Labour loses Scottish
Elections
Labour lost their
first election in
Philip Stott, International
Socialists,
For the first time in a Scottish election the SNP won a bigger
share of the vote than Labour winning by 33% to 32% on the constituency vote
and 31% to 29% on the regional list vote. The SNP now hold 47 seats one ahead
of Labour on 46 with the Tories on 17, Lib Dems on
16, Greens 2 and Margo McDonald elected as an independent.
This outcome means that no one party holds a majority in the
parliament. Even a two party coalition would not command enough MSPs to run the Executive. As a minimum a three way
agreement between the parties would be necessary. This outcome means that it is
likely to be days and possibly weeks before any deal can be agreed. There was
also real anger at the record levels of ballot papers being ruled out as a
result of confusion over how to fill them in and the use of two different
voting systems on the same day. Incredibly more than 100,000 people had their
votes invalidated – many of them in working class areas. This scandal brought
comparisons with the flawed election in the
Polarised
The election was extremely polarised with many people using
the SNP as a way of hitting back at New Labour and their record of war,
privatisation and increasing inequality. The run up to the election had been
completely dominated by the Labour/SNP head-to-head battle. For many people the
election became a referendum on not only the record of the Scottish Executive,
but also on Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and the New Labour project, including the
disastrous
It was the smaller parties that saw their electoral position
squeezed. The Greens lost 5 of their 7 seats while the SSP and Solidarity were
unable to hold on to any of their combined 6 MSPs. The SNP vote, compared to 2003, increased by 9% in the
constituencies and by 10% on the regional party lists, with Labour’s falling by
3% and 5% respectively. This surge to the SNP and the desire to hit back
at Labour affected the smaller parties. The SNP were able to pick up support as
an “anti-war” party and effectively used their opposition to Trident and the
hated council tax to pose to the left of New Labour. However, the SNP also
spent a large part of their election campaign trading blows with New Labour who
both wheeled out one millionaire after another to show their support from
Scottish big business figures. They also effectively “parked” their independence
for Scotland policy by promising a referendum in 2010 – hoping to undermine
Labour’s and a majority of the Scottish press attempts to undercut the SNP’s
support by warning of the dangers of the “break up of Britian”.
What now
Alex Salmond and the SNP will try
and form an Executive, but they need the support of the Lib Dems
and the Greens to achieve a working majority of 1. Before the election the Lib Dems insisted that there would be no deal if the SNP pushed
ahead with their plans to hold a referendum on independence in 2010. Salmond offered the option of a multi option referendum
including a question for more powers for the parliament short of independence.
This was also rejected by the “democratic” liberals whose leader stated that
they would always oppose a referendum if it contained a question offering
independence as an option. This means that either the SNP or the Lib Dems have to concede something. It is also possible that an
Executive could be formed without an agreement on this question which would
allow the SNP to move a proposal that would not be binding on the Executive –
effectively a free vote of the parliament. However, there is also the
possibility that a “government of the losers” – Labour/Lib Dems
with the effective backing of the Tories could be cobbled together. This
pro-union coalition would hold a majority – but would be seen by many as an
illegitimate government if it excludes the SNP. The other option is for an SNP
minority government. Whatever Executive is cobbled together the pro-business
agenda of the main parties will continue and the need to build a socialist
alternative to the parties of big business is as urgent as ever.
Solidarity and the SSP
The absence of socialist MSPs in
the Scottish parliament represents a serious setback. The responsibility for
this lies with the actions and policies of the SSP leadership that led to a
split and the formation of the new socialist party – Solidarity - in September
last year. The SSP leadership were widely seen to have backed Rupert Murdoch’s
News of the World against Tommy Sheridan and they paid a devastating price at
this election. Not only were the SSP wiped out in terms of parliamentary
representation but it was Solidarity that clearly emerged as the main socialist
force winning 70% of the socialist vote. Alan McCombes,
the SSP’s policy spokesperson, described the outcome
for the SSP as a “massacre.”
Solidarity out-polled the SSP everywhere in
Nationally the SSP came behind the BNP and Arthur Scargill’s SLP as well as the Scottish Christian Party.
Even where SSP MSPs were standing as councillors they
failed to be elected. Glasgow SSP MSP Rosie Kane came last in the council seat
she stood in. In contrast Solidarity won a council seat in Glasgow Craigton when Ruth Black was elected. The SSP lost their
only council seat in
A combination of the squeeze on the smaller parties and the
inevitable disappointment at the split in the socialist movement meant that
Solidarity just failed to gain an MSP. However, as Tommy Sheridan commented:
“From the launch of Solidarity 8 months ago to the biggest socialist party in