Lesley Riddoch - Labour disarray shows need for radical change

Published on Sunday 11 May 2008 21:42

SAY what you mean and mean what you say. The fact Labour can do neither over a Scottish independence referendum speaks volumes.

The insistence from Edinburgh and London that "nothing's wrong" is about as convincing as the Burmese insistence they can manage the aftermath of cyclone Nargis – though, mercifully, a great deal less important. Political denial, though, can only last so long. And for Scottish Labour this weekend it surely ended with Wendy Alexander's bold, clumsy and desperate attempt to shake up the SNP. About time.

For the past year, Labour has been neither in government nor in opposition. Effective opposition demands forensic focus on government policy and the patient nurturing of new ideas to produce better ways of running the country. To date there has been little of either. Labour clings to the council tax, PFI schools, skills academies and summits on sectarianism – old ideas in desperate need of refreshment. In place of focus there has been bluster and in place of new policy just clumsy ploys.

The "Wendyrendum" debacle was not a whole-hearted change of thinking by Scottish Labour but yet another clumsily executed ploy. Gordon Brown's refusal even to consider the referendum U-turn was not a considered act of leadership but a knee-jerk retreat from any bold or immediate plan of action. And Wendy's latest cringe-making U-turn on the U-turn must mark the end of her belief that Scottish Labour can win back power north of the Border by tinkering in half-hearted opposition while an increasingly risk-averse and unpopular Gordon Brown holds the reins.

Labour in Scotland must accept what it has not been able to accept before. That the party was roundly rejected at the ballot box a year ago by Scottish voters – no ifs, no buts, no maybes – and that nothing short of radical change will revive its fortunes.

Like all habitually re-elected governments, Scottish Labour has had a serious power habit. And like all those with a habit, the party has been in denial – needing to hit rock bottom before making any progress. That moment may finally have arrived.

It might have seemed Scottish Labour hit rock bottom in May 2007, when Alex Salmond was declared First Minister. But beaten Labour candidates such as former industry minister Allan Wilson still believed a recount could remove the SNP's one-seat advantage and Labour leaders kept themselves in readiness to spring back into office when the newcomers failed. They have not been needed.

A prominent supporter observed that ex-ministers would be writing their own speeches for the first time in decades. Not only were their words usually crafted by civil servants in Holyrood, but most sprang from local government, where they had also enjoyed the relative luxury of governing and having speeches written for them by staff.

As a result, Labour leaders became well versed in the art of "show and go". A keynote ministerial address generally meant a content-free speech without time for questions, after which the minister would be ushered from the union, association or professional gathering like the hapless Hugh Abbot in Armando Iannucci's merciless BBC satire on Westminster government The Thick of It.

By contrast, the SNP hung about. Out of office, it could afford to. Sitting through debates and question time sessions the party picked up much of its present intelligence about civic society. Eavesdropping and engaging in the policy formulation of every group from teachers and housing association tenants to employers and crofters, the SNP learned the fault lines of Scottish civic society.

Whatever the gathering, the SNP was present for the duration while Labour ministers dived in and out, oblivious of underlying mood and apparently impervious to any non-Labour agenda.

In time, the same will happen to every government which forgets that it is people, not politicians, who run a country. But Labour has developed a colossal power habit and shows no signs of going cold turkey. A major reappraisal is needed.

After an assortment of unsuccessful post-Thatcher Tory leaders, David Cameron apologised for the damage and social division wrought by his party during its "finest hours" in government and managed to overhaul the Tories' uncaring image. Mr Cameron has faced years of ridicule to achieve change in the Tory Party. If Labour needs to hit the buffers in 2009 before anyone does a Cameron, party fortunes may take a decade to recover.

So Scottish Labour would be well advised to draw breath and keep Ms Alexander in place long enough to resolve its leadership and policy problems. Last year Jack McConnell waited several months after Labour's historic 3 May defeat before quitting. But even then, wise heads suggested Labour should have waited – allowing disbelief, denial and anger to subside before deciding how big a change to make. Labour didn't take long enough.

During the long months Ms Alexander's jacket has been hanging on a shoogly nail, the big question has been, who will succeed her? Who can take the party in a new direction? The answer so far has been no-one.

Such has been the controlling nature of new Labour's selection procedures, few jokers are now left in the pack. The loss of more than half its councils has removed another source of new blood.

Ms Alexander has stared over the edge of the political precipice several times and decided to keep going. The only way Scottish Labour can turn last week to advantage is to treat this nightmare as a wake-up call and consider whether it's time to establish an independent Labour Party in Scotland.

In the run-up to its autumn conference, there's still time for some painful heart-searching and some truth sessions to come up with a programme for concerted change.

Despite all the evidence that anything less will mean humiliating defeat, I won't be holding my breath.