Latest news with #NoCutsLanarkshire
The National
3 days ago
- Politics
- The National
How will Keir Starmer's insulting U-turns play with Scottish voters?
Probably not. Just a month back, Anas Sarwar's party was the bookies' favourite in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election on June 5, prompted by the tragic death of former SNP minister Christina McKelvie. But a week ago Ladbrokes was offering 8/13 on an SNP victory with Labour second and Reform UK third. Then came Keir Starmer's Winter Fuel Payment U-turn at last week's Prime Minister's Questions. It was creaking, grudging and conditional, promising only to look at reversing cuts for some but not all pensioners in the autumn. There was no apology. No plausible explanation of the volte-face. But it happened. So, have voting intentions changed again in this volatile seat? There's been no fresh polling evidence, but Starmer's U-turn seems to have been drowned out by more local developments. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (left) and candidate Davy Russell (Image: Gordon Terris) Labour's candidate Davy Russell got an endorsement from Sir Alex Ferguson, but that was rapidly eclipsed by a weird photocall at a Larkhall go-karting centre where the candidate and Sarwar were pictured holding hands in separate go-karts they were not actually driving. As The Times wryly noted: 'Spin doctors doubtless had good grounds for fearing a 'Labour by-election crash' headline. But the alternative was hardly more appealing: 'Labour, going nowhere'.' That strange media launch followed Russell's surly refusal to join an STV debate with rival candidates on the grounds he'd 'rather be out chapping doors'. STV's political editor Colin Mackay observed that the broadcast was scheduled for 10.40pm and 'if he is chapping doors [at that time], he's likely to get chased'. Russell's no-show at another No Cuts Lanarkshire husting this week (along with Reform's Ross Lambie) prompted the Tory candidate to pull out. And heavily edited social media posts appear to confirm that Russell has no gift of the gab. How much of this filters through to voters? It's hard to say. READ MORE: By-election hustings chaos as Tory candidate walks out over Labour no-show But a party sometimes finds itself swimming against a powerful incoming political tide. The SNP faced one during the Rutherglen and Hamilton West Westminster by-election in October 2023, when Nicola Sturgeon's resignation as party leader hung over proceedings along with the Operation Branchform arrest, and the bad-tempered leadership contest. The outgoing former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier had been suspended from the Commons for breaching Covid restrictions, prompting Scotland's first recall petition which was signed by almost 15% of a seriously scunnered electorate. And, of course back in 2023, Labour were a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed opposition party promising big change. The night of his victory, Labour MP Michael Shanks was ecstatic, along with Scottish Labour heavyweights who had pretty well camped out in the constituency for months. They saw it as a bellwether seat – an indicator of victory in the forthcoming General Election. And they were not wrong. Labour retained the seat in Rishi Sunak's snap election last July when SNP numbers were whittled down from 48 to just nine MPs and Shanks quickly became an energy minister, touting the hard-to-spot GB Energy headquarters in Aberdeen as evidence of Labour's commitment to Scotland. Labour Energy Minister Michael ShanksLabour's honeymoon didn't last long thanks to the jaw-dropping Winter Fuel Payment betrayal, but amazingly it still looked set to win the accompanying Scottish Parliament seat, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. But the earth-shaking English local elections seem to have changed everything here even though no Scottish council was involved. Why? Because Starmer suddenly looks like a loser who's put the UK on track to elect a right-wing demagogue who plans Trump 2.0 for Britain if he's elected in 2029. For many progressive Scots this is unthinkable. And it's happened on Labour's watch. Even if Reform's local victories have been oversold by a hysterical pro-Brexit press, those papers won't let up and that omnisceptic right-wing press will stoke the Farage electoral machine till they get their man over the line. So, since Labour was (weirdly) ahead in Hamilton despite the Winter Fuel Payment cuts, their reversal is hardly likely to be game-changing. Au contraire. READ MORE: John Curtice gives his verdict as Hamilton by-election looms Starmer's explanation for the Winter Fuel Payment u-turn is laughable and simply draws attention to the bad faith of the original decision, the automaton-like nature of the Labour leadership and the Chancellor's austerity-inducing insistence that her precious fiscal rules matter above all else. That policy has now clearly failed. But in the absence of an alternative, it still stalks the Commons like a zombie mantra. Why should Scottish voters back the same party – all at sixes and sevens–- in a Scottish Parliamentary election? Even if Starmer's Westminster Winter Fuel Payment U-turn impressed a few Hamilton voters, it won't get processed in time to help pensioners this winter. Six months, it seems are not enough to turn the creaking leviathan of the British state around. By contrast, the SNP's Scottish substitute payment – a means-tested alternative, providing some cash to all pensioners in Scotland – should be ready to roll by November. Compare and contrast. And Labour's welfare whoopsadaisy doesn't end with the Winter Fuel Payment payment. Starmer has apparently told Cabinet ministers he now wants to scrap the two-child benefits cap. 'It's the best and most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty. The alternatives cost more and are less effective,' one anonymous minister said. For crying in a bucket. Everyone and their aunty has been screaming this at Starmer for the best part of a year and he's paid absolutely no attention. To hear this trite unapologetic statement of the bleedin' obvious now is worse than insulting. So, Holyrood and the SNP will likely get the credit for defending the vulnerable against a hard-faced Labour Westminster government forever badged as benefit snatchers just as Thatcher was forever badged a milk snatcher for ending free school milk. This kind of meanness sticks. And there's more. Labour MPs are now threatening to rebel over Labour's intention to cut disability benefits. How on earth can those cuts go ahead after U-turns on Winter Fuel Payment and the two-child cap? If they do go ahead it will be blatant persecution of the disabled. If they don't, Rachel Reeves's sacred fiscal rules are stone deid? Heads the SNP win, tails Labour lose. No part of its 'cruel to be kind' stance has lasted a single year. It makes Labour look rudderless, pointless and weak. And leaves the SNP looking pretty strong. After plenty of unforced policy errors, it looks like the SNP were as instinctively right on the Winter Fuel Payment and two-child benefit cap as Labour were instinctively wrong. And that doesn't get changed by a shabby, eleventh-hour U-turn. And what about Labour's sudden realisation that Israel's prime minister Netanyahu IS actually committing genocide in Gaza (maybe) – something the SNP's Stephen Flynn urged the Commons to recognise last February. READ MORE: Row erupts on BBC Debate Night over 'racist' Reform UK ad Once again, the SNP was instinctively right about something it has taken Labour one year and a horrific catalogue of deaths to (almost) accept. While continuing to rubberstamp weapons exports to Israel at three times the rate of the Tories, of course. I'd be amazed if stuttering, partial policy reversals help Labour win the Hamilton by-election next Thursday. But if they don't win that battle, might Scottish Labour yet win the war – the Scottish Parliament elections next May? As the last month demonstrates, party fortunes can change dramatically – but that's especially true for Scottish Labour whose fortunes north of the border are umbilically linked to personalities and policy decisions south of it. Turnout next week may be low, the SNP may struggle to inspire after two decades in power and a viable independence strategy looks as far off as ever. But with Reform snapping at Starmer's heels and the Tories out for the count, there's never been a better time for the SNP to push boldly forward.
The National
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Davy Russell body swerves yet another campaign event
THE campaign for the Holyrood by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, which is due to be held on Thursday next week, has its very own campaign song now, an adaptation of the Brave Sir Robin song from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Brave Davy Russell ran away. Bravely ran away, away! When scrutinty reared its ugly head, He bravely turned his tail and fled. Yes, brave Davy Russell turned about And gallantly he chickened out. Brave Davy Russell has body swerved yet another campaign event, a hustings organised by campaign group No Cuts Lanarkshire. He was represented at the event by the Labour leader of South Lanarkshire Council, Joe Fagan, who insisted that Russell couldn't attend the hustings as he was at an "NHS event. Possibly he was away at the local hospital having an MRI brain scan to discern whether he's actually capable of stringing a coherent sentence together. On learning that Russell was yet again a no-show, the Tory candidate Richard Nelson announced that he would not be taking part. Nelson has a side gig as a comedy hypnotist, perhaps he was just relieved to find an excuse not to participate when he realised that not even hypnotism was going to get those attending the event to believe that the Tories have anything meaningful to say about combating poverty. Nelson said: 'I don't think it's right that I debate the council leader. I would have rather debated with Davy Russell, with the actual candidate. So, I'm going to withdraw from here because I don't think it's fair that the leader of the council comes on his behalf." Russell has consistently refused to participate in hustings, debates and media interviews since the campaign began. This has led many to wonder how Russell can speak up for the people of Hamilton, Larkhall, and Stonehouse when he doesn't even seem capable of speaking up for himself. After councillor Fagan made his opening remarks on behalf of the absent Labour candidate, a woman in the audience asked him: "How can you stand and say your speech and say about how Davy Russell is going to lead for the constituency, going to stand in Holyrood and speak for the people of this constituency when he can't turn up to radio interviews, when he can't turn up to hustings, when he can't speak without Anas Sarwar by his side?" Fagan responded: "Well, right now, he is at an event on the NHS." The woman retorted: "He's always at an event, Joe." During an interview on BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland show this morning, Labour's Scottish leader Anas Sarwar half-heartedly attempted to defend his perennially absent candidate and his party's woeful campaign in a by-election which a year ago would have been Labour's for the taking, but now it looks – not merely as a hold for the SNP – but as though Labour may struggle to hold on to second place. Asked by host Gary Robertson why Russell appears to be avoiding all debates, hustings, and media interviews, including an invitation to appear on the very programme the Labour leader was currently on, Sarwar could only reply: "That's a matter for the campaign team and the campaign." It's quite remarkable that Sarwar can't even take responsibility for his own party's Holyrood election campaign. It's his only job. Sarwar then insisted that Russell had done media interviews and would be doing more in future, there's only a week of campaigning left, but he's hoping we haven't noticed. He's also hoping we haven't noticed his own litany of broken promises. Those must be media interviews that exist only in Sarwar's imagination, just like the way he's standing up to Keir Starmer. During the interview, Sarwar even managed to get Russell's name wrong, calling him Davy Hamilton before quickly correcting himself. But it's unfair to criticise Sarwar too much for that, he probably hasn't seen much of Davy Hamilton, sorry, Davy Russell either. UK trade envoy visits Israel Just a week after Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that the UK was suspending trade talks with Israel in protest at Israel's withholding of food and medical aid to Gaza, the UK Government's trade envoy to Israel, Lord Ian Austin, was pictured in Haifa in northern Israel, where he said the British Government would continue to encourage "British businesses to export to Israel and Israeli businesses to invest in the UK". Austin is due to remain in Israel until Friday in order to "maintain" the UK Government's relationship with Israeli businesses. Now the British Palestinian Committee, an independent organisation of British Palestinians advocating for Palestinian rights, has written to Lammy arguing that the visit "appears to directly contradict" the UK Government's previous condemnation of Israel. Dr Sara Husseini, the director of the organisation, said that the "limited steps" against Israel by the UK Government "are already being undermined". In its letter to Lammy, the committee wrote: "One week ago, you announced the suspension of free trade agreement negotiations with Israel in light of its ongoing military assault on Gaza. "Yesterday morning, the UK Trade Envoy to Israel, Lord Ian Austin, publicly stated on X that he was in Israel to 'promote trade with the UK' meeting with Israeli businesses and officials. The British Embassy in Tel Aviv further amplified this message by publishing a photo of Lord Austin at the Haifa Port. "This visit appears to directly contradict your Government's recent announcement and suggests that business continues as usual, despite almost 600 days of Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza." The committee has called on Lammy to clarify the nature and mandate of Austin's visit to Israel and "take appropriate steps to ensure that the government is not reneging on its own policy". The UK Government had previously insisted that the visit was unrelated to the recently suspended new free trade deal and that Austin was not involved in trade negotiations.
The National
4 days ago
- Politics
- The National
By-election hustings chaos as Labour candidate snub leads to walk out
Campaign group No Cuts Lanarkshire hosted the event at St Peter's chapel hall in Hamilton on Tuesday, inviting all the candidates for the upcoming by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse on June 5. The SNP's Katy Loudon, the Scottish Socialist Party's Collette Bradley, and Ann McGuinness from the Scottish Greens turned up. But both the Labour candidate Davy Russell and Reform UK's Ross Lambie dodged the invite – with Labour instead represented by the Labour leader of South Lanarkshire Council, Joe Fagan. READ MORE: US considers social media vetting for foreign university students This led Conservative candidate Richard Nelson to stand up right at the start of the hustings, just as the candidates and Fagan had taken to their seats, and announce he would not be taking part. It comes amid controversy over Russell repeatedly dodging local hustings, an upcoming STV debate, radio interviews and the media, in general, during the campaign. A series of heavily edited social media clips have also led to accusations that he is unable to 'string a handful of words together'. 'I don't think it's right that I debate the council leader,' Nelson told the roughly 50-or-so local voters in the audience. 'I would have rather debated with Davy Russell, with the actual candidate. So, I'm going to withdraw from here because I don't think it's fair that the leader of the council comes on his behalf.' (Image: Richard Nelson) This led to some claps from the audience. One woman said: 'Absolutely.' One man in attendance then added, seemingly referring to Nelson's withdrawal: 'Shocking. Absolutely shocking.' The woman then asked: 'Why is it shocking?' One of the hosts from No Cuts Lanarkshire then intervened. He said: 'I'm just going to try to keep this a bit stable. I understand your frustration with Richard withdrawing from the debate and unfortunately it is his decision to make whether we agree with it or not.' READ MORE: Anas Sarwar slams 'poisonous man' Nigel Farage amid 'racist' Reform UK ad row The woman then interrupted, adding: 'Can I just ask. This is about candidates. Why is the leader of South Lanarkshire Council sitting at a top table? That shouldn't be happening.' The host then responded: 'I'm not a member of the Labour Party.' But the local resident again intervened, saying: 'But he's not a candidate. He shouldn't be here.' Later on, after each candidate and Fagan made their opening statements, the floor was opened to local residents to quiz them. The same woman then asked Fagan directly: 'How can you stand and say your speech and say about how Davy Russell is going to lead for the constituency, going to stand in Holyrood and speak for the people of this constituency when he can't turn up to radio interviews, when he can't turn up to hustings, when he can't speak without Anas Sarwar by his side?' Fagan said: 'Well, right now, he is at an event on the NHS.' She then responded: 'He's always at an event Joe.' On Wednesday, Sarwar attempted to defend Russell while being interviewed on BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland (GMS) show. GMS host Gary Robertson quizzed Sarwar about why Russell appears to be avoiding all media outlets during his campaign. Robertson said: 'We invited the candidates for this upcoming by-election onto the program yesterday, but your candidate didn't come. Why not?' Sarwar replied: 'That's a matter for the campaign team and the campaign.' The Scottish Labour leader went on to claim that Russell had done media interviews and that he has more planned in the future. However, Robertson further called out Sarwar as he asked: 'But you understand what the issue here is, that many of your opponents believe that he is running scared. 'That actually when it comes to appearing on programmes like this, he's just not available.' Sarwar replied: 'Well, I just don't accept that because Davy Hamilton – Davy Russell, sorry – is the only candidate that lives in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse."
