Labour conference

SCOTTISH Labour members gathering for their annual conference in Glasgow this weekend are doing so with a small spring in their step which will baffle most outside the party.

After all, they are out of government at Holyrood, have lost control of most councils – including Edinburgh – and seem destined to be kicked out of power at Westminster.

In their host city, the party has been hurt by the embarrassment of the Stephen Purcell affair.

Even the most perpetually optimistic Labour delegate must not quite believe that in those circumstances the party isn't heading towards general election defeat in a state of civil war.

Not that we should get carried away. At the very worst for David Cameron, the polls still point to a hung parliament in which the Tories will be the largest party.

And with the electorate more volatile than ever, no-one should be surprised if the Conservative lead widens again as the Government's record comes under scrutiny in the next few weeks.

But, as things stand, those Labour delegates at least have something to fight for.

Whether we agree with it or not, Brown's team has devised a coherent election strategy which plays up the difference between the inexperienced Tory frontbench and the Prime Minister's role in tackling the recession.

Alistair Darling defied expectations when he reinforced that message this week with a quietly redistributive budget that met with general acclaim.

The Tories can point to huge, gaping holes in such claims of economic wisdom – national borrowing this year of 168 billion, anyone? But they have so far failed to seal the deal with the electorate by coming up with a coherent pitch of their own.

Labour's position seems even stronger in Scotland. Tribal politics will always help them here, but so too has the SNP's recent slump in fortunes. It is a remarkable turnaround that when Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray predicts that he will be First Minister in May 2011, few laugh.

And yet just this week the News revealed the latest Labour troubles – in Mr Gray's own East Lothian backyard.

Anne Moffat's decision to take ill-health early retirement ahead of the general election will earn her a 30,000-a-year pension. That smacks of the sort of self-serving behaviour we have sadly come to expect of our MPs.

Actions like that could stub out the Labour recovery before it even gets going. And it is a reminder that ALL parties have much to do to earn votes in six weeks' time.