One change in particular.

This isn't just about Brown though, people are utterly dismayed at best, and actively hate at worst, the Labour party. All of it.

A recount is imminent I hear, by the way.

A terrible result but isnt all this driven by the media which, with the exception of the Mirror, fails to analyse what it is the Tories stand for and constantly talk down the Labour government?

Gordon Brown is the subject of a vicious witch hunt to drive Labour from power, this is driven by the very top of the  Tory voting establishment and conducted by the media machine that serves them.

The mantra 'labour bad, Gordon Brown bad' is repeated on and on and the fickle public in large measure buy it in the same way if a commercial for Daz washing powder is shown enough more people end up buying Daz than any other.

It does not help that people in our party, instead of rallying to the PM and taking the fight to the Tories and their nationalist stooges, enagage in doing the work of our enemies for them.

 

That's slightly different from the messages we've been getting on the ground (from places like Crewe, Glasgow, suburban London and also South Yorkshire). There the message is 'Labour is still good despite everything - it's the leadership that's lacking'. It's surprising (given the geographic differences) how consistent that's been.

One wonders if a BNP candidate would have helped squeeze the vote enough to keep this a Labour hold?

The full result, for records -

J MASON SNP 11,277 (43.1, +26.1)
M CURRAN LAB 10,912 (41,7 -19.0)
D RANKIN CON 1,639 (6.3 -0.6)
I ROBERTSON LIBDEM 915 (3.5 -8.3)
F CURRAN SSP 555 (2.1 -1.4)
T MCLEISH SOL 512 (2.0 -)
E DUKE GRN 232 (0.9 -)
C CREIGHTON 67 (0.3 -)
H HOWITT F4C 65 (0.2 -)

Do not fear, I'm sure we will listen to the voters and understand their concerns, and act appropriately...

The sheer scale of managerial incompetence involved in the loss of this seat is almost unbelievable.  Appointing a leader of Scottish Labour just becasue she is the sister of your #2 mini-me. Then having a public fight with her, and losing her just before a by-election.  Then having a public fight with the Catholic Church which is the bedrock of your support in Glasgow. Etc... etc...

If this were just a party matter it would be one thing, but the same amazing leader is supposedly running  the country. I don't think the electroate will forgive the Labour Party if this breathtaking incompetence continues for another year or two.  The chance of Labour having fewer than 100 MPs in the next parliament is now, in my view, over 15%. 

The only message I'm beginning to see consistently now is "Nowhere is safe".

The Tories overturned a majority of 8,000 and replaced it with a majority of 8,000 for them in Crewe.

The SNP has now taken an area that had voted for Labour since the year dot, and continued to do so since Glas East's creation in 2005.

Both previously believed to be "safe seats" both now very much not. If this is what's happening now, what the heck is it going to be like in a General Election under Brown or a new guy?

 

 

There is no doubt this is a terrible result.

I used to live in Glasgow East and until recently I could never have thought we would lose a seat like this.  But in the lead-up to this by-election I had a gut feeling that the SNP might just take it.

The saddest thing is that the SNP haven't won it.  Labout have lost it.  We've lost it to a party with no clear policies apart from independence.  They won it by virtue of simply being perceived as the logical alternative to the Labour Party rather than because they had a good candidate, a set of radical ideas or clear policies.  They won it because we've made ourselves so unpopular.

Of course, the media is partly to blame.  I'm not sure I agree with the comment about the media's unquestioning promotion of the Conservatives; at least, it isn't the case up here in Scotland.  But the unremitting and disporportionate criticisms of Gordon Brown are having a definite effect - he and the government are being undermined by the media as much as by their own lack of direction.  I personally find it ridiculous that the Scottish media have focussed so much attention on the British PM rather than the shortcomings of First Minister Alex Salmond (and his dreadful sidekick, Ms Sturgeon).

The big question is how we go forward from here.  By-elections are by-elections and I have no doubt we will win this back.  The Tories suffered similarly in the late 80s/early 90s when they couldn't win a by-election even in the Ribble Valley, yet came back to win the General Election in 92.  It's not crisis time but there needs to be a change of direction, an injection of fresh ideas and a serious attempt to reconnect with the public, especially in places like Glasgow East. 

God almight I've just watched Brown on TV the bloke has no idea at all how the people are feeling.

Glasgow has a lot of disabled and sick so that did not help them much with Puriels Welfare reforms sorry miss- spelled that Purnell.

We need to listen but your not are you.

I applied for a job this week at a new firm which has been set up to find work for the disabled, I was told the job might be to much for a disbled person. I kid you not.

A salient point from someone on Comment is Free:

During a by-election in one of their safest seats - a seat with a large proportion of people damaged by industrial destruction and neglect - Purnell basically shouts out "Oi! You disabled and incapacitated shirkers! Get out of your wheelchairs and start cleaning up dog shit!" Amazing that it wasn't a vote winner, eh?

it seems new labour have shot themselves in the foot with announcing  on monday 21/07/08 that they are going to   make people work for dole and    disabled   people out there in england and scotland are frightened they are going to have there benefits cut  they are not coming across as a caring gov and theres also the 10p tax problem they are out of touch with the real would

Just listened to Des Browne answering tough questions on Today. He put in a creditable performance, but it reminds that making Secretary of State for Scotland a part-time job of a busy minister was a mistake given the SNP competition in Scotland.

As a Labour PPC, I have called for changes in policy and have been met with "We are listening!".  I don't think so.  Something has to give, I hope it is policy and not the leader, or we will look like we are panicing.

John Wiseman

If we want to win, we need three or so policies, that are fresh and radical. Some say, sift right, or shift left. It focuses on the parameters of the last couple of decades: nationalise this, or privatise this.

But what we need is a policy that can define New Labour. Currently, even the most loyal supporters of Labour are in despair about what exactly it is we stand for. It didn't have to be that way. Blair could have pushed much harder with small reforms. He should have let PR, or the Euro define his legacy. Now, winning narrowly in a Euro referendum would have made him a bolder, and yet even by avoiding his principle of trying to please everyone, would have left him stronger. His second term, especially after 9/11, should have been about what he promised in his 2001 conference speech. Breaking down trade barriers, fighting tyranny, defeating climate chaos, finding lasting peace in Israel/Palestine etc. This vision could have been achieved, but only if he had pressed ahead with closer integration with Europe. But, now we are more isolationist than before, and missed a historic oppertunity, to banish the right-wing of the Tories forever, and to fight at the heart of Europe against the world's problems.

Brown, must not miss vital oppertunities to achieve his legacy. We don't currently have a strategy, or any tactics. We're not even announcing absolutely fantastic news with any gusto. Look at what Brown has acheived in the last year, and it would trump our measly 1997 pledge card-extending GP hours, equal rights for agency workers, visas for slave domestics, re-regulation of buses, the GI bill. Perhaps most radical of all is our Equality bill. Yet with no fanfare.

Even his original ideas about the Lords, and the constitution brew for a long time. Yet they lose their touch.

What we need is a couple of Right-to-buy style policies. That policy appealed to working-class Labour supporters, and Tory core support. It was electoral dynamite. In the long term, imho, it has weakened us, but if Labour had gone for it, but decided that all houses sold should be replaced, it would have been a fine policy. Nonetheless, it appealed to people who had never even set foot in a council estate.

These policies HAVE to expose the Tories weaknesses, and opposition to the ideas.

I have one. It would be irreversable. The Tories could tinker with it, but never be abolished. It could potentially be as radical as our current crown jewel-the NHS. Best of all, it appeals to swing voters, our core support, and crucially, women. Women are suprisingly more conservative than men, bucking the trend of countries like Spain, France, America etc. Like right-to-buy, it would define the party, and guarantee us several more terms: universal childcare.

In the long term, it is a great extension of the welfare state. We can now ensure that working in childcare requires a three year degree, rather than 2 GCSE's, as what happens is most of the child carers are uneducated in the private system. To politically trump the Tories, it could be a national version of SureStart. Every district should have a SureStart centre that guarantees playgroups, a creche, mother and toddler groups, a nursery, health visitors. If we want a more SureStart style specific programme, then call it SureStart+.

It should have even more services, and it should be the cue for Brown to devolve services to communities, not to encourage private involvement, but to help accessability. So let the government's fantastic after school programmes, and homework clubs be devolved to the centre. Many thinktanks have long suggested that services conducted by GP's could be better, if devolved to pharmacies. So why not devolve antenatal clinics to the childcare centres? If the government really wants to press ahead with workfare, allow the centre to provide New Deal style help for isolated parents. It could be a great antedote to the damage on community life of the last 2 decades.

The mantra: It's not Conservatives/SNP winning it's Labour losing is out of touch. My experience is Labour are starting to be as despised as the Tories were. People now are quite happy to admit they will vote Tory at the next election whereas the disgust with which they speak about the Labour party is quite astonishing.