Eddie Barnes: Glasgow’s Labour looks tired ahead of council elections
Labour are still in control - just - at Glasgow City Chambers. Picture: Donald MacLeod
THE new orthodoxy in Scottish politics dictates that, in any forthcoming election campaign, the slickly organised, well-funded SNP will surge effortlessly to beat the faction-ridden, ill-prepared Labour party.
Thus the assumption is that, come May, the rising Nationalist tide will lap up against the previously impregnable walls of Glasgow City Chambers. The political fight in Glasgow is set to take precedence in the council vote this May; in a UK context, it comes second only to Boris v Ken in London. Dubbed (with gallows humour) “Fortress Labour” by some of the party’s battle-weary troops in recent years, ownership of Glasgow means a lot – including the right to be the face of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The last few days have not looked auspicious for Labour council leader Gordon Matheson. Six of his councillors – who had been de-selected by the party prior to May’s vote – joined the SNP, Lib Dems and Tories in an effort to torpedo the Labour administration’s budget. Mr Matheson survived, just.
However, taken together with the ignominious exit last year of his predecessor, Steven Purcell, such episodes help to construct the image of a tired party in need of some rest. The SNP need only argue, in time-honoured campaigning fashion, that it is time for a change, and that Labour have had their turn, to get people on doorsteps nodding in agreement.
Not withstanding last week’s chaos, however, Labour figures in Glasgow are optimistic – and their belief is built on firmer ground than that which shifted under the party at Holyrood last year. May’s poll is the first under the new multi-member system when there are no other elections taking place. It means the focus is likely to stick on the local picture, rather than on any national trends that would favour the SNP.
That new system is also likely to help Labour keep its share of the vote up. Then there is the actual political match-up itself. Despite the evidence of last week’s feud, Labour is organised under Mr Matheson, and is preparing to push out a series of eye-catching pledges, including a promise to rebuild every primary school that needs it.
By contrast, the SNP group has – putting it mildly – not yet caught the eye in the way that Alex Salmond did across the country this time last year. A good barometer of the SNP’s own view of its chances will be the amount of time both Mr Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon spend campaigning in the city over the coming months.
The view within Labour circles, and among some in the SNP, is that Mr Matheson should have enough to hang on, although without a majority.
The logic of such a result would see Labour and the Lib Dems doing a deal to run the council together. Not for nothing does Glasgow therefore have national significance. Either the SNP is confirmed as Scotland’s top dog. Or, perhaps, the city plays host to a an old, now-broken, alliance forming once again.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Edinburgh
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Comments
There are 42 comments to this article
Page 1 of 3
Broon Bairn
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 09:19 AMI see more Labourites are fantasising about the "big, bad SNP' being anti-Glasgow (despite the fact that many members and supporters belong there). They tried this ploy during the last election, but it fell flat. Can't do the same trick again, lads, it's been rumbled,and is now past its sell-by date. You'll need to think of some other smear tactic.
Brit-free
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 12:20 AMcorrupt and corrupting .....everything they touch turns to sleaze , Glasgow and indeed Scotland will smell fresher and cleaner when the last labourite gangster is winkled out of the fabric of Scottish civic life , the only people who will miss them are the " private taxi firms " ...." security firms " and brown envelope manufacturers
Ricardo88
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 10:43 PMI had to laugh at the Labour numpty who was saying that his party's strategy in the upcoming election would be to attempt to portray the SNP as 'taking orders from Edinburgh'. This from the party which claims to want a 'united' Britain, yet they exploits divisions whenever it suits them.
mbrmark
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 08:56 PMSoon they will be gone! Glasgow will be free.
Danielrober2
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 07:23 PM# 26 Arthur G ................. You mention prison. .................. Would you back the automatic testing of all elected official candidates, using the same doping system as used to test Athletes, to ensure people remain clean. After all comedians may make jokes about grass been the same as heroin, but medicals experts tends to differ. A good way to keep politics clean is to test everyone, and then run check up tests. Will every single SNP candidate submit to tests, to prove they are above and beyond?
Danielrober2
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 07:17 PM# 26 Arthur G .................Its not just about Glasgow, its many councils across Scotland been made to deliver SNP cuts. The SNP does not even have the decency to deliver its own cuts honestly, but fosters them on councils and then blames them because they are having difficulties. The way Edinburgh was and still is treated with its Tram project is an indicator to all of us of the SNPs attitude to councils in Scotland.
NorthernMonkeys
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 04:54 PM#34 Now that is funny....
korky
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 03:40 PMI widnae bet ma wages on it !!
Ron Greer
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 03:09 PM31----Tobruk gefallen ist.
Davie08
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 02:51 PMI fear Eddie was tired AND emotional when he wrote this.
Sneeky
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 02:40 PMI have a few points with this articel to highlight. _______ 1) The councillors who left the Labour Administration did not join the SNP. Only 1 did and he will not be standing in May. The remainder are looking to set up a NEW PARTY called Glasgow Labour but may have to choose another name. I just wanted to make it clear that the councillors supported the SNP Budget over their own and did not "Join the SNP". It's just a poor choice of words that could be misconstrued _______ 2) Saying that the SNP has "not yet caught the eye" is your own opinion and does not reflect what has been being talked about online. _______ 3) The voting system is new and as such it is anyones to play for. _______ 4) Council Elections always play to local conditions and not national trends so using this as a justification for saying that Labour are a shoe in is a bit flimsy. The feeling on the ground is that there is an alternative to vote for so the Local conditions are markedly different to any time in history. It will be interesting in May at Glasgow City Council.
Paulista
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 02:30 PMI wonder if the fall of that great unionist institution, Rangers, is a harbinger of what is on the cards in Glasgow. Next to go - the Labour party?
smallwhitebear
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 01:33 PMI see the problem is that of a party which had ruled for 50 years with no real checks on what they did or didn't do. They started making up the rules, and have thus been exposed for who they are. They didn't see their wrongdoing and carried on regardless. They threw in the odd phrase regarding "fighting for the workers" and told reminiscent stories of the glory of Clydeside in order to assuage the old guys and recruit the new into a new "better" Glasgow. They only forgot to tell them that the old Labour party had changed and now is a puppet of the millionaire driven Labour party in London, which is more purple verging on the blue than true scarlet red.
Brond
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 01:13 PMAnne Marie Millar's complaints last week bring up once again the issue of so-called arms length external organisations. The Herald last year described these organisations, set up by Stephen Purcell, as a "web of patronage", revealing that councillors were earning up to £20, 000 from membership of such boards. Anne Marie Millar's complaints also raise the issue of how these are used to keep councillors in line, as well as the uncomfortable question of whether councillor's families have special access to council services and services provided through arms length organisations. When he became Council Leader, Gordon Matheson said he would sweep aside these organisations but it seems this has not yet happened. Following the expenses scandal, MPs had to account for every penny - perhaps its time the same thing happened at Glasgow City Council. The Herald also reported in November last year that eight employees of Glasgow Council were given golden handshakes, sharing £738, 000 out of an early retirement pot, and will receive "annual compensation" payouts for the rest of their lives. 17 councillors have been deselected, branded 'deadwood' by Labour, despite the fact that they were deemed good enough to represent Labour and Glasgow at the last council election. Labour, it seemed, was trying to find places for ex-MSP Frank MacAveety. Labour MP Ian Davidson complained that the moves were a top down re-organisation of the party. Labour have now announced that they will refurbish primary schools in Glasgow but haven't yet said how they will finance this. Are we looking at more PFI initiatives at a time when these are being called into question?
Arthur G
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 01:13 PM#6 You are eaither at the wind up, hopefully, or you really no nothing of Glasgow politics. STV may, in fact, save some Labour councillors their seats. It's interesting that Johann Lamont's husband is being put up as the only Labour candidate in a multi-councillor ward; this being done, purely, to ensure his re-election. This is the kind of corruption Glasgow Labour indulges in; it is all about the 'clique' As for 'unknown' SNP candidates these were all selected by their respective branches, democratically, not imposed by some London Labour apparatchik. The Greens allying with Labour? I don't think so. The only help Labour could count on would be independent (former SNP) councillor Colin Deans, who will not be re-elected anyway, thus Labour's rump will be 'friendless'.
Page 1 of 3
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.