Scottish Labour bids to rediscover the word ‘radical’

Labour is expected to push through a radical overhaul of the party today aimed at reviving its fortunes in the aftermath of its election disaster in May and set it back “on the path to winning”.

More than 500 delegates will attend a conference in Glasgow to endorse the recommendations of a root-and-branch review of party structures carried out by former Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy and MSP Sarah Boyack.

The biggest change will be the creation of a Scottish leader who will be at the helm of all strategy and decisions north of the Border. At the moment, UK leader Ed Miliband is also Scottish leader, while Iain Gray is officially leader of the Labour MSPs at Holyrood.

It heralds the most sweeping change in a generation and underlines the declining fortunes of a party which, until relatively recently, held an iron grip on the Scottish political scene.

Ms Boyack said yesterday: “This is a radical package of changes to beef up the role of the Scottish leader and put us on the path to winning.

“We did well in 2010, but we did badly in 2011. That means we have to change and the status quo is not an option.

“I will be urging delegates to support the plans to create a new, stronger position of leader of the Scottish Labour Party. This is about turning the Scottish Labour Party into Scotland’s Labour Party and we have to start at the top.”

Shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran is expected to tell delegates Scotland is facing a battle on two fronts, highlighting cuts from Westminster and “false choices” at Holyrood. Mr Gray will address delegates before an afternoon session pits the leadership and deputy leadership contenders against each other.

MSPs Ken Macintosh and Johann Lamont, along with MP Tom Harris, are vying to replace Mr Gray.

Questions have been raised over whether any of the candidates have the tools to take on and beat First Minister Alex Salmond. Mr Miliband was not even able to name them all recently and was forced to apologise to Ken Macintosh for forgetting him.

The comparison with the current Conservative leadership contest, which has seen one candidate come forward with plans to disband the party, is marked.

Labour’s sinking fortunes reached an all-time low in May. The party fought a disastrous Scottish election campaign, throwing away a double-digit poll lead as recently as March to hand the SNP an unprecedented Holyrood majority.

Holyrood Labour had taken the upper hand in the campaign, with a committee headed by MSP John Park in charge of the key decision-making. There was a bizarre focus on the Thatcher years in the early stages of the election, which was meant to focus voter concerns on the return of the Tories at Westminster.

However, it was Mr Salmond Labour was fighting and a belated relaunch in week three of the campaign proved too late to prevent a wipeout of many of the party’s heavyweights.

The haphazard nature of the policy agenda also upset many MSPs. The party had campaigned hard on the SNP’s legacy of broken promises on class sizes, student debt and scrapping the council tax.

When the manifesto was published in the weeks leading up to the election campaign, it focused on a raft of newer policies, including mandatory jail sentences for knife crime, leaving the electorate confused. However, the problems at the heart of the party that once dominated town halls and parliamentary constituencies are far more deep-seated, with its vote in Scotland having been steadily decreasing since 1999.

The party machine stood in the way of headstrong but able candidates such as Dennis Canavan from entering the Holyrood Parliament.

These efforts to minimise “the awkward squad” and instill party discipline have perhaps come back to haunt the hierarchy. Dissenting voices are often the most able.

While Labour was able to form coalitions in the first two Holyrood administrations, a dramatically different political map has emerged in recent years. The Nationalists seized control at Holyrood by one seat in 2007, before Labour’s presence at Holyrood was cut from 46 seats to 37 in May.

They lost well-known and experienced MSPs such as Andy Kerr and Tom McCabe to the SNP in what were considered heartland territories.

The changes today will mean that the Labour leader and future candidate for first minister could be an MSP, an MP or Euro MP, provided they represent a Scottish constituency. But the successful candidate must commit to standing for the Scottish Parliament.

Local parties will also now be based on Holyrood constituencies rather than Westminster ones and, perhaps more significantly, the traditionally Glasgow-based party will set up a political base in Edinburgh.

Labour is expected to announce the winner on 17 December.