jimtoggleJim O’Neill says we have to move on from the navel gazing of the leadership challenge and focus on the vital elections in seven months, with a positive Labour alternative to the SNP’s diminution of essential public services.

 

Right. We have focused ourselves inwards for four months and largely lost the plot of opposition. The result is in. Jeremy Corbyn remains Leader of the Party. He has my full support, as I have given to every leader in nearly 40 years of membership of our party, no matter how they have been elected. However, I think the current system of election is the right one. One member one vote is a true democracy and I see myself as much a member of the party as any MP or peer.

But now we have to move on. We must stop contemplating our navels and turn our fire on our real opponents, the Tories and the SNP. Both are promoting policies and governing in a way that I feel is fundamentally wrong. In Scotland, we have begun the fightback. Three recent council by-elections have resulted in wins for Labour – the Labour that many in the press have said is unelectable – and defeat for the SNP, including Nicola Sturgeon’s father. However, just to expect that the gloss will wear off the SNP government and we will inherit again is not enough. We have to show the people of Scotland that we have the policies and the personnel to lead the government of Scotland.

The Tories have a new government with a back bench full of those sacked by May. It seems to be a government totally devoid of policy, since we will not know the thrust of their economic policy until the Autumn Statement and we do not know their policy on Brexit because Mrs May refuses to divulge her plans for the negotiations, slapping down her three Brexit ministers at every turn. We have no news on their policy on welfare, and the Foreign Secretary, the ludicrous Boris, has said, both as London Mayor and since, that he is at ease with immigration, although the thousands of unaccompanied minors in the Calais “jungle”, who they promised to allow into the UK, are still there.

In Scotland, the Party has been given more autonomy and the Scottish Parliament has much greater powers. So, similarly, we must all get behind Kez and her team as they continue to highlight the failings of the SNP government, in health, in education, in investment, and in taking on board the new social support powers. We have a great message here but we have to get the facts past the SNP supporting media, and we must expose the Tories as the same as their Westminster colleagues.

Finally, we have a major election to fight in seven months. The future of local services is under threat and we must expose the loss of many services and jobs caused by the SNP version of austerity and their disastrous council tax freeze. But we also must put forward a positive alternative, showing that local services are safer in Labour’s hands. In this we must involve the members and trust them to understand the needs of their own areas. Many of these will be similar, so a cohesive local government offering can be put together at our conference next year. However, this has to be two-way, and our representatives on the Scottish Executive Committee have to report back to their constituencies, as several of the NEC members do to let us know the thinking at that level.

I do not believe this community of interests will be difficult to pull together, especially in Scottish CLPs. I know that my own, Cunninghame South, has members with the full range of views but dealt with the debates within the Party in a comradely fashion, and they all came together to help Louise McPhater defeat Robin Sturgeon in the recent by-election. They will come together again, along with our comrades in Cunninghame North to seek to maintain our reconquest of North Ayrshire Council in May next year.

The old practice sentence for typists is more true than ever before. Now is the time for all good [members] to come to the aid of the Party. For after all, as Jeremy said, we have much more in common than that which divides us.

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10 thoughts on “Come together, right now!

  1. “Jim O’Neill says we have to move on from the navel gazing of the leadership challenge and focus on the vital elections in seven months, with a positive Labour alternative to the SNP’s diminution of essential public services.”

    Its because the electorate don’t agree with Labour assessment of their performance that has them in power with ever increasing support and Labour in 3rd place with ever diminishing support.
    Perhaps if you stop trying to unconvincingly lie to the electorate over how the SNP are performing and try to convince us how you can perform better you wont end up in 4th or 5th place by 2020.

    “Both are promoting policies and governing in a way that I feel is fundamentally wrong.”

    Then you’re in the wrong party. The Red Tory faction of your party supports and endorses the Conservative version of Government while your new “Corbynista” faction supports and endorses the SNPs version of Government.
    Perhaps UKIP is more to your taste?

    “In Scotland, we have begun the fightback”

    You’re telling us you fought to get down to 16%?

    “Three recent council by-elections have resulted in wins for Labour”

    No they all resulted in Labour losing support and the SNP gaining support. We have 3 Labour Red Tory councillors compliments of the Conservative Tory support in Scotland and a corrupt STV voting system.

    “the Labour that many in the press have said is unelectable”

    Not just the media but Labour members as well.

    “and defeat for the SNP, including Nicola Sturgeon’s father.”

    Nicola’s Father overwhelming won the first stage of the STV vote he was denied election because the Conservative Tory support switched over to supporting the Red Tory candidate when their own candidate was eliminated. So much for being in opposition. Like I said we have 3 Labour Red Tory councillors curtesy of Conservative voters in Scotland NOT LABOUR VOTERS!

    “We have to show the people of Scotland that we have the policies and the personnel to lead the government of Scotland.”

    Indeed but first you will have to woo them away from the SNP.

    “The Tories have a new government with a back bench full of those sacked by May.”

    Labour filled their quota within the Scottish Parliament with MSPs rejected by the electorate in the Constituency vote.

    “It seems to be a government totally devoid of policy,”

    See that’s actually not true. The Conservative Tories can never be accused of lacking for policy that’s never been their problem their problem is the direction and dogma of their policies is nothing short of criminal. The same direction and dogma Red Tory Labour took us and want to take us again.

    “We have a great message here but we have to get the facts past the SNP supporting media,”

    Fur Fuck Sake Jim! That’s not delusion thats pure clickbaiting.

    And as usual it gets too exhausting and nauseating going through it all piecemeal to correct all of the delusional pish.

    Needless to say its just another worthless piece of ranting bullshit from you again Jim Bob.

    Grow the fuck up.

    1. I don’t know about the other two by election wins but you are well off the mark calling Mary Lockhart who won the lochs by election in my area a ‘red tory’.
      A finer socialist you won’t meet,supporter of independence and brilliant community activist.
      She won that seat as a personal endorsement of her as a person,not because of her party affiliation.
      If the labour party could clone her in every seat they’d be back in power in scotland overnight.

      1. And yet she only won it because the Conservative voters switched to Labour when their own candidate dropped out.
        The Conservatives don’t seem to care what the individual Labour candidate believes in they think they will toe the party line irrespective.

      2. She may be a fine socialist, pro-Independence and in favour of giving the shadow scottish secretary brief to a SNP MP. I have no doubts she genuinely isn’t a red Tory. However…

        http://www.fifedirect.org.uk/publications/index.cfm?fuseaction=publication.pop&pubid=593EE0BC-A734-EA3F-83F722D7E3569487

        She was elected at the fourth stage, when 94 of the Tory candidate’s 270 votes transferred to her. Only 18 of them went to the SNP candidate. So the point that Tory voters are selecting Labour councillors, even quite left wing ones, has truth to it.

  2. “SNP supporting media” – you are seriously taking the piss there. The Media in Scotland are so anti-SNP/Independence you cannot believe anything they say.

    1. Only the National appears to support independence. All the other media hate the SNP/independence. The Record on the other hand ties itself in knots trying to make labour sound & look electable. Stop lying Jim

  3. ‘COME TOGETHER RIGHT NOW’ What a good idea!

    In return for your voting for Scottish Independence get SNP to promise early bill accepting public purse support of Party Politics, thereby ending your beholding to Union paymasters visa via Trident, and so hopefully at the same time your days in the wilderness, or is that too simple for the ‘Better together brigade’..

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