Millionaire tendency regains control of Scottish Labour

Build a new mass workers' party

New Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard, photo The Scottish Parliament/CC (Click to enlarge)

Philip Stott, Socialist Party Scotland

The resignation of the nominally left Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard will, in all likelihood, result in the Blairites winning back the leadership of the party in Scotland.

Anas Sarwar, the right-wing MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) and millionaire, who Leonard defeated in 2017, is likely to announce he is to stand.

Sarwar transferred his £4.8 million stake in the family cash and carry business to his children during the 2017 leadership contest. The Sarwar family firm did not pay the living wage or recognise trade unions. He also supported the coup in 2016 against Jeremy Corbyn by Owen Smith.

The announcement of Leonard's resignation came the day after a meeting between multi-millionaire businessman and former Labour donor Lord Haughey, as well as Robert Latham, the lawyer who gave £100,000 to Keir Starmer's leadership campaign. Haughey, it was reported, had demanded Leonard be removed before he would donate to Labour again.

Significantly, at that meeting leading Scottish Blairites Jackie Baillie MSP and Ian Murray MP were also present. Starmer was told about the meeting and then asked Leonard to stand down.

Richard Leonard claimed he had been considering resigning over Christmas anyway, which is probably the case.

Either way, these events underline, yet again, alongside the defeat of Corbynism in the UK Labour Party, that the pro-capitalist wing of Labour is now in the ascendency.

The opportunity to create a genuine anti-austerity workers' party was squandered by the leadership of the Corbyn movement, who sought compromise with the Blairites at every turn.

Instead, as Socialist Party Scotland and the Socialist Party called for, the right wing should have been driven out of the Labour Party by allowing the right of Labour members to democratically deselect Blairite MPs, MSPs and councillors.

Under Leonard's leadership, Labour councils still carried out cuts. The policy of opposing the right to a second referendum on Scottish independence was maintained, further undermining Labour's already dwindling support in Scotland among the working class. At the December 2019 general election, Labour in Scotland was yet again reduced to a single MP.

As we warned in November 2017 after Leonard's victory: "The right wingers in the Labour Party are ruthless. They will do everything in their power to defeat the left and remove Corbyn and, for that matter, Leonard over time. In this they have the full backing of the capitalist establishment."

With the millionaire tendency back in the driving seat of Scottish Labour, the trade union movement, with more than 500,000 members in Scotland, should call a conference to discuss building real working-class political representation through a new workers' party.

As a step toward this, the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing candidates in the May Scottish parliament elections. Our candidates will be standing on a fighting socialist manifesto committed to public ownership, trade union rights, an emergency programme for job creation, a mass campaign for 'indyref2' and a new party for the working class in Scotland.

Article in full can be read on socialistpartyscotland.org.uk

Donate to the Socialist Party

Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.