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The Herald Scotland
14 hours ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
What a bonus if Starmer is forced to ape Corbyn and not Farage
Plus, as a member of the Labour Party he famously was never a team player. But with the current Labour Party under the disastrous Keir Starmer (two-child benefit cap, no caps for bankers' bonuses, the pensioner winter payment fiasco, turning on the Waspi women, the whole free suit/glasses nonsense and to cap it all, complicity in Gaza genocide), there is one thing Mr Corbyn's new venture could do. Instead of spending a huge amount of time, political energy and wasting precious political capital trying to out-Farage Farage, maybe Keir Starmer will even things out and attempt to out-Corbyn Corbyn. Amanda Baker, Edinburgh. Reform will be the winner The chaotic launch of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's new left-wing party may seem farcical on the surface, but it poses a very real and immediate threat to Labour and its allies. Polling shows this group could draw around 10% of the national vote – an amount that, while not enough to win, could be catastrophic for Labour's electoral prospects. The greatest beneficiary? Not the Tories, but Reform. Keir Starmer's grip on power is already under strain amid public disillusionment with his leadership style, spiralling public spending, the highest taxes in 70 years and an utterly nonsensical approach to illegal immigration which has not addressed the 'pull factor' one jot. The addition of a new hard-left alternative risks fracturing the left-wing vote beyond repair. More dangerously still, murmurs of discontent among sitting Labour MPs – especially those with slim majorities – raise the spectre of defections. If even a handful break ranks and shift to this new movement, the optics for the PM will be devastating. He will no longer be seen as the unifying force that won power, but the man who presided over the disintegration of Labour as we know it today. Clearly, a Labour-Green split in the face of this insurgent leftist bloc could be the difference between a fragile minority government and a total collapse by 2029. Keir Starmer may believe the hard left has been banished, but their return – however muddled – is a warning. Ignore it, and he may not last another four years, let alone win a second term. Small wonder support for Reform is surging. Ian Lakin, Aberdeen. Read more letters A broad church for indy needed I note Neil Mackay's thoughtful piece ("Corbyn's new party does not just threaten Labour, it will wound SNP too", [[The Herald]], July 26) on the potential of Jeremy Corbyn's new party to disrupt not only the Scottish Labour Party but the [[SNP]] vote too. My first thought was, is there a "wheesht for Labour" thing going? Perhaps not by Neil but there is by some. Secondly, I'm a socialist-leaning SNP supporter. Would this potential opportunity affect my vote? On reflection no. My red line is independence, I strongly believe that Scotland would thrive, economically, politically and socially as an independent nation state. A good neighbour to England but not ruled by her. My ongoing "fight" will be for independence just as it is for over 50% of the population. However after Independence Day I will then fight for a constitution that best frames my political vision, as of course will other Scots. The SNP needs to run a centre course, to be a broad church, to lead us to that independent future. Although a bit more "leading" would certainly help. Dr Jacqui Jensen, Perth. Mhairi Black was no trailblazer You describe former SNP MP Mairi Black as a 'trailblazer' ("Trailblazing former SNP MP Mhairi Black quits the party", The Herald, July 15), but what exactly did she achieve in nine years picking up her wages at the taxpayers' expense? She got elected age 20, with no work experience. Her party's propaganda/spin machine got behind her to give her a profile, and apparently, she made a speech which did well on the internet and made her in to a minor celebrity in the political bubble. It is difficult to believe that 10 million people viewed that video. Maybe Nicola Sturgeon had her finger on the 'Watch Again' button for several weeks, or some bots helped her with the numbers. If 10 million people really watched it, then they need to give themselves a good shake. But what did she actually do? There are no achievements that are apparent at all. She did not front up any piece of legislation, initiate any high-level campaigns or leave any legacy projects in her own constituency. She did jump on various bandwagons, but anyone can do that, and none of those bandwagons really went anywhere. Apparently, she did not like her job, which is not surprising in someone so young. She defended her seat when the SNP had the political wind at the backs, but then jumped ship in 2024 before her constituents had the opportunity to oust her. Ms Black has been the poster girl of the very shallow and superficial politics we have seen in Scotland over the last 10-15 years. What she does or does not believe in is neither here nor there. She had an opportunity to do things to help people in their everyday lives, but did not do anything of note in the time she had. Now, it is apparently the fault of everyone else. We need politicians who can do things in Scotland, not these minor wannabe celebrities. 'Trailblazing' is completely the wrong word for Ms Black. It is certainly not the kind of trail we want anyone else to follow. Victor Clements, Aberfeldy. SNP ranks will be thinner I have championed Mhairi Black from her early university days and believe she is a strong voice for Scotland, an impressive orator and I wish she had not left the SNP. What I do think will happen to the SNP now will be a thinning of the ranks from those who are members who joined for the referendum with their own agendas and saw independence as an avenue to secure their personal aims; when their aims were not met what was left was their own agenda, showing that their commitment to the SNP and independence was never their main goal. Those who remain in the SNP are in the majority around the centre ground, committed to independence, who recognise it as a long game and continue to be a voice for an Independent Scotland from within the SNP. The opportunity arose in 2014 to secure an independent Scotland and over half of Scotland said no, the people spoke and democracy means we respect the vote and continue to work towards independence. The SNP is and always has been the means to secure Independence, when the people of Scotland unite, decide they have enough then we will be an Independent country. Christine Smith, Troon. Mhairi Black has left the SNP (Image: Newsquest) Immigration conundrum The UK Government is planning an end to housing immigrants in hotels. The main political parties all have plans to end illegal immigration by stopping the rubber boat crossings from France. The Prime Minister says he will wage war on the people-smuggling gangs. He also has some kind of botched-together deal with President Macron of France. Up until September of last year there were 810,400 economically inactive people in Scotland. Crime has risen among immigrants in Britain and Scotland has a housing shortage. John Swinney wants more immigrants in Scotland which if organised properly could benefit the country. If a person arrives with qualifications and is willing to contribute that shouldn't be a problem. Immigrants who come here to sponge off the taxpayer and become involved in crime should get nowhere near our border. But who's going to decide who comes in and who doesn't? Ian Balloch, Grangemouth.
Daily Record
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
Brian Leishman will still attend Labour conference despite suspension
EXCLUSIVE: The Alloa and Grangemouth MP said he will "still be campaigning for Scottish Labour for Holyrood" after losing the whip at Westminster. Brian Leishman has said that he will still attend Labour conference despite being suspended from the parliamentary party. The Alloa and Grangemouth MP said he will "still be campaigning for Scottish Labour for Holyrood" after losing the whip at Westminster. He was booted out of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Wednesday for voting against the government and criticising it in the media. Leishman told the Record: "The investigation is not expected to be concluded before conference. Conference is in September so we're looking into October. " I asked then about the suspension, but the couldn't answer that based on whatever investigation takes place." Asked if he will still be attending the party conference in September, Leishman replied: "Absolutely, I'll still be going to Liverpool. " I'll still be there. I'm a proud Labour Party member. " I'll be out campaigning for the fantastic candidates across my constituency for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, and for Falkirk East. " I'll still be campaigning for Scottish Labour for Holyrood." Leishman was one of four Labour MPs who were booted out last week. He has been the most vocal critic among the Scottish Labour MPs since becoming an MP last year. He has slammed the government over the Grangemouth refinery closure, the Winter Fuel Payment cuts, the failure to compensate Waspi women and the slashing of disability benefits. But some of the things he has criticised the government for are Scottish Labour policy. Leishman has since ruled out joining the SNP or former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's new party - even though Leishman joined under his leadership. He told the Record earlier this week: "What matters most to me is true Labour Party values. "True Labour Party values, the home for that is in the Labour Party. "Labour's been the only party I've ever been a member of. "I joined in 2016, it's where my political home is. I want to get the Labour whip back because I still feel that the Labour Party is the vehicle for positive change in the country. "And that means redistributing power and wealth across society and actually trying to achieve a much more equal country." When asked if this meant he had ruled out joining the Nationalists, he said: "I am committed, rock solid, to the Labour Party. "The Labour Party is my home. I'm not happy about the way that a lot of things have been done, but I'm a Labour Party member and I'm proud to be one." When asked if he had considered joining Corbyn's new party, he said: "Your question about Jeremy and Zarah's party, it's the same answer."
The National
17-07-2025
- Business
- The National
Election of 37 Scottish Labour MPs has been a disaster for Scotland
With the commendable exception of Brian Leishman, these Scottish MPs have toed the London-orchestrated party line and remained silent while Scotland has been stitched-up. Pensioners, children, Waspi women, the disabled and the poor have been denied the support one would expect of a purportedly socialist party while, contrary to the rhetoric, the 'good deals' on industrial infrastructure have been committed to projects in England without comparable investment in Scotland to benefit the workers of this country. READ MORE: Brian Leishman: 'Anas Sarwar hasn't spoken to me in 6 months' The Acorn carbon capture and storage project in Scotland was set to go ahead, yet £22 billion was committed by the [[UK Government]] to nascent projects in England while Acorn and Scottish Cluster partners have been advised they may receive a token amount of around £200 million in development funding. This same relatively paltry amount of around 200 £million is what may be paid out by the [[UK Government]] 'to support the area's economic transition' while the Grangemouth refinery is shut down and hundreds of workers lose their jobs; yet the same Labour [[UK Government]] immediately committed to maintaining operations at the loss-making Lindsey oil refinery while refusing to reveal the cost to taxpayers. This follows [[UK Government]] funding of £2.5bn to keep Scunthorpe's British Steel plant open. As if this continued heavily distorted UK infrastructure investment wasn't bad enough for Scotland, the Labour Party have rowed back from repealing the Tory's Internal Market Act, which further restricts the already limited powers of the Scottish Government. To add insult to injury, we now learn that the Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray (aka Starmer's Scottish poodle), has the audacity to claim he has no role in delivering devolution deals for Scottish cities as disingenuous justification for Glasgow and Edinburgh not receiving the funding provided by the [[UK Government]] for City Deals in England. READ MORE: Anas Sarwar silent as Brian Leishman thrown out of Labour Regarding my own Lothian East MP, it appears that he learned nothing from his complicity as a [[UK Government]] minister in the illegal invasion of Iraq, and by his relative silence he is now despicably complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the West Bank. Neither Douglas Alexander, nor the [[Labour Party]], speaks for me or for the vast majority of the people of Scotland. In the 2026 Holyrood election it is important that everyone who believes in democracy and cares for the futures of our children to grow up, study, live and prosper in Scotland, gets out and votes for a party that will speak up for the right of the people of Scotland to determine their own future via the directly elected Scottish Parliament. Stan Grodynski Longniddry, East Lothian I WOULD have had some respect for Thom Cross's Long Letter (Jul 16) if he had said objectively only the SNP WILL win independence rather than CAN win independence. However, without some clear Damascene policy strategic and tactical revelation, I'm sorry, but I am not going to vote for this contemporary SNP as I have done in the past. Sadly not only are they not listening to the message, they stoically refuse to even hear it. It's going to take a major reversal for them to get with the indy support, and a drubbing at the polls again next year may well deliver it. And all this does is force the campaign further down the road, which seems to be game they are playing. READ MORE: Legal rights without enforcement are merely political ornaments I also don't understand where Thom Cross is coming from by seeking to persuade us Scotland is not a colony. The very existence of the Scottish Secretary of State who oversees us, and operates outwith the elected authority of the Scottish Parliament, is nothing less than a Westminster-appointed High Commissioner, that kowtowing British empire power symbol despised by the 60 former colonies that turned their backs on the empire for their independence, none of which begged to be suborned by Westminster rule again. Refusal to recognise our colonial status merely proves how successfully the propaganda has worked. Scotland will never be independent unless it creates a constitutional crisis – supported by hopefully peaceful direct action, as in Gandhi's leadership example – and this SNP have shown they just won't deliver it. Swinney is clearly hoping somehow indy will happen and his party can claim the credit for it, but won't force the issue. He is not prepared to poke the bear that needs poking. READ MORE: Will John Swinney surprise us with a courageous election manifesto? Scotland allegedly entered into a partnership in 1707, taken there by a small minority of self-interested traitors who allowed the English power to con us, with dissent crushed by the British (English) army. However that treaty is superior to the Scotland Act. Resile from the treaty and the Scotland Act is irrelevant. We have a democratically elected parliament, just the vehicle to reassert our authority. What we don't have is an SNP leadership prepared to step out of their establishment comfort zone to make it happen. The 2026 election is the ideal opportunity to set the agenda. Just one issue. Independence. Ignore the media onslaught on the SNP's record, good or bad. Use social media and street protests to drive the independence agenda. But it has to be declared from now. The argument has to be made clearly to push support higher. The alternative is to remain as a colony served by a High Commissioner about to waste money to develop the nuclear weapons base that imperils Scots like canon fodder and the English avoid because we let them. Choice stolen from us. We have to tell them we reject Ian Murray in his High Commissioner status, we reject his nuclear weapons and we reject his colonial British empire wannabe Westminster government. Independence NOW! Jim Taylor Scotland
Daily Record
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
Brian Leishman rules out joining the SNP or Jeremy Corbyn's new party after Labour suspension
EXCLUSIVE: The Alloa and Grangemouth MP told the Record he is "committed rock solid to the Labour Party" and wants the whip back. Brian Leishman has ruled out joining the SNP or Jeremy Corbyn's new party after his Labour suspension. The Alloa and Grangemouth MP said he is "committed rock solid to the Labour Party" and wants the whip back. He said Labour is "where my political home is" and that it is "the vehicle for positive change in the country." The Record revealed on Wednesday that Leishman had been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party. He "lost the whip" for opposing government policy, alongside comments made in the House of Commons and the media. When asked if he was joining the SNP, Leishman said: "What matters most to me is true Labour Party values. "True Labour Party values, the home for that is in the Labour Party. "Labour's been the only party I've ever been a member of. "I joined in 2016, it's where my political home is. I want to get the Labour whip back because I still feel that the Labour Party is the vehicle for positive change in the country. "And that means redistributing power and wealth across society and actually trying to achieve a much more equal country." When asked if this meant he had ruled out joining the Nationalists, he said: "I am committed, rock solid, to the Labour Party. "The Labour Party is my home. I'm not happy about the way that a lot of things have been done, but I'm a Labour Party member and I'm proud to be one." When asked if he had considered joining Corbyn's new party, he said: "Your question about Jeremy and Zarah's party, it's the same answer." Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was told about Leishman's suspension before it happened, the Record understands. Sarwar had a conversation with Chief Whip Alan Campbell before the MP was booted out of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Leishman remains a member of the Scottish Labour Party. He met the Chief Whip and was told that he had been suspended pending further investigation for going against the party line in votes and the media. Leishman has been the most vocal critic among the Scottish Labour MPs since becoming an MP last year. He has slammed the government over the Grangemouth refinery closure, the Winter Fuel Payment cuts, the failure to compensate Waspi women and the slashing of disability benefits. But some of the things he has criticised the government for are Scottish Labour policy. Leishman was one of four Labour MPs to lose the whip on Wednesday. The others all represent English seats. Some Labour MSPs were unhappy about the decision to suspend Leishman. North East Scotland MSP Mercedes Villalba said: 'Brian Leishman is exactly what a Labour MP should be: A committed socialist and trade unionist prepared to fight for his constituents without fear or favour. "This is the wrong decision, and the whip should be returned." Central Scotland MSP Monica Lennon said: ' Brian Leishman is a fantastic Scottish Labour MP. He works tirelessly for his constituents and stands up for Labour values. Hope to see the whip restored soon.'
The National
13-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Ian Murray panned for ‘disgraceful' U-turns as past motions resurface
The Scottish Secretary signed Early Day Motions on a range of topics while Labour were in opposition, including demanding full compensation (and free bus passes) for the Waspi women, membership of the EU's customs union and unilateral nuclear disarmament. They have all now ditched by Labour after coming to power. A motion that Murray backed in 2019 also took aim at the record of US president Donald Trump, including his "misogynism, racism and xenophobia'. READ MORE: Octopus Energy to pay £1.5 million for prepayment meter billing errors It also called on the then UK Government to rescind the offer of a full state visit to President Trump. Now as Scottish Secretary, Murray has said he would 'meet Donald Trump off the plane'. It also comes as Trump is reportedly expected to touch down in Scotland to visit his golf courses at the end of July or the beginning of August. The SNP have now hit out at Murray, saying that the U-turns are 'disgraceful' – also taking aim at what they said was his previous 'uncharacteristically strong' support for Palestine and gender reform. (Image: NQ) The party pinpointed a motion in 2017, which Murray supported, raised concerns over the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinian children while another from 2011 called for the UK Government to officially recognise a Palestinian state – the new Labour Government has not yet done so. Murray also supported a motion in 2017 which said gender identity "includes those who do not identify as either male or female, identify as both, a third gender or are fluid in their identity". But as Scottish Secretary, he refused to rule out lifting the Tory-imposed veto on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. "Labour's Secretary of State for Scotland's transformation from backbench idealist to Cabinet loyalist is not just disappointing, it's disgraceful,' SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald told the Sunday National. 'From Palestine to pensioners, nuclear weapons to the EU, he has abandoned almost every principle he once claimed to champion. 'His constituents, and Scotland, deserve better than a minister who has traded his principles for power - as ever, Scotland is an afterthought for Labour politicians.' Scottish Labour have been approached for comment.
