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The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
New left-wing party eyes 2027 election after messy launch
Britain's newest political party didn't get off to the best start. Within minutes of Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana announcing she'd quit Labour and was forming a new left-wing party that she would co-lead alongside Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader and his inner circle were furiously trying to undo it. Still, if they get their act together — and there are some serious people involved here, which suggests they might — are there enough voters in Scotland who could be tempted? READ MORE FROM UNSPUN: I spoke to some of those involved with the group, including members of the Secretariat — the three-person organising committee who've been in place since last December. They say there's no doubt some Scots who voted Labour last year feel burned. The Welfare Bill, the two-child benefit cap, cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment, that 'island of strangers' speech, and Gaza have all left a mark. There's awareness the launch was messy — 'Zarah jumped the gun,' one said — but efforts are being made to pull things back together before the Westminster recess. They believe the new party will launch properly in the next couple of weeks, with as many as six MPs and around 200 councillors on board. The aim is to harness community campaigners, not just party insiders: 'It'll be people from disability campaigns, housing campaigners.' A recent letter in Scottish Left Review set out some of the thinking here. It called for a new left-wing alternative in response to climate breakdown, rising inequality and 'the rise of far-right and fascist formations'. It condemned Labour and the SNP for continuing austerity and embracing militarism, and accused Sir Keir Starmer of 'driving millions into deeper poverty and destitution'. 'We cannot wait for deliverance,' they wrote. 'Building a left alternative is urgent.' This Letter Group pledged to unite trade union, community and activist forces into a credible electoral force that could stand up to both 'the poison of Reform' and 'the failings of the other establishment parties'. It was signed by, among others, independent Edinburgh councillor Ross McKenzie and Glasgow Labour councillor Matt Kerr. Cllr Kerr didn't respond to my request for a comment, but Cllr McKenzie said he was "definitely interested in seeing how it develops." "Clearly there are still unknowns about the structure this party will take and how that will be applied in Scotland," he added. One of my sources claimed Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba as a possible supporter. She didn't respond to my request for comment, and this could just be wishful thinking on the new party's behalf. The new group don't yet have a name, though one contact said colleagues in England were mulling over calling it Solidarity — despite that name's history in Scotland. It's worth pointing out the left is not all on board here. The Campaign for Socialism, the autonomous left-wing group within Scottish Labour, has urged supporters to stay and fight within the party, arguing Labour remains 'the best vehicle for the hopes of the many'. They warned against handing Labour to those who would 'see it destroyed rather than become a vehicle for radical politics'. If they get their act together and stand on the list next year, there's little doubt this new party could take votes from Scottish Labour, the Greens and the SNP. But, my contact said, their main focus was on the 2027 local elections. Interestingly enough, a contact in Reform said the same thing to not that long ago. Never mind the battle for Bute House — the battle for Scotland's town halls is already well underway.
The Herald Scotland
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Did the government forget to 'island-proof' the ferry fund?
The compensation pot, which opened for applications on Tuesday, offers grants of between £3,000 and £35,000 to firms on South Uist, Colonsay, North Uist, Eriskay, Benbecula, Berneray, Grimsay and Arran. Mull, Iona, Coll, Tiree, Islay and others who've seen serious disruption get nothing. To qualify, the islands had to have suffered from over 15% ferry service cancellations across three seasons — far above the 7% CalMac network average. That's left businesses — and campaigners like Joe Reade from the Mull and Iona Ferry Committee — fuming. Although they don't reach the threshold set out by the government, he says his community is still experiencing a 22% cut in ferry capacity this summer. They've already lost around 7,000 passenger visits — a clear blow to a local economy reliant on tourism. But because these are classed as capacity cuts rather than cancellations, they're ignored by the fund's formula. As Reade puts it, it's 'astonishing and bemusing' that ministers have chosen such a narrow and 'arbitrary' way to measure hardship. It also, he believes, breaks the law. READ MORE FROM UNSPUN Passed with cross-party support, the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 was meant to ensure that the specific needs of Scotland's island communities were not just recognised, but respected in law. It places a clear duty on public bodies — including Scottish ministers — to 'have regard to island communities' when exercising their functions. In other words: island-proof your policy. Part 3 of the Act says the government must carry out an Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) when a policy is 'likely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities).' The ferry support fund clearly triggers that requirement. It's a policy about islands, aimed specifically at businesses on islands, that offers money to some and excludes others. Reade says there's a wider issue here around the Islands Act. 'It is routinely ignored by governments at all levels, or just paid lip-service,' he tells me. Herald readers will be familiar with my colleague James McEnaney's reporting on the row over the new school on Mull. A petition for a Judicial Review has been lodged with the Court of Session in Edinburgh in an attempt to reverse Argyll and Bute Council's decision to build the school in Tobermory — a move that means kids from the south of Mull remain excluded from the only high school on their island. 'The ICIA the council were supposed to undertake was done far too late and without proper consultation,' Reade says. The Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP), the central government funding scheme paying for the school, has also not been assessed against the Act. Technically, that's because it pre-dates the law — although it was announced a year after the Act passed. 'Scottish Government certainly had a moral obligation to 'island-proof' the LEIP programme,' Reade argues. 'But they did not.' There's scant information about the IBRF. The first many island businesses heard about it was when journalists got in touch for comment on the Scottish Government's press release. The Islands Act was supposed to be ground-breaking and promised meaningful change — but for many islanders, that promise remains unfulfilled.
