Scottish Labour policy adjustment
Posted on
December 20, 2012 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
This was the “Education” page of the Scottish Labour website this morning:
After Alex Salmond referred to it at FMQs, the page has now been deftly amended to fall in line with the rest of party policy, as you can see in the image below:
Bless ’em. If you’re looking for your horse, Labour chums, it bolted thataway.
Says it all!
Yeah I immediately copied the whole page and downloaded manifesto before it too disappears. Lamonts face was absolutely hysterical, completely took the wind out of her sails.
I have copies of all the old pages. But the bizarre thing is, they’ve replaced it with the 2011 manifesto, which has all the same text, including the tuition-fees promise.
Now, before, they could have just said “Oh yeah, our website needs updating but we were TOO BUSY FIGHTING FOR THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND!” But now they’ve actively put that near-two-year-old manifesto there today, unavoidably suggesting that it’s their current policy. Which is not only ham-fisted but massively dishonest. They really are the most inept bunch of numpties.
Ha!
What a shambles.
Better… erm…together …as long as you don’t mind chaos and ineptitude.
Just watched FMQ’s on the BBC website, soosider is right, Lamont’s face is priceless, fair made my Christmas.
Incompetence seems to be the order of the day.
Margaret Curran had the following on her personal website:
“It’s time out of touch Ministers realised how tough things are for pensioners right now and how their policies are making things even harder. This year pensioners are facing a triple whammy of higher VAT, soaring energy prices and cuts to their winter fuel payments.
“That’s why we support this motion’s call for the government to review the impact of their policies on pensioners, with a view to temporarily reversing the government’s mistaken VAT rise which is costing a pensioner couple an average of £275 a year.
“The Chancellor needs to take action in his autumn statement next week to help hard-pressed pensioners and families and boost the flatlining economy, as Labour’s five point plan for jobs and growth has clearly set out.”
She never turned up to vote against pension reforms
Remember folks, these are the self same people who tell us we cannot run our own affairs!..
I just went to a Labour page to see Johanns Speech marking 12 months as Scottihs leader:
link to scottishlabour.org.uk
Its a blank page with a message from the Mods saying – CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY-
Well you can’t argue with the “Changing Labour” part. It should read changing labour, serving the tories, to hell with Scotland.
I honestly believe this is deliberate. This must be some kind of ploy to use Scottish Labour as a sacrificial lamb. Make them look stupid and inept in the hope that the people of Scotland lose confidence in our politicians and seek to play it safe by voting No in 2014.
I have no quams stating that I have always been a Labour supporter historically but this is now becoming embarassing. I’m DEFINATELY voting Yes. This stinks of Westminster and I’m not stupid enough to fall for it!!
@Rabb
I honestly believe this is deliberate.
Na, Scottish unionist politicians are on the whole actually just completely inept.
Rabb
I think you give them too much credit. Think of all the kids who want to go to Uni in 2014. Their parents/granparents. People who are in college who want to go to uni after their course finishes. Their relatives. Kids to want to go to college then uni. Their relatives. That’s a lot of voters!
In my opinion their completely inept. They serve their London masters. That fact alone makes it impossible to put Scotland first and harldy inspires innovative thought and action.
2011 manifesto! Back to the future……. could be a film in there somewhere!!
Surely that should be a 404 – Policy not found error page?
Somebody let them know they can customise the error pages!
That new page is wrong. It should be a 402.
I’m disappointed they’ve stopped calling each other comrade. I guess they stopped that after getting rid of clause 4. In my shop steward days I remember the view amongst us at our conference that when any of the high heid ones in the union, councillors or MPs started calling us comrades we all thought they were dicks to be honest. But it was charming in a totally hopeless stupid way. Like a 7 ear old acting like a wee adult. Try having someone with a holiday home in Spain call you ‘comrade’ and try and keep a straight face
Can anyone honestly want that bag of shites to run our country ??? they must be the worst bunch of incompetent numptys in the labour political party for Scotland I have ever seen and I have seen over fifty years worth. Even the lib-dems appear to be a ballhair above them for sense, and I cant stand them either, it would be a poor Scotland that ever allowed the present bunch at the head of labour just now, to get into a position of power.
I thought Iain Grey was a bit of a train crash on FM’s QT, but Johann Lamont is more like the whole railway system coming down on our heads, and I still say she does not understand a detailed answer to any of her questions and just rattles off one of a list of pithy answers she has written down for her.
Aye Scotland deserves better, infact labour supporters deserves better, but until independence they and Scotland will not get it.
Vote yes, Vote Scotland.
Hail Alba Gu snooker loopy!
Its almost surreal watching Milliband and co. betraying the very founding principles of the Labour Party day in and day out whilst not a cheep of protest is being heard from Labour’s rank and file and the membership of the trade unions that supply the funds to allow Milliband and co. to continue to out-Tory the Tories!
What on earth would these jokers do if they actually won an election? They obviously haven’t a clue how to govern. Fortunately, increasing numbers of scots realise this with each passing day.
I’m surprised they still have this “No Price Tag For Scottish Students” page on their site. Fair enough, it’s from when Iain Gray was still leader of the Labour group (4 March 2011), but still.
“[Iain Gray] is writing to 100,000 students today setting out Labour’s commitment not to introduce tuition fees – up-front or back-ended. Gray said that in a time of recession it was not right to change the system and potentially dissuade young people from going to university.”
…
“Bringing in a graduate contribution would not resolve the present financial difficulties of the universities which are the responsibility of the current SNP government. Experts figures show that the gap is significantly less than some had predicted and can and will be met.”
link to scottishlabour.org.uk
The vast majority of Unionists are not vile racists. Unfortunately, their leaders don’t seem to disown those who are.
Today on Twitter
James Sykes ?@planbod09
@HumzaYousaf Its hilarious this lemon thinks he’s Scottish and wants independence! About as Scottish as a papadam! #islamicagenda
Union Rab ?@unionrab
Alasdair Gray is A Separatist bigot and mouth piece for Wee Porky Eck this is true face of Nationalism in Scotland hate everything but SNP.
We could all live without this sort of contribution – from anyone on any side of politics.
It wasn’t something that the First Minister said that caused the website to go down was it?
Shooreley shome mishtake!
However the headlines we get are Alex Salmond: “Bare faced liar.”
I hope the leadership have a 2 year strategy, or we’re fucked. And I’ll be taking a crash course in construction Catalan! I’ve no doubt about the result of their referendum with an element of supportive media.
On the downside, and a very unScottish thing to do; I might even have to support a good football team.
Oldnat – about Alasdair Gray. He’s an author for heaven’s sake, about as appropriate to the independence debate as George Orwell.
But the media are making a meal about it, in their attempt to discredit the independence movement. Well, I have to wonder just how effective – and potentially counterproductive that can be. Surely the non-aligned reader will have the sense to think the same as I said above “He;s an author for heaven’s sake”? I hope so.
It’s perhaps the same as the recent mis-reporting of the “rise in anti-english arrersts”. Surely people in Cumbernauld will think to themselves “well, I don’t see any of that around”.
I think the MSM are barking with this approach. Well, good, let them discredit themselves. Saves us from doing it.
Now Sturgeon has put herself more forward with her recent speeches and articles, I’m just starting to see the anti-Sturgeon posters coming out – Herald for instance the OBE person, who has posted the same thing I think 3 times now.
At least it’ll be a rest for liar / Mugabe / Korea / misled / law officers / smug Salmond.
They have policy???!!??
O/T I see that the loyalists are not happy at the way the better together crew are running things so they are going to turn their union flag protests into anti independence protests .
The yes campaign could not wish for a better start to the new year than the sight of all these bigots holding demonstrations waving the their union flags about .
At least we know that Jackie no longer requires a hairdrier for Christmas.
Toddling off for a few days to get some serious Christmas cheer going. Just like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a guid new years.
Rev all the very best over the yultide period and very much looking forward your articles in 2013.
Have a good one all.
Alasdair Gray is a national treasure. He is also a long-time independence supporter who has written in favour of independence in the past.
He didn’t write anything outrageous on this occasion, as seems to be agreed by everyone who has read his actual article. He is guilty of nothing but a lack of tact in choosing his vocabulary. He chose precision over political correctness.
I don’t think Alasdair and tact have been on each others’ Christmas card lists for several decades. This is going to allow small-minded unionists with no appreciation of the man’s greatness to mount petty spiteful attacks. Such is life.
I was of the opinion that the more we could do to reduce the opportunity for the british nationalists to make mischief out of little substance, the better.
But not any more.
The more that is conceded to them in terms of minding how speak, and what we speak of – the more we allow them to progressively restrict the debate to just what politicians will chance with MSM on overwatch, and that noose on debate will tighten over time too.
Watching them greetin’ and venting their faux outrage at the purposeful ‘tactlesness’ of Gray’s presentation, is the fuel for some headlines the MSM can make merry with, true.
But if it wasn’t this it would be something even more innocous, and at the cost of having closed down more genuine public and civic commentary on indy and the issues that inform it. If that’s the direction of travel we not only allow, but advocate; we’ll be as well getting the EU to appoint a technocrat to make the decision for us in 2014 so sterile will be the process.
Never mind the tender skins of the british nationalists, sometimes the truth’s hard to take. As for indy, it’s more than robust enough to take the full spectrum of debate.
Hear hear Morag,
Especially as the man’s getting on a bit now. I remember seeing him at the big ‘Armadillo’ march from Glasgow Green, the day Blair delivered his speech approx three hours early before scarpering. Gray didn’t look very well and was walking very slowly, and that was, what, almost 10 years ago? But he looked like he was enjoying it a lot. I’d love to see his expression when (not IF) we win this thing.
Morag – completely agree. Alasdair is – and is widely recognised as – a national treasure. He is hugely productive both as a writer and a visual artist and his output inevitably varies in quality. MacDiarmid’s comment about erupting like a volcano emitting not only flame but a lot of rubbish comes to mind.
I do wonder how wise unionist commentators are to target Alasdair. When I last heard him perform at the Edinburgh International Book Festival (a slightly shambolic performance, as usual) you could almost feel the waves of affection emanating from the audience. Most of that audience are not gut nationalists, they are people who love literature and admire one of Scotland’s great natural characters. Trying to pigeonhole him as a racist is so laughably wrongheaded that it can only rebound on the critics.
I first read Alasdair Gray in 1982 (I’d just arrived at Glasgow). I always remember that story about the first edition of “Unlikely Stories, Mostly” which included an erratum slip at his insistence which read “Erratum: this erratum slip has been inserted by mistake“. The man’s a genius and those Unionist lackys aren’t fit to lick his boots.