Alexander vows to stand up for 'victims' of SNP

Published on Saturday 29 March 2008 19:29

WENDY Alexander sought to redraw Scotland's political landscape yesterday as a fight between a "socialist" Labour party and a right-wing SNP, in her first conference speech as party leader.

The Scottish Labour leader threw red meat to the party faithful gathered in Aviemore, pledging to stand up on the side of the poor and dispossessed against a Nationalist Government which, she claimed, lacked compassion and "victimised" the vulnerable.

In a throwback to the party's battles against the Tory Government of the 1980s, Alexander made it clear she was opposed to SNP plans to cut business rates and council tax.

Using old Labour rhetoric, she pledged that instead of cutting taxes, she would – if made First Minister – cut poverty.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last night hit back, claiming the speech was a "desperate gambit" to appeal to left-wing party loyalists.

Alexander's speech comes seven months after she took over the party following Labour's defeat in last year's Scottish elections. Her leadership was thrown into crisis after it emerged that she had wrongly accepted an illegal donation from a Jersey-based businessman, in breach of electoral laws.

The speech was her first opportunity to talk direct to party members following the furore and she used it to place herself in line with the party's socialist heritage, pledging to stand by the values of "social justice, of redistribution of wealth, of equal opportunity for all".

"This is the territory Labour will be happy to fight," she declared. "Left against Right; cutting poverty against cutting taxes; rewarding hard work against unearned wealth; socialist against nationalist."

She claimed First Minister Alex Salmond had gone into the election promising to "be more Labour than Labour" only to transform the SNP into a right-wing party in power. "Nothing is ever his fault, not the broken manifesto promises, not the council cuts, not the failing flagship local income tax. But come the next election, he will be taking the blame."

She told the audience that "when you leave here… be prepared to stand shoulder to shoulder with those the SNP would victimise".

US-style election plan for MSPs

Labour MSPs could be selected in US-style primary election campaigns, party leader Wendy Alexander has revealed. With the battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama captivating Democrats, the Scottish Labour leader said her own party may copy the American system. Under Labour's plan, in constituencies where there was a vacancy, all local supporters would get a say on who should stand. The move follows criticism of the so-called "Selectorate" of local party office-bearers. Critics claim the system ensures candidates simply attempt to curry favour with local party big-wigs, rather than appeal to the wider party.