RMT Union- Labour Affiliation By the Back Door?

Letter to the Editor, RMT News

Was it really only 18 months ago that the members of this union rejected affiliation to the Labour Party? I only ask because the recent spate of texts and emails from the RMT exhorting us to vote Labour seem to have ignored the wishes of the members and are seen by some as an attempt at affiliation by the back door. It came as some surprise when I learned that in 2015 the RMT had donated £25,000 of members money to Jeremy Corbyn’s selection fund in 2015. It came as more of a surprise to learn that having been defeated by the members on this issue that the executive had circumvented the will of the people and delivered to us a “Norway style” arrangement where we get to see our money fund the Labour Party without accountability or responsibility.
As a railwayman I know that it is an impossibility to put all of our members into a room a once. As shift workers we cannot all attend meetings and we must acknowledge that the way branches operate will mean that some members will never be able to attend meetings and will never have their opinions recorded in branch minutes. That is why it is vital that when we do hold a ballot across the entire membership that we respect the result, otherwise it could be said that we are being run for the few, not the many.

The memberships rejection of the Labour Party has been done for a number of reasons; we are now a broad church and our members have a wide range of political views. I have left the RMT before when I disagreed with their political stance. I hope that I don’t have to do so again. Here in Scotland the Labour Party are utterly toxic. Since losing power to the SNP in 2007 the Labour Party’s Scottish branch have adopted what is known as the “Bain Principle” in which they oppose any policy put forward by the SNP as a matter of course, whether it is a good policy or not. This has saw them oppose the introduction of free school meals, oppose free prescriptions, reject powers over employment law coming to Scotland; the list is endless. So bitter is their hatred of the SNP that they teamed up with the Tories in 2012 to form the British Nationalist campaign group Better Together, they have formed local government coalitions with the Tories and we have seen them advocating voting Tory to keep the SNP out. The Labour Party in Scotland are now viewed not as a socialist party but primarily as a British Nationalist one who work against our country’s interests. Many of their former members and supporters have now migrated to the SNP who have already implemented many of the policies which Jeremy Corbyn is now offering the people of England.

The gains made in Scotland are now under threat from yet another Tory government in Westminster, and Labour have to bear a great responsibility for that. Instead of embracing independence (or even devolution) and creating a society which would set a shining example to workers in England, they adopt a scorched earth policy which will ultimately deliver both nations unto the Tories. Until now many Scottish RMT members have viewed the executives warm word towards Labour with suspicion, but have tolerated it in recognition of the London-centric nature of UK politics. That suspicion is however now being met with hostility by members angry that their union is now actively funding and promoting a party that they have rejected time and again at the ballot box, a party which wants to dent heir basic right of self-determination.

We Scots understand the threat the Tories pose to our working conditions. But many also understand that the UK union poses just as much a threat to us, and that we can have a better society outwith the UK. Perhaps to retain our unity as a trade union our National Executive should be minded to stop using their position to drive their personal goal of reafilliation with Labour and respect their members decision, lest they see an exodus of members. On issues such as this, lay out the facts and allow the members to use their personal judgement for themselves; this will allow us to feel that the RMT remains that broad church which will work with any party who will help further our aims and values, and not simply cheerleaders and stooges for the Labour Party.

Orange Order Supporters to Vote For “Pro-IRA” Corbyn Party

The Silent Majority

In the 2010 and 2015 Westminster elections the Tories in Airdrie consistently polled around 7 or 8% of the vote, somewhere in the region of 3,200 votes. If there was one thing that Ruth Davidson did well, it was to identify her market. Right wing, traditionalist, pro-military British Nationalists. Step forward the Orange Order.  ‘Colonel’ Davidson appealed to them and motivated them to rally to the Tories, a move which saw the Tory vote in Airdrie almost treble in 2017 and saw their candidate take almost 9,000 votes. So successful was this tactic that it took voters from the Labour Party and saw Neil Gray of the SNP take the seat with a majority of only 195. It did not go unnoticed among them that had they stayed with Labour they would have unseated the SNP candidate. They haven’t had long to wait and that lesson is still fresh in their memory.

Current BritNat Tactical Voting Guide for Airdrie

Well organised and secretive with an extensive network of contacts, the above image and others like it are now being aggressively shared on social media and the Loyalists are being asked to be a bit less, well, loyal. It’s being accompanied by sentiment such as “hold your nose and vote Labour” because having spent years convincing themselves that Jeremy Corbyn is an IRA supported they now find themselves having to back him to oust the SNP. If successful it could see potentially thousands of votes switch from the Tories to Labour and could hand the seat to them, and is likely to be successfil given that the head of the Orange Order in Scotland is a Labour councillor in Airdrie.

Neil Gray’s only chance of retaining the seat now lies in the hands of the people who he failed to motivate last time, almost 10,000 voters who simply dropped away over a period of two years for reasons unknown. Outspent and outgunned by Labour last time in terms of manpower, things have not improved greatly and the restrictive nature of the campaign will not help. At present he has failed to meet his very low crowdfunding target which does not bode well as this campaign is all about leafleting and social media advertising. Without activists parties rely on paid for mailshots delivered by Royal Mail, not a problem to dark money Tories and Union funded Labour, but a real issue to an MP who can draw on neither of those. As an MP with a significant salary you might think that a fair chunk of that would be tucked away for such occasions. All will be revealed after the election, but in all likelihood Labour will again come out on top of the spending chart, followed by the SNP, with the Tories third and Lib-Dems and Greens at the coo’s tail. With the Lib-Dems spending a massive £88 last time (yes, really- £88!) the Greens should manage to outspend them at least, even though both are likely to lose their deposits.

Do Scots Understand How Devolution Works?

Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser, 20/11/19

I feel I must reply to Kenneth MacKintosh’s letter in this weeks Advertiser as it contains some basic errors and inaccuracies, so much so that it really makes me wonder how it even got published. Who needs fake news when you have fake views.

Mr MacKintosh said that the Labour Party must fight this election on our health service and education. It is disappointing to still be seeing that people do not seem to understand the different levels of government which we have in Scotland, and what responsibilities each one has. Both health and education are devolved and come under the auspices of our parliament in Holyrood, and the correct time to debate them will be at the Holyrood elections in 2021. This is a Westminster election, and due to devolution and the Tory “English Votes for English Laws” legislation the parties in Scotland should be concentrating on those areas in which they are allowed a say in at Westminster; this would cover such issues as immigration, foreign policy, employment law, defence and the constitution.

Too many of the Labour/Tory/Lib-Dem politicians are happy talking about health, education, etc because this mirrors what their main parties are talking about and will be in line with what will appear in the main UK news broadcasts. For example, if London Labour is discussing transport then the Scottish branch of the party will do likewise, even though it’s a Holyrood issue and their policies aren’t applicable in Scotland. This can only happen due to the public’s own misunderstanding of our politics, but it’s a misunderstanding all parties are happy to exploit, and you must ask what they stand to gain by doing that.

Finally Mr MacKintosh notes that the Scottish Government underspent its budget last year. This has happened every year since the creation of our parliament and is necessary as Scotland runs a “pocket-money parliament” and is not permitted to build up a deficit. Everything has to be accounted for and our country cannot go over. Were the Scottish Government to spend its entire budget and then experience an unforeseen event which required a large amount of funding they would be forced to go cap in hand to London to be bailed out. Given that many English voters already view us as spongers who live off their generosity it’s unlikely that this would be popular. Prior to 2007 the Labour Party were in the habit of returning the underspend to London, but since they lost power that money has been carried forward to future years so it isn’t lost completely and can then be spent the next year. Of course the Britnats label this as a “slush fund”.

It would of course be far easier if we simply removed the most wasteful and remote of these levels of government; to give Scots a parliament which controlled its own economy and could legislate, borrow and build a better country without having to ask permission from our neighbours first. Then our success or failure would be our own, with no need to “blame” someone else as Mr MacKintosh puts it. But that would mean taking some responsibility for our own actions, wouldn’t it?

We Say Yes and We Are The People

Still not out of date…

In 2014 Scotland was told by the Better Together campaign that if we voted Yes to independence our place in the EU would be at risk, and this was enough to sway many people to vote No.

In 2016 England and Wales voted to leave the EU, while Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. This was Scotland’s second positive endorsement of the EU in two years.

Many Scots feel rightly aggrieved that they were hoodwinked into voting No, and after five years have clearly seen the error of their ways. The myth that Scotland would be locked out of the EU has now been proven to be false, with even Spain now admitting they would not block Scotland’s entry to the EU.

The election which takes place on December 12th should finally lay several other myths to rest. For the last two years the Lib-Dems have been touting the fantasy that Scotland can remain in the UK and the UK can remain in the EU. By 13th December that won’t be an option and the main plank of their apparent recovery will have been broken in two.

The Labour Party have also been touting their own fantasy (and have been doing so since before 2014) that another Labour government is just around the corner. Ed Milliband failed to deliver it, and Jeremy Corbyn on his best day failed too, against Theresa May who fought one of the worst ever campaigns the UK has ever seen. Since then he and Labour have fallen in the polls and he’s now up against Boris Johnson who is quite bizarrely the candidate least fit to hold office yet most likely to take it.

We are possibly looking at the last days of the Labour Party in its current form and the cementing in place of the Tories for years to come. England’s voters remain shockingly ignorant of Scottish matters, with a significant number saying that getting rid of Scotland is a worthwhile price to pay to deliver Brexit, and they will decide our fate based on their desire to isolate themselves from Europe. In doing so they will elect Boris Johnson who will say no a new referendum which will appeal to many so-called Scot’s, but they are now in the minority. It’s not for him to say no, and I’d remind him of the words of the late Canon Kenyon Wright who stated that “well we say yes, and we are the people”.

The British Nationalist parties now know that when another referendum comes along their armoury is almost empty, and they truly fear us being given the chance to choose our future because we are so much better informed than we were five years ago. The choice will be simple: independent Scotland within Europe, or a marginalised Scotland within a failing and isolated UK. Is it any wonder they are now running scared?

Airdrie & Shotts Westminster Candidates 2019 – What Now?

The full list of candidates have been announced for the Airdrie & Shotts constituency, and these are:

William Peter Maurice Crossman – Scottish Lib Dems

Neil Charles Gray – SNP

Helen Margaret McFarlane – Scottish Labour

Rosemary McGowan – Scottish Green Party

Lorraine Nolan – Scottish Conservative

We are through the looking glass in many respects. I’ve spoken to people who normally vote pro-independence / SNP who say they don’t know who to vote for, with some people considering voting Lib-Dem. The anti-Brexit vote will have a choice of three of the above, or four depending how they perceive Labour’s stance on any given day. This does mean that if the Tories play strongly on delivering Brexit they could well take a significant amount of voters who would not otherwise be disposed towards them.

This is a reverse of the usual Scottish situation where the Better Together parties are all fishing in the same barrel, but they would still need to increase their vote by around 100% of their last tally in 2017 to have any chance of taking the seat.

Writing off  the Tories still leaves things too close to call with the Lib Dems possibly taking soft SNP and Labour voters, but again still not enough to take the seat. This is an election which the Greens could comfortably have sat out. but they have taken the decision to stand, and Patrick Harvie has said that that these decisions would be taken locally. Given the rather small membership of the Scottish Greens then that decision will likely have been driven by the candidate Rosemary McGowan, and if her participation draws votes from the SNP and is perceived to have lost them the seat then it won’t bode well for the Holyrood elections, and may be a costly vanity project which raises the candidates profile in the short term and damages it in the long term.

I’ve seen no local electoral material yet and as far as I’m aware no hustings will be taking place, so we haven’t exactly reached fever pitch. Locally the SNP dropped around 10,000 votes from 2015 to 2017 and that was primarily down to failure to motivate their core support. Perhaps this was down to the downplaying of independence during the campaign, or maybe this was down to their voters having seen their previous mountainous majorities and assuming that their votes weren’t that important. That mistake could be about to be replayed with the media already shouting that the SNP are likely to oust all of Scotland’s Tories. There’s a hubristic sense of ‘job done’ being displayed which could well be Kinnockian in scope, and if so that will be incredibly damaging.

As it stands it’s still too close to call though, and that’s the message that the SNP will have to shout from the rooftops if they are to entertain their hopes of giving the unionist parties the bloody nose they hope to inflict; otherwise they may find their aim is off and they are left punch drunk on the canvas, wondering what hit them.

Airdrie and Shotts- Labour Gain?

All aboard!

It’s early days yet and perhaps I’m jumping the gun a little, but there is currently no Tory candidate for Airdrie & Shotts. In the 2015 election Neil Gray romped home when the independence vote coalesced around the SNP to kick out Pamela Nash who has since gone one to take over as the Chief Executive of British Nationalist extremist organisation Scotland in Union. Helen McFarlane of Labour almost came close to making Gray a one term wonder reducing his majority from around 10,000 to a mere 196. Or did she?

In the 2017 election the SNP famously campaigned while trying not to say i*******e and shed votes across Scotland. Turnout in Airdrie & Shotts was down by around 7% with many SNP voters simply not turning out. The Labour vote dropped and the Tory vote rose, with many in the area enthused by the Ruth Davidson Party for Ruth Davidson’s North Britain and unwilling to vote for the allegedly “pro-IRA” Jeremy Corbyn.

It would be not only overly simplistic but indeed extremely silly to assume that the voters who failed to turn out for the SNP somehow jumped to the Tories. I think many Scot’s voted for the SNP out of a sense of deep personal shame at their No vote in 2014 and were unlikely to jump ship. The real realignment in the vote was within the British Nationalist bloc. Ruth Davidson at least realised that the Tories, Labour and the Lib-Dems were all fishing in the same pot for a share of the 55% and falling who backed the UK, and this led to many working class people turning a blind eye to their previous behaviour and rallying to the fleg. The Conservatives gain was probably what led to Neil Gray clinging on.

Unionist guide to voting 2019

With the Tories and Labour in a loose coalition in North Lanarkshire could it be that they have realised that they will have to work together again to remove the seat from the SNP? With no  Lib Dem candidate announced and no Tory candidate either, are they giving Labour a clear run at the seat? Between that and the Greens perhaps siphoning off vital votes there’s every possibility that the seat will go from SNP back to Labour, and the SNP have only themselves to blame. Their failure nationally to campaign on independence cost them dearly, and locally the party shed members hand over fist. They made no attempt to enthuse new members, to train them and to turn them from voters and supporters to activists and agitators. Recently attempts have been made in North Lanarkshire to drain the SNP swamp but it may be too little, too late. The lack of activists will tell dearly and Labour will not struggle on that score, with trade union backing courtesy of Leonard and McFarlane, and more reinforcements in the north of England available a short bus ride away. The clock is ticking, and on current form Neil Gray will not see the inside of Westminster again.

A New Green Deal? More like No Deal With The Greens…

Ross Greer, talking about The National

In Wales a “Remain Alliance” of Plaid Cymru, the Lib-Dems and the Greens have agreed to stand aside in various constituencies to allow them to maximise the chances of electing anti-Brexit candidates. In Scotland there will be no such alliance and the Green Party and the SNP will be going head to head in the fight for the pro-independence many constituences, some of which are already sitting on a razor thin majority.

It was the Greens standing in Edinburgh which split the pro-independence vote there and allowed Ruth Davidson to sneak up from list MSP to constituency MSP, a propaganda win that the Tories celebrated heartily. The Scottish Greens are unlikely to win any seats in this election so their taking part must be viewed as a vanity project in the main, and it is a vanity which looks as though it will cost them in the long term. Many of the smaller parties stand aside in the Westminster elections and there’s no shame in doing so. In fact for the Greens there would be a positive advantage to standing aside, if they have an eye on future Holyrood and council elections, as many SNP voters would possibly be more likely to give them their second vote. However, those same voters will be watching the seats the Greens stand in and should the SNP lose those seats by a small margin then they are likely to punish the Greens accordingly in future elections. Those voters have already watched as the Greens helped the British Nationalists remove the OBFA legislation and they’ve listened as MSP Ross Greer has described them as “zoomers”; watching them help deliver Westminster seats into the hands of the unionists would probably be the last straw and would in all likelihood see their future Holyrood hopes dashed.

The Green Party is the soft underbelly of the Independence movement in Scotland, and would probably be the easiest turned away from independence. As a smaller party if a committed number of people join who see green issues as more of a priority than independence or if a significant number of pro British Nationalist people joining up and steer the party away from independence to a neutral or pro-UK position then you will quickly find that their support disappears. Perhaps that has already occurred at the branch level and just hasn’t had time to filter through to the leadership yet.
With the Greens determined on standing they have instead left it up to the electorate to decide, and now it will be up to pro independence voters to use their own good judgement to decide whether to vote along party lines or to vote tactically in the forthcoming election and I fear that the Greens will be left regretting their decision to stand in an contest they could easily have sat out.

Britnat Election Strategy: Talk About Devolved Issues

It’s still early days in this winter election campaign, and already I’m seeing signs that the British Nationalist parties Scottish branches are going to be retreading the same old ground as the last few elections, and by that I mean making promises to legislate in areas which are already devolved to Scotland and are therefore outwith their remit.
Having a look at two campaigns local to me, in Airdrie & Shotts and Coatbridge, I’ve already seen Richard Leonard campaigning outside the local Monklands Hospital in Airdrie and even though Health is devolved he says the only way to protect it is to vote Labour. Clearly he feels that in light of Boris Johnson’s threat to take back control of the Scottish Health Service that it is under threat from Westminster, and if that’s the case then he makes the case for and not against independence, as Independence will protect our SNHS permanently, not just for one term of government.
Meanwhile in Coatbridge Hugh “two-jobs” Gaffney is promising an end to the GP crisis, no car park tax a Scottish Investment bank and reform of planning laws- all devolved!
On Wednesday night Nicola Sturgeon was interviewed at a candidate launch in Alloa and was almost immediately drawn into talking about health, education and transport, and she should know better than to engage in these subjects in a Westminster election.
The SNP have to get smarter and get on the front foot here. When (and indeed if they are permitted) they take part in TV debates they will be quizzed on these matters and their opponents will attempt to peddle their vision of how electing them will change transport, education, the health service and more, and the SNP’s first priority should be to pull the rug from under them and direct the focus of the debate to a failing UK which is careering headlong towards a social and economic cliff edge.
The only areas in which the British Nationalist parties can realistically attack the SNP are on devolved issues, so why allow them to set out the grounds for debate? Drive them onto the boggy ground of reserved issues, of disturbing UK foreign policy, of the Tories thrall to Trump, or of Labour’s flip-flopping on Brexit, or the Lib-Dems track record of duplicity whenever they get within sniffing distance of power, and all three’s commitment to maintaining the UK’s stockpile of WMD’s in Scotland. Put them on the back foot and watch them crumble!#
It’s time for the SNP to stop playing at being the nice guys of Westminster politics and start acting like the attack dogs of the Scottish independence movement. Timidity, like Westminster, has had it’s day.

Next Time, Take The Lens Cap Off

On Saturday a significant number of independence supporters gathered in Glasgow  for a rally organised by The National newspaper, where a cross party platform reaffirmed their commitment to independence via a referendum in 2020.

The BBC news coverage that evening consisted of a close up shot of Nicola Sturgeon’s speech, and well, that was it. With a reporter speaking against a backdrop of an empty George Square one might be led to believe that the attendance was two men and a wee ginger dug.

It’s not as though the BBC didn’t have any footage. Sarah Smith was there, and the photo above shows Sally McNair doing a piece to camera which clearly shows the huge crowd. One has to wonder whose editorial decision it was not to include any footage. Answers on a postcard to Pacific Quay…

Don’t Get Over Excited: England Decides – Not You!

Since the starting gun was fired on the current UK election campaign we’ve seen the main parties set out their stalls. The Tories want to focus entirely on Brexit and don’t want to be examined on the other areas where they are failing badly. Labour want to focus entirely on their policies and don’t want us to look to closely at their position on Brexit (which is not yet clear). The SNP want to stop Brexit, which is a bit bizarre as this then removes the keystone of their argument for an independence referendum in 2020, while the Lib-Dems also want to stop Brexit but are ruling out working with the SNP and Labour to do so.

In reality this election is only happening because the UK parliament is paralysed over Brexit and it is highly likely that people will vote firmly with that in mind, however those people who might be swayed by the Tories “get it done” message should perhaps pause to consider what delights Boris Johnson plans to slip through under cover of delivering Brexit. A Tory majority will undoubtedly deliver poorer working terms and conditions for people across the UK and will be a green light to them to tighten the screw on the poorest people in society through benefit cuts and sanctions.

They will try to convince us that we, the people, are tired of Brexit, that we are sick of Brexit and that we just want to move on, and when the political argument is reduced to that then that is precisely when we must be at our most alert and our most vigilant.
In this referendum by proxy I can see no good outcome for Scotland. As part of the UK the people of England will decide our future, and this will either deliver Brexit quickly under the Tories or slowly under Labour. In the great scheme of things, it really makes no difference whether the SNP gain seats or not, for even if they were to take all 59 Scottish seats in the Westminster parliament, they will still be outvoted, patronised or ignored on every issue; in fact the only reason to go out and vote for the SNP in this election will be to demonstrate a commitment to independence and to a possible future within Europe. With that in mind we Scots would be as well to break out the popcorn, sit back and watch goggle-eyed as England decides our future. Enjoy the show!

Published in The National, 06/11/19

Archive Copy: HERE

Live Webpage: HERE