Harris fears party ‘could stop being relevant’

LABOUR leadership contender Tom Harris has warned that Labour’s complacency will “kill the party and kill the Union” in a dramatic pitch for the party’s top job in Scotland.

Harris has claimed that the leadership contest has become a “life or death election” for the party, arguing that it is “quite conceivable” that Labour could follow the path of the Conservatives and cease to be relevant north of the Border.

In an outspoken attack on the state of the party in Scotland, Harris admitted that Labour deserved to be beaten by Alex Salmond’s SNP at the Scottish election, because it had become “complacent and arrogant”.

Harris, the Glasgow South MP, also warned that the future of the United Kingdom was at stake, arguing that a lacklustre battle for the leadership without big ideas for attracting new support would hand more momentum to the SNP and threaten the Union.

“We are on the brink of the biggest constitutional upheaval that this country has ever seen,” Harris said.

“You can’t have a business-as-usual leadership contest. The idea that it’s business as usual in the Labour Party is going to kill us and it’s going to kill the Union.

“If you don’t have bravery and courage in politics then there’s no point in having politics at all. I’m talking about standing up for Scotland. It’s Scotland first, the Union second, the Labour Party third.”

Harris said Labour did not have a “God-given right of the Labour Party to be a player or an alternative government”.

Harris said it was only the dire situation of the other opposition parties that kept Labour in contention following the meteoric rise of the SNP at the last election.

“This is a life or death election for us. I think it’s quite conceivable the Labour Party could stop being relevant in the next few years [in Scotland]. It happened to the Tory Party. That could happen to the Labour Party. The tectonic plates did shift in May .”

Harris said it was an “absolute disaster” that Labour had become closely associated with the public sector and said he wanted the party to back wealth creators in the private sector. Should he beat his rivals, MSPs Ken Macintosh and Johann Lamont, to the leadership, Harris would begin by leading the Scottish party from Westminster.

In the event of that happening, he said he would allow MSPs to take turns against Salmond at First Minister’s Questions. He has also committed to standing for the Scottish Parliament in 2016 – whether or not he wins or loses the leadership election.

Meanwhile, Anas Sarwar, the Labour MP for Glasgow South, has emerged as a clear favourite to become the deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party, as he confirmed plans to stand for the newly created post. The 28-year old MP, who was elected only last year, told Scotland on Sunday that he would be putting his name forward. A review of the party created the new leader and deputy leader posts which will have authority over the party in Scotland.