Left wing campaigners unite in Glasgow to say ‘enough is enough’
JIM MURPHY must resign as leader of Labour in Scotland due to his toxic links to right-wing politics and the campaign against Scottish independence, according to Labour members who gathered in Glasgow on Wednesday.
Calls for Murphy’s resignation have come from politicians, campaigners and trade unions following his party’s disastrous result in last week’s General Election, when Labour received its worst result in Scotland since 1918.
Murphy faces a vote of no confidence in his leadership at Saturday’s Scottish executive committee meeting.
Criticism from trade union officials has raised the prospect that they will stop funding Labour in Scotland if Murphy remains as leader.
“We cannot begin to transform the Labour Party to reach out to the working class until we rid the party of New Labour and all that it stands for.” Vince Mills
Scott Nicholson, Scottish executive committee member, Stephen Low, policy officer with trade union Unison, and Samantha Ritchie, chair of trade union Unite’s youth wing, said it was time for Murphy to go.
Addressing around 100 party members, the speakers called for Labour to return to socialist principles to take on the rise of the SNP.
All panelists were united in a belief that Murphy had to go before party reforms could be made.
Vince Mills, from the Campaign for Socialism group inside Labour, which organised the meeting, said: “We cannot ascribe this problem [Labour’s result] to Jim Murphy alone. We can ascribe it to the political tradition that Jim Murphy represents.”
He added: “We cannot begin to transform the Labour Party to reach out to the working class until we rid the party of New Labour and all that it stands for.
“It says on our membership cards that we are a democratic and socialist party. So can we please have some democracy and can we have some socialism!”
Samantha Ritchie was one of several speakers to criticise the No Campaign alliance between Labour and the Conservatives: “We should never have got on stage with the Tories…We should never have elected Jim Murphy…Jim has to stand down.”
Ritchie represented the frustration of many party members present when stating: “We’re card holders. We’re members. We lead this party and it’s not the other way around,” to applause from the gathered audience.
“He has been most associated with the parts of the party people don’t like: the Iraq war, tuition fees…John McTernan.” Stephen Low, Unison
Scott Nicholson, who stood to be an MP in Perth and North Perthshire, said he was “absolutely livid” when following the General Election party officials claimed they didn’t need to talk about the leadership.
Nicholson, who supported Murphy’s campaign last year, said: “If we had a coffee shop and we were losing money, we would sack the CEO…The Murphy brand is tainted and that’s why he has to go.”
He added that “45 per cent of the population now hates [Murphy]” due to his part in the campaign against independence.
Stephen Low, from trade union Unison, described Murphy as “one of the hardest working men in show business”.
Low said: “[Murphy] has to go because his leadership has been a disaster and the prospect of it continuing brings with it the prospect of further failure.”
“We’ve lurched disastrously from focus group driven gimmick to focus group driven gimmick. As Vince [Mills] and I will discuss as we have a pint at the football next week. [in reference to Murphy’s ‘booze and football’ strategy].”
“Jim [Murphy] just hasn’t been a credible messenger for the party. He has been most associated with the parts of the party people don’t like: the Iraq war, tuition fees…John McTernan,” he added.
The Unite and Aslef trade unions, Campaign for Socialism, outgoing MPs Katy Clark, Ian Davidson, MSPs Alex Rowley and Elaine Smith and Unite leader Len McCluskey have all publicly called for Murphy to quit.
Neil Findlay MSP also resigned from Murphy’s shadow cabinet.
On Saturday Labour will announce the result of the vote of no confidence in Murphy’s leadership.
Picture courtesy of Labour Party