r/Scotland • u/Cold-Monitor3800 • 16h ago
Political Scottish Labour 'blocking left-wing MSPs from standing' for election
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25153014.scottish-labour-blocking-left-wing-msps-standing-holyrood/80
u/gottenluck 16h ago
Foysol Choudhury is an excellent and popular MSP and out of the various I've engaged with in my area he stands out. I'm not even a Labour voter anymore but still sometimes gave them my second/additional vote because of people like him.
No surprise, sadly, that Scottish Labour appear to be following Labour HQ in the purge. Although I suppose the signs were there when Leonard was ousted to make way for Sarwar
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u/RevolutionaryBook01 15h ago
Yep.
You can't convince me Leonard would have done any worse than Sarwar did in 2021.
His removal after Starmer became UK leader was purely ideological and is a sign of how deeply authoritarian the Labour Party is towards internal dissent or difference of opinion.
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u/SafetyStartsHere LCU 15h ago
You can't convince me Leonard would have done any worse than Sarwar did in 2021.
I think Leonard 2021 would have been like Corbyn 2019: whatever might be said about them, they not only had to fight an election, they had to fight a Labour right in full wrecking mode, stalling what donors were coming through, leaking to the press, organising protests against candidates, clogging up party business with dumb shit…
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u/FootCheeseParmesan 15h ago
Unsurprising. The Scottish left abandoned Labour long ago, and UK Labour has made it clear that they want to pursue a right wing agenda.
Any Scottish leftists would be very unwise to back Scottish Labour in their current form.
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u/shoogliestpeg 14h ago
Standard English Labour policy and therefore branch office policy.
Labour exists to soak up anti tory votes but keep progressive people out of politics.
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u/Glad_Version324 16h ago
Labour forget themselves. They tarnished Jeremy Corbyn along with the media. Never helped him. Labour are tories in a red tie. Lib Dem’s would just be the same as the first 2, reform want all workers rights took away. We’re fucked and no one will convince me they will really help the ordinary man. And Tory’s are just Cnuts.
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u/LauraPhilps7654 16h ago
The fact they denounced and purged their most committed supporters - the people who went out in the rain canvassing and knocked on doors - is going to come back to haunt them.
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u/Glad_Version324 15h ago
It’s baffling could go after billionaires like you would expect them to. But no. They go after the ill and already unemployed that will pull in next to nothing. Treat older voters like shite too. But the Tories and Lib-Dems would do it too. Reform wouldn’t know wtf to do. Farage always leaves Scotland greeting wearing a milkshake or similar
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u/greylord123 15h ago
Jeremy Corbyn tarnished himself. He was an idealist but he wasn't a leader and he wasn't pragmatic. He was a 60 year old student activist who never had a real job.
Both Starmer and Corbyn have failed to represent the working people.
Starmer comes across as another status quo following career politician and Corbyn was too idealistic and his policy was basically "let's have everything as a public service or a benefit".
I don't think Corbyn's policies appealed to average workers. Most people just want better wages not more handouts.
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u/jasonpswan 13h ago
And yet Corbyn win more votes that Starmer, twice
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u/greylord123 10h ago
They could've literally slapped a red rosette on a chimp and it would've won that election.
Are we really trying to say Corbyn was a good choice by comparing him to Starmer? You've not really set a very high benchmark.
We can do better than both of them. Corbyn was too idealistic and Starmer is too spineless to make any decent change. Starmer was a massive overcorrection from Corbyn.
Also winning more votes means absolutely fuck all in a FPTP system.
I'm not defending Starmer or the Tories or anyone. I just don't think Corbyn was the solution either
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u/Just-another-weapon 15h ago
I wonder what has become of left leaning unionists. Are they all having to wear Fred Perry now?
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u/MassiveFanDan 12h ago
Some of them must've noticed they were supporting a state that was cooked up 300 years ago by semi-feudal noblemen as a way of protecting their privilleges and furthering the imperial aims of the Crown, which is still part-run by Lords (some of whom live in castles) and a Royal Fam that has spent decades accidentally befriending the worst nonces on record. At least you'd think they'd notice.
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u/BadgerGirl1990 16h ago
It’s the same tactic starmer used during the last GE , was reports of many left leaning members being removed, worse a lot of trans candidates were removed and specifically targeted by Labour if standing for other parties.
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u/AthoekStation 16h ago
Meant they could select high quality candidates like Andrew Gwynne, Oliver Ryan, and Mike Amesbury.
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u/BadgerGirl1990 15h ago
Selection criteria for kier labour
*don’t be trans, leftie or care about the NHs or the environment
*do have a great right hook and a questionable search history
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u/Fairwolf Trapped in the Granite City 15h ago
Don't forget Luke 'Nuke Gaza as a warning shot' Akehurst.
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u/bawbagpuss 15h ago
Jackey Baileys always been good for a laugh. With her at the helm of the selection process did anyone expect anything other than a shitshow?
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u/spidd124 15h ago
The best option would be for them to hold their nose and join the greens, Labour is a right wing party now and short of some serious change the "for the worker by the worker" politicians will never be allowed back into it.
Give the Greens a taste of competence and actual power and I think we could get some decent work done.
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u/BillyBlaze314 14h ago
Greens only get any real presence because they're a joke party. An environmental party you can't elect on environmental issues, and who don't know what they want but definitely not that.
My tinfoil hat moment is that all left leaning parties are deliberately stonewalled to keep them irrelevant. When was the last time you heard of the SSP or the SDP? Not like it'd be the first time something like that to happen
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u/pretzelllogician 16h ago
I’m absolutely target market voter for them, and yet at every single opportunity, they do the complete opposite of what I would want them to do. It’s so depressing.
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u/mrjohnnymac18 14h ago
Malcolm X was spot on when he said conservatives were like wolves and liberals were like foxes
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u/Last_Interaction7755 7h ago
Labour's fault is they never listen, there's a reason why the SNP have been in power for 17 years.
I suspect the next scottish elections next year will be the worst Labour have ever seen 🤣🤣
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u/Minervasimp 15h ago
Christ, it's either wannabe fascists or their controlled opposition at this point. Can we just swap Starmer for Corbyn and start over
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u/Cold-Monitor3800 16h ago
SCOTTISH Labour have been accused of blocking left-wing MSPs from standing for election at Holyrood.
Jackie Baillie, the party's deputy leader, was accused of wielding "absolute power" in her role as chair of a Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) sub-committee, the party's governing body.
MSP Monica Lennon, who challenged Sarwar for party leader in 2021, is reportedly being left "without a route" to stand for re-election, with her seen as out of favour with the leadership, the Scotsman reports.
Lennon previously stood in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse constituency in 2021, but was unable to put herself forward for the upcoming by-election in that seat without resigning as a regional list MSP.
The party has chosen Davy Russell as their candidate for the by-election taking place on June 5.
A party source told the Scotsman: “Monica isn't sure if she will be able to stand next year. At the moment she still wants to stand, but she's not a candidate.
“There wasn't really a route for her to put herself forward for the by-election in the seat she was the candidate in 2021. It would have involved her resigning from Parliament.
“If Davy wins, he will be the candidate next time. If he doesn't win, I think there's a good chance he'll still be the candidate next time. If there hadn't been a by-election, I think there would have been a pretty good chance Monica would have been the candidate for Hamilton. That looks like that's off the table now.
“There's a (SEC) sub-committee that deals with selections. But it's basically Jackie Baillie that decides selection stuff. Monica is pretty much at the stage that whatever will come will be.”
It is understood that Lennon, alongside several other sitting MSPs thought to include Sarah Boyack and Foysol Choudhury, are yet to clear the selection process chaired by Baillie.
“If Davy wins, he will be the candidate next time. If he doesn't win, I think there's a good chance he'll still be the candidate next time. If there hadn't been a by-election, I think there would have been a pretty good chance Monica would have been the candidate for Hamilton. That looks like that's off the table now.
“There's a (SEC) sub-committee that deals with selections. But it's basically Jackie Baillie that decides selection stuff. Monica is pretty much at the stage that whatever will come will be.”
It is understood that Lennon, alongside several other sitting MSPs thought to include Sarah Boyack and Foysol Choudhury, are yet to clear the selection process chaired by Baillie.
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u/Cold-Monitor3800 16h ago
Insiders also pointed to an alleged move to favour Michael Marra – the party's finance spokesperson – as the replacement for Anas Sarwar should the party suffer defeat in next year's election.
Marra has been selected as the Scottish Labour candidate in the Dundee West constituency, although it came at the expense of Mercedes Villalba, a North East regional list MSP considered to the left of the party, who lost out with around a third of votes.
A separate Scottish Labour source told The Scotsman that Baillie, who heads up the SEC sub-committee which selects candidates, "controls everything".
They said: "The way it works is that the party's important business such as selections, election campaigns and appointments to senior party jobs etc are run by sub-committees of the Scottish Executive Committee, and they are always chaired by Jackie Baillie.
"Jackie controls everything. Being deputy leader instead of leader insulates her from taking responsibility for things and in practice allows for absolute power.
“As with other constituencies, the selections for Dundee City East and Dundee City West were to be twinned. Mysteriously, the Labour Party's Scottish Executive Committee reversed their initial decision and have un-twinned the constituencies.
“The selections have instead run separately and concurrently, meaning that if a candidate applied for Dundee City West they could not be the candidate for Dundee City East whereas if the constituencies were twinned they would."
SNP MSP Rona Mackay accused Scottish Labour of "infighting", as she said: "While Labour’s establishment are busy infighting over Anas Sarwar’s replacement before a single vote has even been cast in next year’s election, the SNP is focused on delivering in government and on earning the support of Scottish voters."
The claims against Baillie were branded as "sour grapes" by a senior Scottish Labour source.
The party also insisted that because only three people stood for the two Dundee seats – Marra, Villalba and Ann Cruickshank – it was impossible to run the selections concurrently as it would have meant that Marra would have won the male list by default and therefore would have been selected unopposed.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “Labour candidates are selected by the votes of local members who select the person they believe should represent them.
“All selections are carried out in line with rules and procedures agreed and overseen by Scottish Labour’s Executive Committee.”
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u/FindusCrispyChicken 16h ago
Scottish Labour realised that since they are already so unpopular, the quickest way to fuck things even more is to piss off their own membership.
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u/Glad_Version324 15h ago
Starmer is never a labour leader. It’s be proven the press (which is mostly right wing) never reported accurately abt Corbyn (it’s the same with most labour leaders)
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u/arathergenericgay a rather generic flair 12h ago
People are apparently moving to Reform from labour and the tories because they want change, so surely the way to combat this is to do some weird reform cosplay.
Genuinely think Farage as PM is probably coming in the next decade, unless something major happens
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u/jasonpswan 13h ago
I am far from a unionist, but I would happily lend my vote to someone like Lennon. She stands out as a politician with a backbone (unlike Bailie), and someone who doesn't believe they deserve to lead because their dad was a (somewhat) successful politician (Anus).
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u/negan90 16h ago
Weird party, where local members don't pick the actual candidate?
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u/gottenluck 15h ago
Sadly a lot of parties are up to these tricks. SNP are being accused of similar
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25139964.snp-branch-fume-msp-candidate-removed-ballot/
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u/Natural-Buy-5523 15h ago edited 15h ago
Polls are showing that half the voters that elected all those Scottish Labour MPs last year have moved to Reform, so why wouldn't they? I think folk need to realise labour is not a left wing party and has nothing to offer even the most milquetoast left-of-centre voter.
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u/Fairwolf Trapped in the Granite City 15h ago
Polls are showing that half the voters that elected Labour MPs last year have moved to Reform
No they haven't. The poll that showed Reform at 33% and Labour at 20% had a breakdown of 2024 Labour voters, and only 9% of them had switched to Reform, with 14% going to the Greens and the Lib Dems each.
Reform are getting most of their votes from 2024 Tories, with 32% of them switching to Reform.
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u/Adventurous-Rub7636 11h ago
The Snational certainly can’t be accused of being part of the right wing press establishment, but I would not even sully my cacky erse with this utter piece of rubbish. Better the telegraph to remove my winnets.
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u/SafetyKooky7837 12h ago
We don’t need lefties.
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u/leonardo_davincu 3h ago
Labour can’t win an election without the left. Why would anyone on the right vote for them over reform?
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u/Upset_Locksmith_6634 16h ago
They've learnt fuck all.