Congratulations to the SNP on their historic landslide election victory.
Clearly a hugely disappointing result for the Labour Party. While our vote held up well in many constituencies - including in Greenock and Inverclyde - voters of other parties switched in their droves to the SNP.
The SNP now have a mandate to put the constitutional question to the people and the sooner they do that the better. They already have a bill on the shelf and have completed their National Conversation.
Those voters who switched to the SNP yesterday did so full in the knowledge that the SNP intended to bring forward a referendum bill if they won the election. Given the size of the SNP mandate there is no reason to wait for another two or three years. As the former Scottish Labour Leader Wendy Alexander once said: "bring it on"!
Congratulations to my colleague Duncan McNeil on holding Greenock and Inverclyde for Labour. Commiserations to Stuart Clark, our excellent candidate on Renfrewshire North and West, who fought a very good campaign but lost out due to the national swing to the SNP.
Such was the scale of the SNP victory even Stuart McMillan - who had been written off, including by many in his own party - won a list seat at the expense of local Lib Dem Ross Finnie.
It certainly was a very bad night for the Labour Party but it was a catastrophic night for the Lib Dems.
I wonder if Ross still thinks going into a coalition with the Tories in Westminster was the right thing to do in hindsight?
What now for the Lib Dems in Inverclyde?
Only 3 councillors when they previously had 13; now in fourth place behind the Tories; and no MSP!
We of course need to learn lessons from last night's results.
There will be those who think that the swing to the SNP could be repeated at next year's Council elections.
While I am far from complacent, I believe that, like the SNP in Holyrood, Labour in Inverclyde has demonstrated in the last four years that we are a very competent administration and that we have delivered for our communities. We can also take some comfort from the fact that Alex Salmond won't be offering himself as the Leader of Inverclyde Council!
That having been said: the campaign starts now.
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I am very disappointed with last weeks election results and think we only have ourselves to blame.We picked the wrong man to lead the party when Ed Milliband was elected and the writing was on the wall that Iain Gray was not a leader that was going to win the Scottish election . When will we learn our lesson and move forward instead of backwards. This time around Labour cannot just paper over the cracks (I would be interested to know who you think should lead the Scottish Labour party now).
ReplyDeleteYou have led a very forward thinking administration and should be applauded and I hope you do not get punished next year for something that is not your doing. In Inverclyde political circles it is already known who your party are going to field for next years local elections and I am disappointed that you are bringing back two former councillors who have let it be known that they intend to stand again, with each backing the other .Is this really the way forward.
I was never a fan of Tony Blair, but if ever a lesson was learned,he new that to succeed on all levels of politics ,you need to move forward and modernise. I hope Scottish Labour carry out a proper post mortem and we can return to being the peoples party and offer a clear message.
At the minute Inverclyde are lucky to have proper Labour representation with David Cairns,Duncan Mcneil and your administration. Hopefully this will continue next year.
Best wishes, Tommy
Thanks for your comments Tommy.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how you know who will be standing for us next year when the selection process has not yet started? Out of curiosity, will I be standing?
Also not sure who should lead the Scottish Labour Party: I will need to see who puts their name forward first.
I said on this blog previous I would not be voting for Duncan McNeil, which I did not last week. The results have shown what I thought all along. He so far out of touch with reality, proved by his inability to take much of the disillusioned Lib-Dem voters who mostly switched to Stuart McMillan.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I did not vote SNP either, however, you yet again have a sly dig at Mr McMillan in your post, something you seem to make a habit of.
To give him credit, the guy worked tirelessly in his campaign. Yet Mr McNeil was almost invisible, yet with his excellent campaign team behind him, he should count himself lucky to still be in a job.
I asked before if you would consider standing as MSP, which you have said not yet, but I only hope that come the next Scottish Elections, you will seriously consider this, so we can have a forward thinking candidates fighting for not only Inverclyde but Scottish Labour a well, not the pipe and slipper comfort seekers like Mr McNeil who has done little next to nothing for this area.
To quote one of Mr McNeil's sayings "serious questions have to be asked", one should be of his past record, will the future one be any better......I think not!
Eion
I can assure you Eion that Duncan did work tirelessly during the campaign and certainly did not take anything for granted.
ReplyDeleteWe will also need to agree to disagree on his record. I believe that he has been a first class MSP and will continue to be for the next 5 years.
As for Stuart: it was going to take a freak result to get him elected and that is exactly what we ended up with. No point in me saying good luck to the guy as he clearly has more than his fair share. I do however wish him well and hope that he uses whatever influence he has within the SNP Government for the benefit of Inverclyde.