Westminster comment

Jul 30 2008 Tom Clarke MP, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

THEY say every cloud has a silver lining. For me last weekend it was an obvious one: from Alex Salmond to Channel Four News, all were agreed that on the swing in the Glasgow East by-election only Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill would at the next election return a Labour MP - me.

But let's offer a bit of reality, flattering thought that prediction might be.

Firstly, Glasgow East was a by-election and people knew it. From Hamilton (1967) to Govan (1973 and again in 1998) every SNP gain from Labour has been reversed at the General Election which followed.

Notwithstanding media hype, the fact is that if 183 people had voted differently last Thursday Labour would have won. Similarly, in one Ayrshire seat at the last Scottish Parliament Elections if 25 people had voted Labour instead of SNP (setting aside spoiled papers) the latter would not be the largest minority Party with its boast of being the "Scottish Government" coupled with all the frills of incumbency which has gone with it. The idea of "landslides" "earthquakes" and the rest is frankly fanciful.

I have, however, no desire to be complacent. Last Thursday the Party which has presided over the greatest economic success in the last century by any test - employment, inflation, interest rates - was repulsed. The Party whose raison

dêtre is independence - again on every test rejected by two thirds of the Scottish people - clearly won.

Why? To my mind there are two main reasons. Most of the media, led by BBC Scotland, has an anti Labour agenda and the current international economic blight has given them their opportunity. I was struck by the number of households where the woman was solidly with Labour but the man of the house was voting SNP. Conclusion? Although the husband was more likely to visit the garage using the petrol pump, the woman was well aware of Labour's approach to Family Tax Credit, and other pro family policies which she was not prepared to put at risk.

The credit crunch is hurting us badly; but it is damaging other countries much more than it is the UK. We must keep our nerve, continue to pursue economic policies which help us combat the storm and challenge the energy companies head on.

Presentation is a big concern and we simply have to step up our game. True, the SNP have had a prolonged honeymoon, but already they have made some major errors.

Their plan to introduce a local income tax will not only hurt families but is fatally flawed. Holyrood will ensure that it is ditched. Other tartan chickens will come home to roost, as they did when the SNP had 11 MP's - more than their present seven - and they made some fatal mistakes including assisting Margaret Thatcher into office.

It was Harold Wilson who said the Labour Party was a crusade or there would be little reason for its existence.

That's why, refreshed by the summer break, we must come back fighting and fighting to win. Our people deserve no less.