There is still life after Glasgow East

grayee Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 08:11:59 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Okay, okay waking up this morning to news of the defeat in Glasgow wasn’t exactly a great start to the day but it’s happened.  It was not exactly unexpected and such is life – this is after all what happens in politics.  The Nats won by 365 votes out of 25,259 votes cast on a 42.25 turnout.  I’m not going disguise the fact that this is a defeat but it is not unimaginable that Labour could have sneaked in by a similar margin.  Then the headlines would have still been bad but the mood music would have been very different.

I don’t think anything in politics is predictable and I do not think defeat for Labour at the next general election is at all inevitable.  I am not sure that a change of leader will make any difference, change of policies - yes.  There may not have been a local government strike in Scotland in the run up to this election but UNISON are balloting Scottish council staff members over their below inflation (pay cut) offer of 2.5%.  I am sure that there were at least 365 council workers in Glasgow East who had received a strike ballot paper in the last week or so. 

By coincidence last night in West Ham we had probably our most constructive Labour Party campaign committee meeting I have ever chaired.  Despite our difficulties and differences there is still lots of enthusiasm for the Party.

After all it is only just after a year since the stunning Labour victory in Ealing and Southall (19 July 2007).  Mind you I won’t go down “a year is a long time in .....







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There is still life after Glasgow East | 6 comments (6 topical)

Re: There is still life after Glasgow East (#1)

by stewrigh on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 07:59:51 PM GMT

Labour is toast a dead parrot.
There is nothing left after Glasgow


Re: There is still life after Glasgow East (#2)

by Floating voter on Sat Jul 26, 2008 at 10:03:27 PM GMT

"I’m not going disguise the fact that this is a defeat but it is not unimaginable that Labour could have sneaked in by a similar margin. Then the headlines would have still been bad but the mood music would have been very different."

It would not have mattered by Labour had won Glasgow East by 365 votes. The fact that such a huge majority had vanished would still be causing the exact same trouble we're seeing today.

The mood music would be exactly the same.


Re: There is still life after Glasgow East (#3)

by swatantra on Sun Jul 27, 2008 at 09:32:18 AM GMT

... but its not life as we know it. Labour was literally hammered, and we can't just brush that off that easily without finding out why, and adressing it. Excuses about the downturn in the economy and words will no longer do.


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Re: There is still life after Glasgow East (#4)

by stewrigh on Sun Jul 27, 2008 at 06:19:56 PM GMT

Come on, the reasons you lost Glasgow are obvious.
We've got the most incompetent leader and party running the country in history.
They derided the Tories for boom and bust policies but the Tories were nothing like as bad as this lot.
Labour has squandered the legacies of Maggie and Tony and they are now headed for political oblivion.
Labour will be lucky to win more than 10 seats at the next election and that really will be poetic justice.


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Re: There is still life after Glasgow East (#5)

by jkitleft on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 09:56:47 AM GMT

People in Glasgow aren't as right-wing as you.
Labour won't do as bad as the Tories in 1997. People haven't warmed to Cameron yet, like they did for Blair.

Who would it be poetic justice for? A cleaner on the minimum wage, who would see that figure become an arbitrary sum? Or a part time worker who has workplace rights removed? Or a little kid who will never reach their potential after the Tories take SureStart away?


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Re: There is still life after Glasgow East (#6)

by Floating voter on Tue Jul 29, 2008 at 04:53:58 PM GMT

This might come as a shock to you but,

  • The world won't stop if Labour loses
  • The tories don't sit around saying "Hey! Let's find new ways to grind the poor into the dirt"
  • Kids will have lots of opportunities no matter who is in charge.

You remind me of me back in 1979 - a Labour supporter who was convinced that Maggie Thatcher ate babies for breakfast and would  screw up the economy like never before.

I then sat and watched an ineffectual Labour govt. mess the economy up like never before. A lot of the pain that got blamed on Thatcher was built in to the economy over many decades before she took office and it was either change or go completely bankrupt.

In 1979 inflation was rising at a staggering rate. In 1975 (under Labour) inflation peaked at 27%. It then had a dip and went back up again. In 1979 it was going up at 4% per month for a few months. By the mid 80s it was back at 3% per year.

The truth is that if Labour lose - as many on here seem to expect - then it may be a good thing. Having one party in charge for too long would be a disaster. Neither side has the answer and each has its own problems.

A little revolution, from time to time, is a good thing..... 


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There is still life after Glasgow East | 6 comments (6 topical)