Scottish Labour In Charge: Socialist Shift Or Starmerite Dominance?
Omar Malik
06/05/24
(Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar At A Party Conference In 2023.
Image Credit: SportPix/Shutterstock)
It has certainly been a chaotic couple of weeks in Scottish politics. Backtracking on climate pledges led to the sudden dismantling of the Bute House Agreement.
This then resulted in the SNP hurriedly making plans as a minority government.
In quick succession, a proud but defeated Humza Yousaf announced his shock resignation as First Minister - which has triggered the party’s second leadership crisis in just over a year.
With polling showing a likely tight race between the SNP - who have governed for 17 years - and Scottish Labour (who not too long ago were presumed as being unelectable in a general election), it's certainly possible that Anas Sarwar could be making his first speech as First Minister before the end of the year.
But it remains unclear whether the party has truly regained popularity and esteem across the country, or if it's just voters being reactionary against the SNP.
(Image Credit: MACH Photos/Shutterstock)
Moreso, can Scottish Labour re-engage voters by implementing more progressive, socialist-inspired policies - or is a Labour-led Scottish government merely going to be dominated by Starmerites?
Blether spoke to Brian Smith, UNISON's Glasgow City branch secretary, to find out more.
“I think that Scottish Labour is quite far down the road now to becoming similar to the standards of ‘New New Labour’. Just looking at the positions of Scottish Labour’s candidates in Glasgow, it seems as though they’re all pretty Starmerite,” Smith told Blether.
In the event that UK Labour Party leader Keir Starmer does eventually possess a considerable amount of influence on Scottish Labour’s policies, we must analyse his own political positions.
According to Smith, Starmer’s Labour will not produce any major solutions to pressing societal issues: “The way Starmer has set out his economic and social programmes, it certainly looks as though there’s not going to be a huge amount of change in relation to the amount of money that might be about now.”
(Image Credit: 1000 Words/Shutterstock)
“You would expect a bit more money for public spending from the Labour government, but with the amount of spending commitments they’ve made at the minute, it doesn’t look as if it’s significant. If so, there isn’t much point in the party getting back into power,” Smith continued.
Scottish Labour has now veered so far towards centrism that it risks becoming a confined party, Smith tells Blether: “Candidates aren’t valuing Labour principles. I’m not really sure what’s left of the so-called left within the Scottish Labour Party. But if things don’t improve for workers on the ground, there will be clashes with the UK government - that’s inevitable.”
Smith warns that leniently accepting a new Labour government may lead to an overall lowering of trade union standards: “Some within the trade union movement will say give them time - that it’s a wee bit of a honeymoon period. That happens quite a lot when Labour governments are elected. Throughout history there has been this pressure on trade unionists to give them a chance.”
On the prospects for Scotland’s socialists being able to possess somewhat of an influence within future governments, Smith says: “I would certainly hope so. My aspiration for many years is to try and have more influence. There have been different socialist parties over the past 20 years, and while the Scottish Socialist Party saw relative success for a small party, there is now no elected representation in Parliament.”
(Image Credit: ComposedPix/Shutterstock)
Smith warns that a Scottish socialist government may result in a targeted media-led takedown, hearkening back to the fate of former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn: “Tories and bosses knew that Corbynism was a threat, diverting from the Labour Party of the previous 30 years. They really went after them - I mean, they’re still going after those people. Not electing Corbyn’s Labour government was a missed opportunity.”
“Corbyn’s team made mistakes, being too conciliatory with other Labour factions. But he was outnumbered in many ways. People need to remember how many people voted for Corbyn’s Labour, particularly in 2017. This idea that his manifesto wasn’t popular is not true - socialism still has support,” Smith continued.
Socialist values ought to be ingrained into political systems in order for equality to truly prosper in society, Smith tells Blether: “As socialists, we believe that wealth must be distributed equally, and that everybody has got the same chance to then have a decent life. To get that change, I argue that we need to overthrow capitalism and reform society.”
If you want to find out more about the Scottish Socialist Party, click here.