starmer, Scottish Labour annual conference , February 18, 2024, Glasgow).<\/em><\/p>\n He (Anas Sarwar) \u00a0said of his relationship with Starmer: \u201cWe took a different view on supporting those on the frontline on the picket lines. We took a different view in terms of the call for immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. We took a different view on the two child benefit cap.<\/p>\n \u201c…We have a mutual friendship. We have a shared political route to power and we have a shared desire to not just change the Labour Party but also change our country.\u201d (Anas Sarwar talking to Paul Hutcheon, Daily Record,<\/a> February 17<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Ian Murray, until recently Scotland\u2019s sole Labour MP, claimed it was Scottish Labour\u2019s biggest ever conference. You could tell there was the scent of power wafting through Glasgow\u2019s SEC by the record number of crisp white shirts, mauve ties and business suits. And, certainly, it was one of the quietest Labour conferences ever: no conflict, no clash between left and right, unanimous approval for composite motions. No wonder the hacks deserted the conclave by the Clyde.<\/p>\n So, plenty of confidence after Kingswood and Wellingborough but fear of complacency<\/a>? Not obvious to this observer but, then, Sarwar, Murray and the Scottish Labour leadership are painfully aware that the polls <\/a>so far show a dozen or more Labour gains in Scotland but not enough to win power at Holyrood after an absence of 19 years in 2026.<\/p>\n That was a key message at a Labour Friends of Scotland<\/a> fringe meeting that raised three big obstacles to a Scottish Labour victory in 2026: voter apathy, \u00a0a fiscal\/spending squeeze in the first couple of years of Chancellor Rachel Reeves \u2013 and the failure to win over enough Yes\/SNP supporters\/voters through the absence of a distinctly Scottish policy agenda.<\/p>\n Murray\u2019s take, echoed by Starmer, was neatly summed up: \u201cWe could send a message to Westminster or send a government and I say a government.\u201d In Starmer’s words:<\/p>\n You can\u2019t tell me \u2013 Scotland does not deserve better. Because it does. And we will deliver it.\u00a0 A new Scotland. A new Britain. Bound together, again.\u00a0 By an old partnership.\u00a0The solidarity of working people. Across four nations. Driving our country forward. With a Labour Party dedicated to its service.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Labour\u2019s offer, according to shadow financial secretary James Murray MP, is “a credible plan to grow the economy\u201d built upon three pillars: \u201cstability, investment, reform.\u201d Not only is that, as he admitted, not very catchy as a slogan but it begets the more serious question whether the first 100 days and a lot more of Labour in power in Westminster won’t be dominated by the search for stability – and investment and reform can wait. That means austerity \u00e0 la Osborne 2010 passim on stilts.<\/p>\n That would be a disaster not only for poverty, inequality, declining social mobility and Britain\u2019s crumbling infrastructure – the issues that matter to voters – but for Scotland and Labour\u2019s chances in 2026. Sarwar won\u2019t win a majority at Holyrood or become first minister if he is saddled with a Labour\/Westminster record of continuing stagnation, poorer living standards, \u00a0a broken housing market, and no hope.<\/p>\n Investment and reform are not afterthoughts that can wait but crucial to delivering \u201cthe change Scotland needs\u201d via a new green industrial plan, enhanced public support for innovation, building far more houses, rethinking health spending and service provision, initial tax reform (not just ending non-dom status) and, yes, much greater devolution of power not only to the devolved administrations but local authorities and community councils. Labour in power must begin to put an end to what the Resolution Foundation and its partners call Stagnation Britain.<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s not just a case, as Mandy Rhodes put it, of ensuring Scotland is \u201cthought of in government\u201d or Labour maximising Scotland\u2019s influence in Westminster. In the 18-24 months of a Labour government in Westminster before the Scottish Parliament elections take place in May 2026 a key focus should be on delivering tangible change that voters recognise or setting train the reformed instruments that a Labour administration, majority or in coalition, could use to effect that change. Without this \u2013 and a re-examination of the case for EU membership voters could just decide to stick with the SNP despite its manifold failings in \u00a0government.<\/p>\n See also: Will Hutton<\/a>, Tear up these crippling fiscal rules, Observer; Robin McAlpine<\/a>, The SNIB desperately needs reform, Common Weal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[319],"tags":[40,36],"class_list":["post-15950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","tag-devolution","tag-scottish-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18467,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15950\/revisions\/18467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lab2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Lift up your eyes<\/h2>\n