What if Labour get smart should the SNP worry? Labour might just have grown a pair and come up with a policy that people will support. Apparently the Labour Party will propose an energy price freeze and the end of the injustice of pre-paid energy metre customers paying more for their energy. Now we know that this is to put pressure on the Tories as Labour can’t do anything while in opposition so at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter all that much. As I also pointed out the other day the SNP announced the return of their resilience committee which meant very little as well, while being welcome as at least being something from the SNP, while offering little by way of any real tangible ideas that meant much to those who are struggling now.
“We would end the injustice that sees people on prepayment meters paying over the odds for their energy,” he wrote in The Sunday Mirror. “And we will set out how we would help people directly this winter in the coming days.” (Keir Starmer)
Now even I could support this policy if Labour were actually able to do something like this around energy, I still wouldn’t vote for them as that will never happen, but would others in Scotland feel the same in a UK General Election? What if the Labour Party suddenly get smart and become a left of centre social democratic party that offers policies that protect the NHS, that link social security to inflation. What if they said that they would take huge stakes in public utilities so that things like the energy crisis we face now can never happen in future.
The SNP have also been highly over-represented at Westminster
Electoral reform would change the UK forever , what if Labour suddenly supported Proportional Representation as some do within the party, electoral reform would weaken the Tories and make coalition all but the norm but it would also seriously weaken the SNP representation in the English Parliament, it wouldn’t end the independence debate but it would change it at a UK level that is for sure.
The SNP might publicly support proportional representation for Westminster elections but do they, do they really. Easy to say you do when you know that Labour and the scumbag Tories will never go for it but what if Labour did really back electoral reform.
So while this policy from Labour is just common sense, and we know that Starmer can’t be trusted, what if Labour are starting to get smart, what if Labour actually offer a real centre left alternative to the Tories what would this mean for the SNP? While I don’t believe that the Labour Party in the main will change their spots in any meaningful way there is a danger that continued SNP failure might just give them the in they desperately need in Scotland because in my opinion it would not take much to tip many Scottish voters back to settling for devolution and a new vow.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
At the recent local elections, after Alba I voted for Labour, the Tories and Lib Dems, then the SNP candidates. I’d never voted for Labour other than as a lower preferring local elections and certainly had never voted Conservative once in my life. The reason for this was that I live in Edinburgh, and I’d had enough of the SNP running the city into the ground (literally – the whole place is being dug up), and I preferred the other parties’ proposals.
The SNP has utterly lost its way and they don’t think they need a serious set of policies anymore. This was exactly the problem with Labour in Scotland for DECADES. We deserve better from our politics than another decades-long hegemonic situation with a lame duck opposition party pissing into the wind against the Tories while doing nothing to effect change on the ground. I know I’m unlikely to be the only one who feels this way, and I refuse to be a hostage to fortune because the SNP allegedly supports independence. They do not have the right to my vote – not now, not ever. They need to earn it. I am an Alba member, so I’ll be voting for them by definition. If there is no Alba candidate in my seat, then whoever has the best policies gets my vote. If Labour turn up with some actual policies, they will get the vote. Sturgeon and her cabal will not.
Dave
I agree. I didn’t vote SNP in the council elections at all I went Alba 1 then 2 Liberal Democrats and that was me. The SNP are the new Scottish Labour, they have run out of ideas and have demonstrated poor governance in Scotland as a whole and while doing well overall in Dundee I just could not vote for them and give Sturgeon a perceived mandate from me when she doesn’t have one from myself any longer. I do think that if Labour get their arse in gear then that will be all the excuse many need to go back to them I really do. I don’t hold out much hope of Labour suddenly finding common sense but you never know and the SNP need to sit up and take notice that people are in ever increasing numbers starting to express how crap they think they are and that will eventually lead to less votes.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
“The SNP are traitors to independence so we’ll proudly vote for unionists instead!”
Aye, very good. Well done.
Anon
Some people might shift their vote, maybe not enough to have a huge impact but enough to effect the SNP.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
I think what we need is a unionist government in Scotland for a while, then people will realise
Anon
I have heard that a few times recently that the SNP have been in power too long and it will run out of time.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
the Liberal Democrats proposed this first – but you would not know that from the media. Alas, it is the issue of being a far smaller party!
Anon
As know I have always been a supporter of proportional representation for all elections as every vote should count, our local elections are certainly fairer and reflect the votes cast better and I am comfortable with that as democracy matters and FPTP is not working and never really has overall.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Forget electoral reform. To bring that about, a party has to get elected into government first and no party will ever reform the system that just put them there!
We don’t have to worry about Labour getting smart up here with the likes of Sarwar in charge. There are also around 50% of votes that’ll only ever go in a pro-indy direction as Labour are finished as far as that section of the electorate are concerned. I really see no way back for them. A party so dead set against Scotland running her own affairs will get nowhere amongst the Yes voters. They’re fighting with 2 other main parties for a share of the other 50 while the SNP has their portion more or less to themselves. Hence the hysterical shrieking from Sturgeon and the cult at the very mention of another indy party.
It’s not Labour getting smart we need to worry about: it’s the New SNP being hellbent on their present direction of travel.
Dave
You could be correct overall but I have had chats to folks who have hinted that they could vote Labour as they will not vote Alba for all the silly reasons that the sheeple come up with, the numbers might be small but there is a risk there I think, even maybe more a risk of people not voting which in some ways is even worse. I don’t think there is a big way back for SL but it could be they get some votes and have been increasing their share and that is down to the SNP and poor governance rather than Labour and what they have offered.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
The lack of focus on independence probably has left the SNP vulnerable to being usurped by a Labour Party with more left-leaning policies. They might be able to do it by tinkering around the edges with ending the injustice of pre-paid meters (though you’ll note in the quote it only mentioned over-charging not abolition) while leaving their right of centre mainstream policies intact. I guess we’ll have to wait for the coming months to see how much appetite people have for change.
Stuart
It will be interesting to see if Labour do find some smarts and common sense as I do think that could put the SNP under pressure, they may not see a resurgence in Scotland but they could effect the vote or people might feel there is no one to vote for at all for a variety of reasons. I am not against pre-payment meters at all as I think they let people control their energy use but it does only work for those who can afford to operate that way but users should not be punished for using them by having to pay more that is for sure.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.