Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Labour Leader Johann Lamont warns working class trade unionists of SNP 'deception' as 'day of judgement' in Glasgow draws near for Alex Salmond













Dear All

It seems that as well as carrying the fight to the SNP on the public front, the Labour Party has decided to carry it on at trade union level as well.

Labour leader Johann Lamont has urged trade unionists not to be "seduced" by the SNP and to recognise that progressive politics cannot be "bolted on to another cause".

Recently SNP ‘leader’ Allison Hunter blurted out that everything done by the Nationalists is a 'stepping stone' to independence.

In addressed the Scottish Trades Union Congress in Inverness, Johann Lamont was speaking out to the working class people of Scotland as she spoke about the link between Labour and the unions as "our mission".

One theme of this Labour campaign is a strong social justice message which the Scottish National Party appears to have abandoned when it concerns the working class.

She heaped and poured scorn on the Scottish Government as having "deception and deceit at its heart".

I thought that the Scottish National Party was about fairness, equality and social justice, but my experiences show that to be a complete lie.

Ms Lamont said:

"If truth is the first casualty of war, then we are in a hell of a conflict. The Tories may be brazen about their Thatcherite agenda, but this Scottish Government has deception and deceit at its heart."

The Scottish National Party has turned into a callous indifferent Tartan Tory party worthy of Margaret Thatcher.

Is it returning to its roots?

Lamont hammered into the Scottish Government that talked radically about childcare but never delivered, trumpeted new investment months after it was withdrawn, and accused others of lying about NHS patients sleeping without blankets until the evidence is "literally thrown into their faces in the shape of a 92-year-old victim".

All true and a message which will ring loudly with working class SNP members.

She added:

"It is not flags or borders which fires me up. It is injustice and inequality which raises my blood and makes me fight."

It appears that the Labour Party has found a theme going towards independence as it tackles injustice and inequality at the heart of the Scottish National Party ideology.

I have previously blogged that injustice in Scotland will cost Alex Salmond the referendum.

He won’t be getting independence with a smile, a balloon and false words.

Ms Lamont added:

"Progressive politics is not something to be bolted on to another cause. Fighting injustice and inequality is not a cloak to another end. It is our inspiration. It is why trade unions were founded. It is why trade unionists founded their own political party, the Labour Party."

As the campaign in Glasgow draws to a close, the pace to retain the city by Labour will hot up; it’s the Labour Party who is up for the fight here.

The SNP will be desperate for the ‘Salmond bounce’ as their mediocre campaign draws a close, if they don’t win an outright victory then everyone will know where to point the finger.

Nine days until polling day and I have still not received an SNP election leaflet in my area naming the candidates.

It appears the Scottish National Party has no one willing to work for them as their working class members are staying away.

Is it is something to do with unfairness, inequality and injustice right at the heart of the SNP's 'core values'?

Why can't a working class member of the Scottish National Party get justice in his own party Alex Salmond?

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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