Sarah Boyack says Scottish Labour needs to regain people’s trust and bring forward a vision of Scotland.
Scottish Labour faces one of the biggest challenges in our history – we need to meet it full on.
We need to reach out to Labour supporters who have not turned out for us in recent years. That means listening to them in a way that we haven’t done before.
Our starting point has to be our Labour values of social, environmental and economic justice. In my campaign I’ll set out how Scottish Labour must meet those values.
Our stronger Scottish Parliament must use its new powers to tackle the cost of living crisis.
As our Shadow Cabinet Member for Local Government I meet people across the country and hear from them about the impact of the SNP’s underfunding of local services such as schools and social care. We have a health service under huge pressure with a longer wait for GPs.
I’ve the experience and campaigning track record Scottish Labour needs. I’ve been a member of the Scottish Parliament since it reconvened in 1999. In Donald Dewar’s first Cabinet I introduced free bus travel.
Our party needs to regain people’s trust and bring forward a vision of Scotland for the 21st century.
As a Labour First Minister I’d implement that vision.
Yes, we need to reach out to former supporters but we also need to learn to speak again for the entire community, seizing back this terrain from the SNP – and campaign ruthlessly and relentlessly on education, above all, schools/skills, health, living wage and jobs
At this moment, we need to be brutally honest and admit that we made mistakes, and work out the best way forward.
It doesn’t matter who becomes leader in Scotland if we continue down the same road.
The only way to gain trust, is to produce policies that the majority in Scotland support, even if that is at the expense of the relationship with Labour in England and Wales.
And embrace a strong parliament with the powers to actually raise its own money, not just shuffle about a block grant.
Why not look at opinion polls about what people in Scotland actually want, and give it to them? That means devo-max, free education, etc
Labour is constantly torn between north and south, trying to please everyone, and it just doesn’t work. We are swimming against the tide.
All I can see is fear that Federalism or Devo-Max is handing the SNP a consolation prize, but that is the wrong way to look at it.
We need to get on the side of the majority, not think in terms of the nationalists. For what its worth, I think Federalism would end them.
I am finding this so frustrating.
There seems to be an unspoken assumption that ‘people will come back to Labour’ for the general election, but no-one can see the warning signs. Sometimes there are seismic changes in politics. A few decades ago, no-one would have ever predicted the Tories would be reduced to one MP in Scotland, but that came to pass.
If nothing changes, I can honestly see the SNP winning almost every seat in Scotland. And we would only have ourselves to blame.