Labour 'should apologise for betraying Scotland' says Unite leader
Unite boss Len McCluskey has urged Labour to apologise for ``betraying'' Scotland to stem the drift towards the SNP which already claims two thirds of Unite's Scottish membership.
Unite boss Len McCluskey has urged Labour to apologise for betraying'' Scotland to stem the drift towards the SNP which already claims two thirds of Unite's Scottish membership.
Mr McCluskey will remind Scottish members that Unite is a Labour affiliated union and urge them to come back to Labour, in a speech to the first Unite Scottish policy conference tomorrow, Unite polling has shown that around 65% of Scottish members voted SNP in last year's general election, a dramatic reversal from previous years in which 80% voted Labour.
In a briefing to journalists at the conference in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, he blamed the extreme neoliberal agenda'' of New Labour for making the SNP appear to bea more social democratic party''.
Mr McCluskey will meet SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon for the first time tomorrow, but he has challenged the SNP's claim that it is more on the side of ordinary working people'' than Labour.
He said: The ideology of New Labour effectively alienated large swathes of the Scottish working class, which manifested itself quite dramatically last May.
Kezia (Dugdale) has to effectively say: 'Labour is under new management, we apologise for betraying you, and we will start from scratch to try and build that trust up.'
I think she has got to be given time to do it. Some have started to talk about the May elections as a referendum on both Jeremy Corbyn and Kezia Dugdale. What a lot of nonsense.
From all the opinion polls it looks like the SNP are going to make further gains in May, but for that to be laid at the door of Kezia Dugdale or Jeremy Corbyn is just plain nonsense.
The task in Scotland almost makes Mount Everest look like Ben Nevis, so she's got to be given time and support and Unite will be playing our role in that.
The neoliberal agenda that was pursued to the extreme by the last Labour government and the Labour leaderships that followed it have made it appear in Scotland that Labour wasn't on the side of ordinary people.
The SNP stole most of the radical clothes that historically should have belonged to Labour.
The truth of the matter is that in Scotland the SNP seemed to lots of people as a more social democratic party than Labour.''
He added: We do polling within our union and historically 80% would have voted Labour.
At the last general election I think the figures were something like 65% who voted SNP.
That is extraordinary and it creates a very real issue.
Len McCluskey doesn't determine the policies of Unite - our members do, which is why we are holding the first Unite Scottish policy conference because in July last year our union took a decision to give more autonomy to Scotland in order to recognise the changing political climate.
The challenge to Kezia and to Jeremy is to make certain that the drift of Unite members away from Labour to the SNP starts to come back.
I have to say, if anyone is in with a chance then, knowing my members in Scotland, it's Jeremy Corbyn.
I will be saying in my speech to conference that Unite is a Labour union.
I's the Labour Party we support, we're affiliated to that party and we will try to influence that party in the hope that it puts forward ideas and visions that win Scottish Unite members, working people and Scottish people back to Labour.''
Mr McCluskey challenged the perception that the SNP is a more social democratic party'' that ismore on the side of ordinary working people'' than Labour.
He added: It's the first time I have had the opportunity to meet Nicola (Sturgeon), so that will be nice.
I want to talk to her specifically about the Trade Union Bill.
Everybody is coming out against this Bill, including the SNP and Nicola, so I hope we will be able to talk about how she will implement their opposition.''
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: Under Kezia Dugdale's leadership there is a new generation in charge of Scottish Labour.
We go into May's election as the only party offering a break from Tory austerity. The SNP's cuts to local school budgets show they can't be trusted with securing the best future for our children.''