The Scottish Labour Party meets on Friday in Paisley for its Spring Conference.
Its first task is to digest the result of the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester and weigh up what it may mean for the party’s chances in the Scottish Parliamentary elections in less than 70 days’ time.
The Scottish party has not been doing well in the opinion polls, with around 20 per cent support compared to the SNP’s 35 per cent. And this despite the leader Anas Sarwar’s attempts to distinguish Scottish Labour from UK Labour – to the extent of calling for Keir Starmer’s resignation.
He’s also been trying to build a manifesto that isn’t just about bashing the SNP. He’s been talking about devolving more power to regions and councils and merging some of the 133 quangos (state agencies), currently operating in Scotland.
But is he being “honest” with the voters? Indeed are any of the parties being honest with the voters? That’s the question being posed this week by four thoughtful institutions. Audit Scotland has pointed out that the care services, funded jointly by local councils and the NHS, are fast running out of funds and there’s no solution in sight. The Scottish Fiscal Commission has warned about an unsustainable welfare budget, with 28 per cent of working age adults reporting a disability.
The Climate Change Commission says the slow progress on the transition to low-carbon home heating will mean huge strides will have to be taken after 2030 to achieve the government’s target. And a report by Future Economy Scotland says “politicians need to have an honest conversation with the public and explain that if we want strong public services and a fair transition to a greener economy, most Scots will need to pay a little more in tax.” It suggests raising income tax by 1p for lower rate tax payers and 2p for higher rate tax payers. It warns that “efficiency savings”, like Labour’s bonfire of the quangos, will not be enough.
Interestingly, it is local councillors who are being more honest with their tax-payers, putting up council tax by between 5 and 10 per cent to maintain public services. Is that because there are no local elections this year or are they more in touch with their people?
Take just two examples this week of slight deceptions practised by governments as they shy away from honest decisions. The UK government made great play of reducing the cap on home energy bills by an average of 6.6 per cent to £1,641 a year. But it has only done this by removing the “green levy” and passing it on to taxpayers, most of whom are the same householders who think they are getting a bargain in reduced fuel bills.
The Scottish Government got up to the same trick by announcing 16 new “walk-in” GP surgeries, which will only draw doctors away from normal GP surgeries where more personalised treatment can be provided. It would have been more honest for the first minister John Swinney to say he could only find £98m out of health budget of £17bn, to fund extra GPs.
This week, The Scottish Government announced an Independent Enquiry into child abuse by grooming gangs. It follows a similar enquiry being set up in England. At first the justice secretary only ordered a “Review” into the issue but under pressure from victims groups, the education secretary has up-graded it into an enquiry with full legal powers. It will be chaired by a long-standing expert on the issue Professor Alexis Jay. Goodness knows what horrors it will find. Curiously, the Review itself will continue and it’s all in addition the long-running Child Abuse Enquiry, largely concerned with historic cases.
We finally got a verdict this week in the strange case of an estate worker found dead on a lonely path near Aberfeldy in February 2024. At first police believed 65 year old Brian Low had collapsed while out walking his dog. They failed to notice he had 30 injuries from shot-gun pellets. It took police five days to begin a murder inquiry and eventually a retired gamekeeper David Campbell, a work colleague of Mr Low, was arrested and charged. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Finally, can I ask why Scottish Water handed out 40,000 plastic bottles of water to the people of Killin in Perthshire? Of course, they needed clean water after an oil spill contaminated their supplies for several days. But what was wrong with an old-fashioned water bowser from which people could draw fresh water? It’s as if Scottish Water, of all people, had never heard of plastic pollution and climate change.
