Scottish Labour’s new policy: vote Tory
Robert James McNeill is the vice chairman of the East Lothian Constituency Labour Party and chair of the Tranent Local Labour Party. He’s also a member of the Scottish Labour Party Policy Forum, which develops the Scottish Labour manifesto.
Within the last hour he’s removed all that information from his Twitter bio. But why?
Well, it might be something to do with these.
Now, being actively pro-nuclear weapons is admittedly only a slight deviation from official Labour policy, which still pretends to want to spend £100bn on Trident solely so that it can give it away in multilateral disarmament negotiations. Mr McNeill’s angry attack over the cancellation of poll tax debt is a bit more embarrassing, given that Labour voted for it.
But it’s the first one, in which he actively calls on people to vote Conservative in seven Scottish seats at the forthcoming election, that’ll raise a few eyebrows, particularly as Mr McNeill’s recent timeline is otherwise confusingly full of furious denunciations of the SNP for allegedly collaborating with the Tories.
(It’s particularly ironic as East Lothian Council is, yes, a Labour/Tory coalition.)
If people actually succeeded in tactical voting as per the chart above, Labour would gain two seats from the Lib Dems and the Tories would gain six from the SNP – a net gain for the Tories against Labour of four seats, making it MORE likely the Tories would be the largest party and thereby, according to Labour, form the government.
So it seems legitimate to ask whether voting to increase the number of Tory MPs in Scotland by 600% is official Scottish Labour Party Policy Forum policy now.
If not, perhaps someone needs to have a word.
.
EDIT 12.05: Mr McNeill’s Twitter account has been deleted.
Funny that – I heard that the Tories locally are advising folk to vote Labour to keep the SNP out!
I would love to hear Magaret Curran’s take on that.
And he can’t spell “its”… Personal pet hate.
How ironic it would be if they lost the election by that exact margin. They have the luminosity of a 5 watt light bulb.
I have no doubt the BBC will put these difficult questions to Jim Murphy when next he…
Oh, I can’t be bothered.
The SNP have picked up on this too! link to snp.org
Re: Ukraine. So, if we give up the nuclear deterrent, will England invade us (again)?
Hope,these two desperate UK parties will cancel themselves out.
Any chance that someone passing through East Lothian could drop a copy of “Time and Chance” by James Callaghan on top of Mr McNeill?
Still, if he’s in Scottish Labour’s Policy Forum, at least it sheds some light on why they’ve been so bereft of policies for so long.
“So Policy Forum, what new policies do you have for us today?”
“VOTE TORY.”
“Okay, we’ll maybe just stick with ‘SNP BAD’ for now, folks.”
Hmmm, if he’s the vice chairman of the East Lothian Constituency Labour Party he must have opposed, and be devastated by the fact, that East Lothian Labour councillors are currently in a coalition with the, er, Conservatives…
“East Lothian Council has had a coalition Scottish Labour Party / Conservative / Independent Administration since May 2012.”
link to eastlothian.gov.uk
Using his logic he would give Tory an exta 6 seats and labour 2, how is that guaranteeing a Labour win in westminster?
at this rate, the door to door deliveries of WBB#2 are going to require large letter boxes (reminds me of when I used to deliver Sunday papers as a newspaper boy). I think a lot of traditional labour voters are gonna be pissed off.
Doesn’t it make you want to despair?
Dear God, for years they’ve milked the absolute myth that was the SNP brought about the Thatcher govt. Needless to say Mr Callaghan had a somewhat different view of what and who brought that about. It was Labour themselves, their in fighting, back room betrayals and positioning hastened that outcome. Yet they happily passed the buck, as they always do, onto others.
Now though, now we have a Labour party who not content with betraying their own electorate into the hands of guaranteed future Tory governments by way of their referendum campaign, have now decided to campaign FOR THEM in a general election.
FFS they’ve gone beyond jumping the shark at this point. They might as well ditch the colour red altogether and at least be honest with the public. Thatcher nailed it when claimed that New Labour was her greatest achievement.
Unbelievable.
Vote Tory, so they can get enough seats to form a government. Seriously?
Labour may actually be more interested in the reverse …. getting Tory voters to tactically vote Labour. They have little to lose by offering Labour votes to Tories in those 7 seats compared to what they might gain elsewhere!
A case in point would be Ochill and South Perthshire ….
2010
Labour. 19,131
SNP 13,944
Conservative 10,342
Liberal Democrat 5,754
Apparently, Labour have already begun to target ‘Tory areas’ on the ground encouraging Tory voters to tactically vote.
It DOES now appear to be policy to encourage tactical Unionist voting.
I think I’m far more concerned about something that happened in the past ten years (Labour’s wrecking of the economy and snouts in the trough), than some arguable point of view from 36 years ago.
Shit.
Labour throws in the towel. I can really accept his point but not his solution. How bad must things be in Slabber when even their own want to shut Murphy up.
Increasingly, it looks that the SNP will not achieve their goal as labour are quickly becoming less electable, but the SNP will still be a strong voice for Scotland until Ref2.
They just dont seem to get it, do they? Why cant they see that this pitiful, poisonous, pugilistic form of politics is what has cost them their once taken for granted support in Scotland?
Does anyone think that once what is left of the labour party in Scotland after May ousts these dinosaurs once and for all they will seek to rehabilitate their party into something that is actually on the left and instead of simply attacking the SNP out of hatred and a fear of losing their privileges, will actually start to look for common ground to try and play for Scotland rather than Westminster?
For me this election isnt a battle between the SNP and labour or labour against the tories or even the SNP against the tories… this is a battle, the latest but not the last, between Scotland and Westminster.
Only Scotland can save Scotland because labour, the tories and therefore Westminster cant, or wont!
I posted about this last night at 10.01 on the previous thread.
Nothing labour do shocks or surprises me.
They are so corrupted they’ll do anything to stop the snp and democracy. Disgusting the bloody lot of them.
@Camz
From history, we define the future.
What an astonishing rallying, feel good message the Cartwheel contains for Labour supporters. A really quite simple message – Vote Unionist but not for Labour, since we are damaged goods in Scotland. The Red Rose transformed to a Red Sore.
I wonder on the response from Labour’s supporters, baa baa or get stuffed!
Post Indy, which team is losing the Independence campaign? It’s only half-time and Labour are asking for substitutes from other teams as they are unable to field a team for the second half.
It’s beginning to look like 2010. I think they realise that they are totally incapable of governing on their own. Con/Lab
coalition is looking more likely by the day.
OT Isn’t it nice to see that horrible man Straw get his come-uppance.
If Labour and Conservation do encourage widespread tactical voting between Unionist parties then they are effectively changing the GE into a rerun of the referendum. That is a Pandora’s Box they might be best not to open, from their perspective, given their post referendum behaviour and broken promises.
SNP putting the heat on Murphy to act :
link to snp.org
Labour in Scotland- Numpties R Us
I swear to God, if I ever hear anyone saying, ‘I’m voting Labour because I have always voted Labour’, I will find the nearest meat processing factory and slowly feed myself through a mincer.
Hopefully Labour is finished in Eastlothian! He seems to have forgotten to mention that we have a Labour/Tory coalition council here in East lothian,although going by their popularity here i bet labour voters are kicking themselves(here till 2017,jeeze!)
He is a dinosaur of the highest order and on polling day,independence vote,was heard to say some vile things about YES voters.
Hopefully we can move on in the next couple of years,and see the back of people like this.
One can really visualise these tribal Labour maniacs pouring over their laptops in their pyjamas in the dead of night. “What can we come up with to stop these nasty Nats?”
“Let’s try the first piece of crap that pops into my head. Off we go, that’ll teach them! I’ve done it, the tide will now turn in our favour, I will be the hero of the hour!”
And then, in the cold light of day, the despair they must feel.
Good.
And now funnily @robertmcneill2 doesn’t even exist…
Im more intrigued by Scottish Labour continuing to use the deep shade of red…the UK wide party is all Pink\Magenta these days…I thought they had ditched the red flag, the red rose and anything else red to move up the dulux wallchart of right wing politics.
Im also worndering how far back they are going to go with this (mis)quoting History tactic. Shoudl we have a sweep?
Scottish Labour, increasingly becoming the sort of Club the great Groucho Marx would refuse to join!
Nice to see Robert James McNeil being broken upon his own wheel.
link to en.wikipedia.org
Interesting,but to make any real difference they will need a much more public,upfront joint unionist campaign.Better together would be an apt name.This might be on the cards for the Scottish election next year.
True fact: somebody called Robert McNeil played a space cadet in Star Trek.
Vote unionist, anyone but SNP it seems…
According to Malcolm Bruce in the comments of this post on Christine Jardine’s FB page, “Tory and Labour MPs and Peers have been queuing up to support our bid to hold Gordon. Tactical voting will secure it.”
link to facebook.com
There is no such thing as Scottish Labour. Always worth a mention.
Another SLab panicky idiot ordering SLab voters to vote SCon or SDem. Talk about mixed messages. You cant turn around without Scots and English UKOK unionists raging at how horrid selfish Scots could lose the election for red tory Milliband, now they tell us to vote David Cameron. That giant Westminster trough is so so compelling though and the mighty armies of Russia massing at Carlisle? Could happen:D
I believe the USA has around 5,000 nuclear warheads.
Perhaps Labour’s North British Accounting Office member, James Neill, might be able to explain why this vast number of weapons failed to prevent the attacks on New York City & the Pentagon in Virginia in 2001?
Or the 2000 attacks on the USS Cole bombing in Aden?
Or the killing of 299 American and French servicemen by a truck bomb in Lebanon in 1983?
Seems to me that some folks just don’t think they will ever be used so feel at ease planting truck bombs & hijacking planes.
I said a few months ago it’s only a matter of time before Labour launch a “vote Tory to keep the Tories out” campaign. I was joking of course, but now it appears to be official policy.
1979 – Perhaps we should send Mr Stewart a copy of Jim Callaghan’s memoirs where he tells a very different story which sort of tells the truth of what really happened and makes uncomfortable reading for the likes of Stewart and his fellow Red Tory denyers.
Auld Rock
Tax dodging
Is it not the case that many years ago (20?) most of the Councils in England declared an amnesty for those who had not paid their poll tax? Many of those councils would be Labour led which begs the question as to why Labour up here are complaining about the Scottish Government passing legislation to write off debts when Labour had done it down south.
What does Labour have against the Scots?
Um, isn’t it against Labour Party rules to advise people to vote for anyone else? I thought that sort of thing used to get you expelled…
Surely the logical conclusion then is that Labour should refrain from putting up candidates in these seats.
That would stop any inadvertant splitting of votes.
Re-Crossrail. Nothing gets the old hackles up like scottish taxpayers paying for London infrastructure that apparently benefits us. Ho Ho Ho. Was curious though how is the new Forth road bridge funded? Does any winger know?
LOL “SLAP” in the form of big cartoon cloud from batman TV series
Just announced Rifkind suspended from Tory party
Bevanknewbest ?@Bevanknewbest 29m29 minutes ago
Just how dirty is Rifkind? His Private Firm get contract Despite NHS Bid Being £7 Mill Cheaper link to goo.gl
The Independent ?@Independent 52 minutes ago
This Tory thinks it’s ‘unrealistic’ for MPs to be expected to live on £67,000 a year link to ind.pn
Malcolm’s been Malkied!
Ex-UK foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind suspended from parliamentary party over cash-for-access claims
The other corrupt sleazebag, Labour’s Jack Straw is also twisting in the wind.
Jack Straw: This is not how I expected to spend my final weeks as an MP
Funny? It’s what most of us have been saying you did every second you were an MP you corrupt warmongering New Labour sleazeball.
They couldn’t make it much clearer. This isn’t Labour vs Tory.
This general election is Westminster vs Scotland.
Surely a case of “Those whom the gods would destroy, they first send mad” (if I’ve remembered that right).
Macart @
“Ditch the colour red …”
Surely that happened with New ‘Labour’ …
“The people’s flag is deepest puce,
It should be red … ah, what’s the use …”
I really like the articles on WOS that bring together sets of connected items, binds them together and completes the bigger picture.
All with linkls to sources throughout.
It’s a great service.
This high heid yin from East Lothian shares a branch with a real gem, Ian Gray ( former leader ), who won his seat in Haddington by a whisker after 2 recounts and, who wonders where an oil fund comes from. Must be a hoot at their meetings; What develishly cunning plans next ?
We will know it is official policy when Conservative and Lib Dem party planners also start circulating the Unionist Tactical Voting Rosette.
That well dressed young man about town, Duncan Hothershall, has actually defended Labour members who call upon voters to support non-labour candidates, but only if Labour were not standing.
However that argument ignores the first sentence of the labour rules. Perhaps Duncan is more than a little confused.
Blah, blah, blah, SNP bad, they took our baw and we’re no playing.
“EDIT 12.05: Mr McNeill’s Twitter account has been deleted.”
But not fast enough to escape WoS’s notice……lovin’ it.
Does anybody in this day and age listen to the advice of politicians on how to vote especially when they adopt the playground tactic of ‘ It’s ma baw and I’m no playin’.
Vote SNP, Slabber previous advice was if you vote SNP you get Tory, so it is clear that you can hedge your bets, Whatever you do Don’t vote Slabber, they don’t want it.
I could maybe get behind his policy if East Renfrewshire was among the LibDem/Tory targets.
(I see his own backyard of East Lothian is also conspicuous by its absence).
Breaking News: Scottish Labour to officially change their name to The Anti-SNP At All Costs & Against Reason Party.
@ A. Mylchreest
They’ve been fuschia in ideology since the early nineties. I’d say nearer plum for the past eight. 🙂
British Establishment in Panic Mode. Lets send as many SNP MP’s to Westminster and see them really panic.
Vote SNP for Scotland.
First they stood side by side with the Tories during the referendum, they talked Scotland and Scots down, then they back the Tories on austerity and Trident. Now they are asking people to vote Tory. So what exactly is the purpose of the Labour Party and its regional branch? Looks like they might be shaping up to work together after the GE.
Shouldn’t somebody tell the Labour candidates in the affected constituencies about this?
I’m sure Mary Galbraith in Argyll and Bute, for example, will not be happy that her party is advising the electorate to vote against her…
[…] Scottish Labour’s new policy: vote Tory […]
Oh dear, just when you though public trust in WM couldn’t get any lower, another bout of SLEAZE.
Vote Labour, get another Straw.
Vote Tory, get another Rifkind.
The message couldn’t be clearer.
They need someone new to formulate policy
Perhaps a non political housewife someone like, Oh?
Claire Lally…. Ooops!
I’ll get back to my cereal now
Was that patronising?
@joemcg 12:17pm – new Forth crossing was paid for by the Scottish Government out of its own coffers – as was the new Southern General in Glasgow and as will be the dualling of the A9
Labour really do have short memories don’t they? In 1979 wasn’t it 31 Labour MP’s including Dennis Skinner refused to support their own Callaghan led government in this vote. In their treachery, Labour caused the downfall of Callaghan’s government not the SNP as his tweet above states.
I remember it, we weren’t all born yesterday & try as they might Labour cannot just rewrite history to suit themselves.
Labour will say anything to retain their entitlement to Scots votes. Don’t let the ("Tractor" - Ed)s get away with it.
The final tweet with Annabel Goldie’s comment made me laugh. The only politician alive today who has ever run a minority govt is Alex Salmond. He did what Scottish Parliament is designed to require. He sought buy-in by finding common agreement on proposed policies by working with Goldie on some policies but everyone forgets that they also did this with LABOUR too. If Labour can’t get it’s facts straight they don’t have to worry.
They can always get the FACTS from WINGS OVER SCOTLAND. That way they will avoid lots more embarassment. 🙂
It’s probably best that I limit my comments on Mr McNeill’s twitter activity to ‘I’m not impressed’ and leave it at that.
Its all just much more frantic sweeping under teamGB carpet in the bunkers under Pacific Quay etc. See they never mentioned the Press Council finding Daily Record guilty of lying at Scotland with their THE VOW Delivered shyste.
Incredible slice of Westminster propaganda just there on BBC R4 with really really lovely American boss lady of new ATOS replacement business Maximus, on You and Yours vote ConDem England, listeners in Scotland land have their own Tory boy propaganda.
Maximus get a even tastier deal than ATOS at over £400 million but the nice boss lady says they do have over a million cases to “clear”. So if you’re on any benefits, you soon wont be and you’ll be told so by Maximus, in gladiator fancy dress no doubt. Only an hour before Steve Right in the Afternooooon.
@Helena Brown
I long for the day when the new Scottish mps[indy parties]take their seats in Westminster. Let us hope there will be many.
Scottish MPs will Play a Part in any Future UK Coalition Government
link to archive.today
Seriously, I cannot figure out if Duncan Hothersall is really really stupid, or if he just wants to give the impression he is.
Re the tactical voting. Given the tory ‘target’ seats highlighted, seems almost as if Labour are shooting themselves in the foot (or both feet) asking their own voters to vote Conservative in some areas where Tories are just as unlikely as them to get anywhere near SNP (e.g. Angus, Argyll, Perth according to Electoral Calculus)
So the message from the tories is to vote Labour. The message from Labour is vote Tory.
What’s the message from the Lib Dems? Vote Tory and Labour?
The message is clear to me. The Unionist parties would be as well merging. Vote for Scotland. Vote SNP!
Cheers Steve! How does that not surprise me. We are total mugs.
I recall Robert James McNeill was calling ‘cybernats’ bullies in his last tweet.
I find the term ‘cybernat’ pathetic and misleading. According to his crap logic I use the internet and support the SNP Independence cause – therefore I must be a cybernat which is BAD because SNP bad. And probably computers too. And definitely Cybermen.
I’m actually just a hardworking, taxpaying Dad who believes that Scotland should have self-determinism and the ability to look after its own budget – to meet the needs of its people.
This monstering of ordinary folk is the problem, and something that the likes of Robert James McNeill foster.
I just hope that, somewhere, somehow – a group of intelligent and independence supporting people are constituting a new political party that will offer a rational and alternative opposition in Holyrood – unless the SNP are planning to institute the new post of Devil’s Advocate Secretary? Scotland will not be (has not been) served by the continuance of such idiotic, obnoxious and shallow grasp of political integrity on such ready display from unionist parties – particularly the N.B. accounting unit.
I paraphrase a Snoopy cartoon I have on my wall where Peppermint Pattie is deeply concerned over the failure of Charlie Brown to demonstrate basic skills –
“If your” absence of cogent political policies is not due to just your visceral hatred of the SNP “have you ruled out stupidity?”
Jim Murphy
Jim Murphy
ridicule is nothing to be scared of 🙂
It would be a delicious irony if the SNP could start promoting themselves with borrowed unionist phrases, like:
“Vote SNP for Scotland – let’s punch above our weight”
“Let’s make the broad shoulders of the SNP fight for Scotland and against Westminster sleaze”
“Say “No thanks” to blue and red tory sleaze – vote SNP”
“YES Scotland, NO Labour”
@ Luigi
I was a proud Labour voter but… ?
Frackin hauf-wits.
Scottish Government pays for the new bridge,reading 2008 page, looks like the opposition at the time in Scottish Parliament didn’t think Scots could deliver stuff for themselves,sounds like “ye canny dae it!”
link to news.bbc.co.uk
just discovered some labour propaganda leaflets through my door, now residing unread in the recycling bucket.
odd thing was it was bundled up with a Domino’s pizza leaflet and something about cruises or something and not on its own. this suggests SLab are paying leaflet distribution companies to put their propaganda through people’s doors instead of getting volunteer activists to do it. the only reason you’d pay for such a service is if you had no volunteers who’d do it for nothing.
We have Labour councilors refusing to to campaign for Michael McCann MP.
We have Labours McNeil in Prestonpans telling folk to vote Tory. In Prestonpans!! That’s some statement considering Prestonpans is an old mining town and maybe the poorest in East Lothian. I wonder how the ex-miners and their families feel about that. Being told to vote Tory. A party that inflicted horrendous misery upon them.
We have another senior Labour politician embroiled in another alleged cash for questions scandal.
What decent person in their right mind in Scotland would vote for that mob?
he removed his twitter profile because he spent most of last night and this morning, effectively calling SNP voters nazis. A deeply offensive hate filled stew. That this meltdown is occurring at the local level, would suggest that Scottish labour has jumped the shark here.
Trying to get labour voters to vote tory while proclaiming that a vote for labour keeps them out? They have lost the plot and decided to opt for what they see as the nuclear option. But all that will achieve, is to nuke the labour party. Firstly it’s an admission that they cannot win. Secondly it’s an admission that they having nothing to offer that would counter the popularity of the SNP. lastly, no party has ever won votes by insulting the electorate. Just ask the tories.
Labour are the architects of their own misfortunes. Frankly they deserve to lose.
Macart says:
23 February, 2015 at 1:10 pm
@ Luigi
I was a proud Labour voter but… ?
Ha Ha. I like that one!
@ Luigi
I’m here all week. 🙂
Anent Crossrail. This is deemed to be a UK Infrastructure project, so Scotland is paying for about 9.9% of it.
It is, therefore, costing us more than the Forth Replacement Crossing. The latter is of course of no importance to UK and has to be funded from our pocket money allowance.
Where is Jack Straw?
Is this another example of Labour policy in action – when in trouble head for the bunker (or nearest subway shop)
David Agnew
I agree with you there. Labour activists must lack the confidence to win on 7th May that they are now going around trying to get Labour voters to vote Tory, however they might find that their voters would vote SNP first rather than Tory. The hatred that spews out from Labour is in the main confined to their activists and not the voters in general.
Just a small point, 34 Labour MPs voted with the Tories in 1979 to bring down the Labour Government.
Embradon says:
23 February, 2015 at 1:23 pm
It doesn’t matter about UK infrastructure claim or not as they always find a way. They declared the £500million for the London sewers a national emergency/extraordinary spend and therefore it had no Barnett consequentials.
Whit a muppet!
Clarinda, regarding an opposition in Holyrood, perhaps we can have an intelligent and principled opposition in the Greens and the Scottish Socialists, then at the very least our country could be going in the direction that most though not all would wish to see it.
The Muppets which constitute the opposition today might as well join up together, they even sound the same in Parliament with regard to asking the same questions week after interminable week, both Nicola and Alex had and have the patience of saints,
Marcia says:
“… going around trying to get Labour voters to vote Tory, however they might find that their voters would vote SNP first rather than Tory. ”
Yes. If you say to your voters, “consider voting for someone else” they might take the advice and just as easily vote for the party you didn’t want them to vote for! Or, in a neighbouring consituency which has a different voting pattern, they do vote for someone else when you wanted them not to!
Tactical voting is a dangerous policy to promote.
Voters do choose to do it, but choice is totally different from manipulation. So you also risk people being thrawn!
LOL what a fantastic display of standard issue Labour Party bile and mindless drivel.
Remember the Lib Lab pact that kept the Callaghan Government afloat? The Liberals backed the 1979 no confidence motion. Yet here is this Muppet recommending that people vote Liberal. The SNP were not in a pact with Labour. No, Labour stabbed the SNP in the back with the 40% rule the wondered why the SNP refused to back them for the last four months of that Government’s life.
Is this chap just uneducated or is he merely utterly dishonest?
It seems Labour
Has this just turned into Indyref 2.
Oops
That last was
It seems Labour is incapable of learning from past mistakes.
‘there was i digging a hole’.
woo!it just gets better :-), as they dive deeper down their rabbit hole for cover.
and they even have audacity to call truth hounding!?
@handandshrimp
What a magnificent phrase “It seems Labour”, stupid, pig-headed, crass, unethical, immoral are just some of the synonyms that it brings to mind.
The trouble is that it is unfinished, when I suspect Labour are.
Interesting dilemma here. On one hand you have the danger that actually publishing the “alleged” target list might encourage Labour supporters to actually vote tactically. On the other hand its very existence underlines just how much of a threat the SNP are seen which can only firm up their support. Besides which the idea that Labour could encourage a vote for the Conservatives at a national level might be the final straw that brings an end to the whole Labour 4 Indy faction as the majority of them might take the last step into the SNP camp.
Twitter seems to have more than one Labour person posting tactical voting guides for Scottish seats.
I think Spud has been outflanked. I can’t wait to see what ridiculous offering he comes up with to reclaim centre stage.
Perhaps a new slogan? Any ideas?
Labour Party?
Principles?
SNP Scotland..Aah..Yes!
Vote idiot get idiot. Secure Scotland’s future. Vote SNP put Scotland first.
@ James Caithness
Thanks for the correction-I knew I was roughly in the right area but not exact so I knew someone would supply the correct figure 🙂
@Bell 1:17pm
Naw, dinnae bin them, go through their assertions and lies, counter each one and contact your local SNP branch with the ammunition they need to stick on their own leaflets for a bit of foot-soldier door stuffing.
Bear that in mind too, SLab don’t have foot soldiers. They have to pay Royal Mail to do their letterbox stuffing for them.
Tells a story.
No doubt the staff in the factory producing the fake pro-labour 2015 GE postal votes on an industrial scale, will have to start again. Only this time, they will have to match the constituency voter with the appropriate cross. Do you think they will be up to it, given that it is something they are not accustomed to?
O/T; In 2013, Sarwar attacked the Scottish Government for its alleged failure to mitigate the worst effects of the Bedroom Tax. But , during a vote on the said tax being repealed in Westminster on 13 November 2013, Sarwar along with 45 other Labour MPs abstained, with the subsequent vote being lost by 252 to 226 – fewer than the number of Labour MPs who had failed to vote with result that the bill was carried and the Bedroom Tax imposed upon Scotland. The galling thing was that it was the Labour party that had called for the debate and vote.
The SNP government pressed on regardless and cancelled out any negative impact that the tax might have on those unfortunate persons on welfare in Scotland. This required a transfer of finance away from other programmes which would have been unnecessary had the Labour MP’s turned up at Westminster and voted for a cancellation of the Tax.
link to caltonjock.com
Where do SLAB find these people. Is the criteria for standing as a candidate being as thick as two short planks. It’s not a clever move telling your own supporters to vote blue tory. That is very defeatist, how does that look to your own side.
Mind you, I know some died in the wool SLAB voters, you know the kind, ma faither and ma grandfaither aye voted labour and so will I. The Idea of voting blue tory to these people is anathema. They might not take to kindly to that idea.
If the had any sense they would vote SNP – Vote for Scotland.
It’s sad to see anyone so enveloped by tribal hatred that they lose all common sense. It’s all sheer spite. They would rather cut off their nose to spite their face.
Fair play to Scottish Labour
By their own modest words, so far in Scotland they have
Removed the bedroom tax!
Removed fracking!
Removed the Labour Party!
@Grizzle McPuss (Cracking name btw)
“From history, we define the future”
With past hindsight we can avoid future mistakes, but without the odd leap of faith, there’s no reason for hindsight.
@James Caithness
I do not think any Labour MP’s voted against the Government in 1979. Read Stu’s analysis for why Callaghan blamed the Labour Party and not the SNP.
“We shall self implode, we shall self implode, we shall self implode some day. Here in my heart I do believe, we shall self implode some day.”
I can hear the strains of ghostly chants of aboves ditty echoing across the land!
At straws clutching
This needs to be well publicised in every Labour seat in Glasgow.
It shows their ‘Vote SNP, Get Tories’ campaign to be a sham.
It proves that Labour would rather have a Tory government, than be forced to make deals with the SNP for Scotland’s benefit.
Here’s another winner from Wales
link to walesonline.co.uk
All this suggestion of “everyone try tactical voting” against a particular party is not going to work.
One just has to look at voting shifts to see that it is already happening in different directions as personal choice. libs are moving 50/50 to snp and labour, presumably because they voted Lib dem for different reasons originally.
From one of the polls last week, 1 in 4 of labour’s current voters percentage points were yes voters already! If they moved across en masse to the SNP, labours vote could be touching as low as 20%. this is why the polls are not shifting much….those yes voters willing to vote labour have already committed. Those sickened ain’t changing.
Dr Jim says:
23 February, 2015 at 12:43 pm
” They need someone new to formulate policy
Perhaps a non political housewife someone like, Oh?
Claire Lally…. Ooops!”
I think a better option would be Dame Edna Everage, at least the laughs would better structured.
@HandandShrimp
LOL what a fantastic display of standard issue Labour Party bile and mindless drivel.
Remember the Lib Lab pact that kept the Callaghan Government afloat? The Liberals backed the 1979 no confidence motion. Yet here is this Muppet recommending that people vote Liberal. The SNP were not in a pact with Labour. No, Labour stabbed the SNP in the back with the 40% rule the wondered why the SNP refused to back them for the last four months of that Government’s life.
Is this chap just uneducated or is he merely utterly dishonest?
SLAB have lost the plot completely. God knows what it is like to work at their HQ in Glasgow…Some SLAB activist has said National Collective should be arrested(???), on the back of that dolt from East Lothian wanting people to vote for the Tories.
This is getting more and more surreal. Duncan Hothersall is now accusing Billy Bragg of all people of smearing the Labour Party, when all Bragg has done is comment on the shocking tweet from the SLAB East Lothian official. It is the height of stupidity from SLAB today, and I do not even have any popcorn in my house! Poor old Duncan is really a PR disaster for SLAB.
Murphy’s latest from the unionist propaganda broadcaster:
15:03: ‘Moral scandal’ of inequality in education Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy has said more money should be earmarked to tackle educational inequality.
Mr Murphy also wants a chief education officer to be appointed in all 32 Scottish councils.
He said: “When Scotland’s families flourish, Scotland flourishes. But under the SNP, working class families are being let down, and find themselves almost locked out of the opportunity to get on in life through education.
“Last week in a speech to academics and economists I said that inequality is a moral scandal that is holding the whole country back from a better future. We build a better, more prosperous Scotland by building a fairer, more equal Scotland.”
So why then didn’t ‘Scottish’ labour do something about it when they could? Too busy filling in expenses claims and rubber stamping nepotistic job applications?
@Famous15: link to wingsoverscotland.com is the relevant article.
They still seem upset about 1979. I find it much more serious that Labour has started illegal foreign wars that have resulted in the deaths of thousands and made the world a more dangerous place.
London Labour can’t even trust their branch office manager to get their “ScottishLabour” NHS leaflets printed in Scotland.
Yes Labour helping Scottish businesses by printing their Scottish leaflets in London. And it was delivered by Royal Mail along with other junk mail.
A catastrophic nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine on 26 April 1986.
In 1994 the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Britain and the United States signed a memorandum to provide Ukraine with security assurances in connection with its accession to the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state.
In February 2014 Viktor Yanukovych, legally elected President of the Ukraine who sought closer ties with Russia was overthrown and replaced with Petro Poroshenko who is a billionaire and friendly to the West.
Like Bell at 1.17 I received A glossy A3 flyer delivered by Royal Mail. On closer examination (I like a good laugh) I noted that we are being invited to tell Labour why we love the NHS, so I have done. I don’t think I told them what they wanted to hear!
If you haven’t received the flyer you can comment on: scottishlabour.org.uk/.weloveournhs . They might just get the message.
@Camz
Sorry to contradict you, but I don’t need a “leap of faith”. I judge, based on track record…hence…history.
I therefore don’t need faith in the SNP administration for example. I watched their first term in (Scottish) government, and then like so many more in 2011, found it a no-brainer to re-elect them.
Compare them to the Labour administrations, both Holyrood and WM, really, what have they done for us that hasn’t had an ulterior motive for the ‘party’ if not the individual? Look at their history.
Couple all this with the SNP non self-seeking political approach / track record in WM…
Today’s news of Rifkind & Straw just underlines what selfish money grabbing, self-satisfying corrupt cesspit hypocrites the Unionist politicians have always been.
And let’s throw some salt in that wound…”MP’s can’t live on £60,000 a year” type out of touch comments?
I rest my (personal) case.
Isn’t it funny looking around the Interweb in the last few days how much bile is being heaved upon we Nasty Cybernaty people from the opposition Parties supporters and officials alike
Just looking over on Mad Cochranes comments and there’s even one guy threatening to kill SNP voters, “Take up arms” or words to that effect and doing all the God Save the Queen routine
Now strikes me odd that the Interweb Policey people should be looking at that particular Newspaper as to its moderation policy or at least going round this guys domicile(probably in the outback somewhere)and having a wee word
If any of our lot so much as sniff in the wrong direction there’s a BBC Newsflash but these Idjit types seem on the rise, i’ve seen Civil War comments being bandied around, threats of “Retaliation” from the Unionist side, all this, England wont stand still for Scots coming down to rule them talk
The State Media and their colleagues in the Print Media whilst we know they dont support our arguments need to start being a bit more responsible for what they say and write or they will be in danger of causing more trouble than they may at first intend
There are nutters out there like the guy i just mentioned and we know what side they’re on but they unfortunately dont understand why they’re on that side
Many of these people actually believe its got something to do with Rule Brittania and all that stuff and its at risk of becoming
“Rule Britmania”
SNP BAD
Big And Dangerous 🙂
I never realised the `Anti Scottish Independence`humorous journalist Hugo Rifkind who writes weekend frippery for the Times was the disgraced MP Malcolm Rifkinds son.
@ X_Sticks says:
23 February, 2015 at 3:16 pm
” Murphy’s latest from the unionist propaganda broadcaster: —-‘Moral scandal’ of inequality in education Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy has said more money should be earmarked to tackle educational inequality.
He is thrashing about without purpose.
He is not waving, he is drowning.
So the new labour slogan is “VOTE TORY”, seems appropriate.
As for the two red/blue tory parties new starlets “Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw” it’s nice to see the older unionist politicians showing the next batch the proper way to do politics. Fill yer pockets and denie any wrong doing.
Was it not Jack Straw who after the referendum want to make it illegal for any party/country in the UK to go for independence.
What a pair of rats from a right pair of rat parties.
Brilliant Rev, McNeill has now ran for cover, due to your revelations on him.
Hopefully Labour will tear a strip of the McNeill, for promoting other parties, Labour really do hate the SNP and nationalist.
Labour in Scotland have been totally blinded by hate for the SNP and nationalists, so much so they’ve forgotten, what they once stood for.
@Dr Jim, if these mad unionists don’t want to be ruled by we Scots, well then, they should have left us alone to have our referendum without any interference from them’
They did’t want us to go, we are better together, now it’s GTF. I think we would all have been pleased to do just that on 19th September, but it wasn’t to be.
So there you go. They really don’t do democracy do they.
Funny how he is not apposed to sharing power with,the tory party,yet did he give back the money as highlighted in EEN that that constituency made money,from flogging burgers,from a council marque,£10,000 was the sum stated by said newspaper,some went to i grays election funds as to become leader,the rest into east lothian labour account ,yet when pointed out ,that it is illegal to use council equipment,staff etc to raise funds for election purposes,where is the money?,where did the burgers come from,asked if they were beef ,a spotty youth spokes person said “NEIGH”,Labour now jackboot marching with the orange order in a town near you
“Time and Chance” by James Callaghan a book even his own party ,does not want Scots to read as,it shows why they got a vote of no confidence ,but hey do not let a wee lie interfere with your story telling ,murphy wants to be first on the new Jackanory ,he wants it called Jockanory as so many lies from Labour will keep it going in fairy tales for a few years yet
Welcome to Slabs world where the enemy is no longer the Tories. The enemy is the Scottish people who won’t do as they are told.
O/T watching Meet The Ukippers on On Demand the noo and FFS I thought it was just Labour that had a few zoomers (copyright Stu Campbell) in their party.
After a visit from Nige and being told to watch what they say because it will be picked up and picked apart to show they’re racist, one of their co-ordinators just said “There is absolutely no way I’m a racist because [for a photo shoot around all the wards] my first thought was the guy who owns the post office, him and his wife, I know they both vote UKIP they’d be absolutely delighted…. Now obviously they’re Indian Pakistani doesn’t matter to me but they’re a lovely couple. But,,, the only people I do have problems with………are Negros”.
(There’s more)
“And I don’t know why. Whether there’s something in my psychi. Or whether from a, it’s karma from a previous life. Or whether something happened to me as a very very young person and I’ve drawn a veil over it, because that sometimes happens doesn’t it? But I really really do have a problem with with people with Negroid features. I really do”
She then went o to say she’d refuse a dinner date if a Negro was there.
So ther yi go. More proof if any was needed – Vote UKIP – get a bunch o arseholes.
It’s obvious that the Tories & Labour, in a hung parliament, will form a ‘grand coalition’ to keep out the ‘jumped-up’ SNP. Tradesmen entrance round the back. Know your place, Scotland.
And can one really blame a shark for eating you, if you are daft enough to go swimming with it?
Rather, I have come to see Scotland’s future within the UK as George Orwell saw the future in ‘1984’:~
“If you want a picture of the [i.e. Scotland’s] future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever”.
The poor darlings had every reason to believe they were in a doss/job for life until a few short months ago. Now they’re having to confront the fact that between the lot of them they’ll struggle to produce a single worthwhile CV. There’ll be all sorts of tears and tantrums before bedtime. Enjoy them to the full.
Robert James McNeil would nuke Russia if they invaded Britain then, presumably leading to our own nuclear annihilation in retaliation?
If he believes no country with nukes ever gets invaded or bombed by a foreign armed forces, then how does America bomb Pakistan’s border regions (sometimes, but not always, with Islamabad’s connivance) with impunity?
15:03: ‘Moral scandal’ of inequality in education Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy has said.
Indeed Fud!
How we waste paying for you to spend 9 years at University only
to leave with ZERO qualification, and decent people couldn’t get in while took up enough time for 3 Degrees!(Not the pop group)lol
I’ve seen the campaign for this tactical voting scheme. In my naivety I believed it was a fringe extremist group like Britain First, UKIP or Orange Order that were arranging it. Well, I suppose that’s what SLab are now…
@Rob James says:23 February, 2015 at 11:03 am:
How ironic it would be if they lost the election by that exact margin. They have the luminosity of a 5 watt light bulb.”
Not wishing to be too picky, Rob, but the modern 5 watt LED light bulb replacements are fairly bright. Can we not come up with another comparison for the London Labour in Scotland minions?
They might think that 5 watts is enough to get elected for.
I’ll get my coat!
On the tactical voting thing…
A few months back, I had an angry unionist acquaintance harangue me about how they won the indy campaign and they would beat the SNP again as they would vote “tactically”.
I said that was very interesting – who was he going to vote for in our seat?
No answer – no idea!
Lib-Dem – vote most likely to collapse completely?
Labour – SNP are picking up too much of their vote?
Tory – not enough to win the seat?
UKIP – too small!
Difficult this tactical voting – if they’d are going to do it they need to give a clear idea of what they are doing to all the unionist voters.
If it is too obvious then they face a backlash from their own loyal voters.
Tricky – eh!
Of course, if the SNP get over 50% of the vote then all this tactical voting is worthless. 🙂
@Rob James says:23 February, 2015 at 11:30 am:
” … OT Isn’t it nice to see that horrible man Straw get his come-uppance”
Aye! Rob, Both he and Sir Malcolm – it couldn’t happen to a “nicer”, pair of numpties.
Ref – Straw corruption…
Craig Murray will be delighted – he always suspected Jack Straw was a “bad-un”.
Still I suppose it will not stop Straw and Rifkind getting their seats in the House of Lords.
Fraudsters and arsonists are always welcome.
@Legerwood says:23 February, 2015 at 12:08 pm:
“What does Labour have against the Scots?”
Nothing whatsoever, Legerwood, this is just, “The Wee Willy Bain Principle”, in operation. It is whatever the SNP say or do Labour must say or do the opposite or Labour must abstain from the vote, knowing that by doing so they see the other unionists win the vote.
As I’ve always maintained, no matter what else, they are all Unionists together in the Establishment.
Note the item on the news where the CofE are paying some staff less than the living wage while pontificating(Ahem!), to business that business should pay more. Remember, though, that the CofE is an integral part of, “The Establishment”. It was always thus. The old saying among the aristocracy was the first son inherits the title &the second soc joins the navy, third son the army and the next son wears the cloth.
@steveasaneilean says:23 February, 2015 at 12:43 pm:
” – new Forth crossing was paid for by the Scottish Government out of its own coffers – as was the new Southern General in Glasgow and as will be the dualling of the A9″
But,steveasaneilean,There is nothing new in all this. When fire destroyed the Palace of Westminster, the ancient home of first the English parliament then the Parliament of the United Kingdom, on 16 October 1834, they rebuilt it in its present form and made all four UK countries pay for it.
Which means Scotland owns part of it. Yet when it came to Holyrood it was paid for from within the Scottish Block Grant.
And there was me thinking it was the 34 Labour MPs that brought down their own government
Betty Boop, to me the whole point of joining NATO was to prevent a neighbouring nuclear armed power from attacking us, as NATO members are not allowed to wage war on each other.
@Author_Al says:23 February, 2015 at 12:52 pm:
“I find the term ‘cybernat’ pathetic and misleading. According to his crap logic I use the internet and support the SNP Independence cause – therefore I must be a cybernat which is BAD because SNP bad. And probably computers too. And definitely Cybermen.”
I have the ability to keep a straight face while being absolutely outrageously misleading. Quite some time ago I was talking with a dyed in the wool local Labour guy who is related to the local Labour Mafia.
He asked me what I was doing for the referendum as he knew I’d been badly disabled in a car crash. So with a dead straight face I said, “Och! Ah’m jis ane o thay Cybernats fechtin oan the internet. Only trouble is yon Alex Salmond seems tae hae loast ma email address fir he disna send me ony instructions whit tae say”.
I’m not kidding you on when I say the joke flew right over his wee pointy head. The numptie said, “Hoo div ye ken whit tae post then – dae ye jist say whitivver the ither Cybernats say”? The numptie really did believed there was an huge army of Cybernats all being orchestrated on the direct orders of Alex Salmond from Bute House.
I think it’s about time we began to connect “Scottish Labour” to it’s political base. We know that Jim Murphy was elected without the support of any Trade Union ….not one to my knowledge wanted him as leader. Those trade unionists amongst us need to be making demands on our TU reps to pressurise their TU to represent their members interests and to begin to participate in this discussion! How much are they contributing to “Scottish Labour”? How do they intend using their political war chest of members political funds contribution in the forthcoming election campaign? And JUST WHAT is their view of McNeills call for Labour voters to vote for the Tories? It’s time for the SCOTTISH Trade Union Congress to represent their members views and engage in the debate.
So when we get independence we can stick our bit of cross-rail down Leith Walk and finish the tram thingy?
@Bell says:23 February, 2015 at 1:17 pm:
” … odd thing was it was bundled up with a Domino’s pizza leaflet and something about cruises or something and not on its own.”.
Aye, Bell, me too, but in my case it was just along with the cruises leaflet. I took great delight in feeding both through my recently purchased shredder.
Ha Ha poll tax “recuperation”…. novel new use of the word… (he probably meant recouping ) recuperation usually refers to a period of convalescence ,leading to recovery, ie NOT applicable to Scottish Labour
Where do Labour get these inarticulates?
haha the ills of social media and idiots.
A few months ago it was suggested that Argyll & Bute was a Labour Party target seat in the impending General Election. This was greeted with a degree of incredulity by casual bystanders and considered a bit of braggadocio to help a flagging campaign.
It now appears that a SLAB policy wonk recommends that Labour voters in Argyll & Bute along with LibDems should stand in solidarity with their Tory friends as they did in the referendum, in support of Government Austerity cuts and, of course, in the renewal of Trident and vote for a spectacularly unappealing Tory candidate.
It would be interesting to learn what the Labour PPC thinks about this. Even more fascinating would be to hear what Alan Reid, the sitting LibDem MSP thinks of this cruel assessment of his chances as he is considered to be an outsider in this contest!
Mary Galbraith and Alan Reid may take some comfort that this novel tweet, in the best traditions of SLAB has now been “disappeared” but of course we have it on record and I suspect that it might well emerge when the hustings come round.
[…] too has also once again been told to know her place, not this time by a LibDem stooge who thinks Scotland can only play her part if she votes the […]
Willy Young is wasting £millions of taxpayers money ruining Aberdeen City centre. The Labour/Unionists, along with a colluding Green are destroying the City Centre with their schemes, which are totally opposed by the majority. The last time they held power, they nearly bankrupted the City and had to be censored.
The Labour/Unionists are being censored because they sent out letters to council taxpayers telling them to vote NO in the Referendum. They were advised by the Legal Officers, it was illegal to do so. They are not fit for public office.
The 1979 Thatcher Gov would have got in 6 months later in the rest of the UK in any case. Labour/Unionists had wrecked the economy anyway – ‘the Winter of Discontent’ and lied to Scotland. The majority of people in Scotland wanted full fiscal autonomy/Independence over their own economy but were lied to again by Westminster. Westminster corruption. Secrecy and lies. People in Scotland could do a better, decent job of running the Scottish economy. The SNP Gov have proved that.
Nuclear Weapons will kill more people than they save. The 11WW proved that. 26million Russians (1 in 6) died in the 11WW to save the West. 8 Million Germans, 6 Million Poles, 6Million Jews. Million American, 1/2Million French, 1/2Million British.
The last thing Putin/Russia/Europe is War in Europe. Merkel caused the crisis with the ‘austerity policies’ by refusing the Ukraine a loan. The Ukrainian President is now the one who took £Billions from the people. A multibillionaire.
Nuclear weapons will kill more people than they save.The 11WW is proof. 26Million ( 1 in 6) Russians died in the 11WW to save the West. The last thing Putin/Russia/Europe wants is another war in Europe. Merkel’s austerity caused the crisis, she refused the Ukraine a loan. The cost of the crisis is more than the value of the loan.
@Robert Peffers
I take your point, but this is a labour controlled area and they only use the old 5W Pearl bulbs – Extremely dim.
I see Biily Bragg phoned Ed, who phoned someone in the Northern Branch Office who looked up a map to see where East Lothian is, etc, etc. Goodbye Robert McNeil. It’s pretty sad when a clapped out 1980’s protest singer calls the shots. (Unless of course you are on our side).
Robert McNeill has now quit.
Rob James says:
“I see Billy Bragg phoned Ed, who phoned someone in the Northern Branch Office who looked up a map to see where East Lothian is,”
______
Rob,
Bragg wrote a book c2006/07 titled “The Progressive Patriot” and in that book he waxes lyrical about English socialists reclaiming patriotism from the right.
Now, Dim Jim, where have i heard that before!
😉
[…] link to wingsoverscotland.com […]
It appears I have been datamined.
Bugger,
Scotland needs a plan that will make a difference to you and your family.
Later tonight I’ll outline Scottish Labour’s plan for Scotland in a new TV broadcast.
There are big challenges and this is an important moment for our country, so I want you to take a look at the video now:
Link to a video, which I cut out, to reduce blood pressure, and is signed as
Jim. Murphy
Just as well I am using my real name.
Q. How many Labourites does it tkae to change a light bulb?
A. None. Labour never changes anything.
How many times and in how many blogs do I have to repeat this quote from Callaghan’s memoirs ‘Time and Chance’, in reference to the 1979 vote.
Prime Minister Jim Callaghan noted:
“ In his (i.e. Michael Cox, Labour’s Chief Whip) view, the difficulty within the (Labour) Party, was much greater than any from the Scottish National Party, and the Whip’s judgement was that the government could not rely on the votes of Labour members from the north if we moved to reject the Repeal Order……… we could lose the vote.”
The extent to which some Labour anti Devolutionists were prepared to go can be summed up in the words of Patrick Cosgrave in his book ‘The Lives of Enoch Powell’ when he wrote “Confidential exchanges took place between Thatcher’s aides and a number of Labour back benchers hostile to Devolution”
The survival of the Labour government was therefore in the hands of its own MPs