Labour ‘neglected’ voters, says Curran

Glasgow South MP Tom Harris said that Labour was heavily defeated at the last Holyrood election because “working people no longer felt” that the party stood for them, while Eastwood MSP Ken Macintosh warned that the party could only win again by “dismantling the SNP argument” over independence.

Scottish deputy Labour leader Johann Lamont, who also took part in the hustings in Aberdeen yesterday, said that the party had a long way to go before it could hope to be in government again, but that there had to be “no no-go areas” for it in the future.

The debate was held as shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran admitted that Labour north of the Border had “misunderstood” changing Scottish aspirations and looked as if it was “neglecting” voters at this year’s Holyrood elections.

Ms Curran, in a keynote speech to Scottish Labour students yesterday, said that the party had made “some big mistakes” during its defeat at the 2007 Holyrood election, which were then “replicated” in the run-up to this May’s overwhelming defeat at the hands of Alex Salmond’s SNP. Meanwhile, Mr Harris told Labour members at yesterday’s hustings that the party was in opposition because working people no longer felt that it stood for them.

“We need to represent working people to legislate to make sure working people’s lives are improved and aspirations are realised,” he said.

“If we’re not seen as the party of aspiration by 2016 we will not win that election and we won’t deserve to win that election.”

Mr Macintosh focused his pitch to Labour members on how he claimed the party could defeat the SNP in the run-up to independence.

“I believe absolutely in a devolutionist approach,” he said. “I believe in home rule. I believe we’ve got home rule at the moment and the best thing about home rule is using the Scottish Parliament to improve the life of Scots and we can begin to dismantle the SNP argument by breaking down which powers they want to devolve.”

Ms Lamont, the MSP for Glasgow Pollock, said the party needed to work on engaging voters at a local level in the run-up to the next Holyrood election in 2016.

She said: “There can be no no-go areas for Labour – we have to reach out and into communities.

“We have a national voice, but we have to campaign on local understanding. It’s not enough to have a view at a national level if it cannot be expressed in particular political circumstances across the country.”

The deputy leadership candidates – North East MSP Lewis Macdonald, Glasgow Central Labour MP Anas Sarwar and Glasgow South-West MP Ian Davidson – also took part in yesterday’s hustings. Ballot papers are due to be sent to party members in the next few days, with the result declared on 17 December.

Meanwhile, Ms Curran, who has just been handed her post as shadow Scottish secretary by Ed Miliband, called for a one-question vote in an independence referendum and said that to have two would be a “political fix” by the SNP.

Admitting Scottish Labour’s failings in May’s election, she said: “We turned off our emotional intelligence and misunderstood changing events in Scottish aspiration.

“As a party, we retreated to organisational silos and talked amongst ourselves about the institutions we sat in – whether it be at Westminster or Holyrood or in council chambers.

“To the average Scottish voter, we looked as if we were neglecting to put the people we serve at the front and centre of all our concerns, priorities and, most importantly of all, our vision for the future of Scotland.”