The recent news that former MSP Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Labour leader between 2015 and 2017, voted for the SNP in the 2019 European Parliament elections, is yet another moment in what have been increasingly turbulent times in the British political landscape.
While Dugdale explains her actions stating that she “was so mad about Brexit”, it certainly raises wider questions over the strength of the connection between the regional and national parties, as issues such as Brexit entrench regional political divides.
Labour under Keir Starmer are currently polling to win a landslide victory in the next election, maintaining power in the Senedd and winning back Holyrood after over a decade of SNP rule. With some polls placing a Labour majority at over 250 seats, internal party politics will play an essential role in the next parliament as the biggest threat to Starmer’s leadership.
For instance, Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour leader, has shown that despite being largely aligned with Starmer’s Blairite ideology, he already is willing to separate from the line of the national party. This has been seen most prominently in his recent decision to not back Starmer’s cowardly refusal to support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
These sort of conflicts do not bode well for Labour in part because of the way in which Starmer has dealt with disagreement among the devolved administrations up until this point, clearly seen with his conflict with Sadiq Khan over London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ). His willingness to throw Khan under the bus, questioning the ULEZ extension policy after the shock by-election defeat in Uxbridge, shows his unwillingness to stick up for devolved Labour leaders, for the sake of the National Party’s image. This was particularly strange given that this was a policy supported by his own secretary for state on the environment, Ed Milliband.
One of the few lessons that can be garnered from the thirteen disastrous years of Tory government is that internal conflicts can destroy parties. This is best exemplified by the damage that the right of the party is doing to Sunak and the disastrous fifty-day Truss premiership. Starmer’s current leadership style, which tends towards complete executive control, is not one that is suited to devolved government and politically polarised regional divides that we see, most prominently on the issue of Brexit. Starmer, in trying to crush opposition within the party, might in turn provide an opportunity to provide opposition to his leadership from the Labour’s left wing. Managing this threat is essential if he is to command the majority in Westminster that is currently being projected in opinion polls.
“Kezia Dugdale 2016” by The Scottish Parliament is licensed under CC BY 3.0.
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Is Starmer’s Labour its own greatest threat?
The recent news that former MSP Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Labour leader between 2015 and 2017, voted for the SNP in the 2019 European Parliament elections, is yet another moment in what have been increasingly turbulent times in the British political landscape.
While Dugdale explains her actions stating that she “was so mad about Brexit”, it certainly raises wider questions over the strength of the connection between the regional and national parties, as issues such as Brexit entrench regional political divides.
Labour under Keir Starmer are currently polling to win a landslide victory in the next election, maintaining power in the Senedd and winning back Holyrood after over a decade of SNP rule. With some polls placing a Labour majority at over 250 seats, internal party politics will play an essential role in the next parliament as the biggest threat to Starmer’s leadership.
For instance, Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour leader, has shown that despite being largely aligned with Starmer’s Blairite ideology, he already is willing to separate from the line of the national party. This has been seen most prominently in his recent decision to not back Starmer’s cowardly refusal to support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
These sort of conflicts do not bode well for Labour in part because of the way in which Starmer has dealt with disagreement among the devolved administrations up until this point, clearly seen with his conflict with Sadiq Khan over London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ). His willingness to throw Khan under the bus, questioning the ULEZ extension policy after the shock by-election defeat in Uxbridge, shows his unwillingness to stick up for devolved Labour leaders, for the sake of the National Party’s image. This was particularly strange given that this was a policy supported by his own secretary for state on the environment, Ed Milliband.
One of the few lessons that can be garnered from the thirteen disastrous years of Tory government is that internal conflicts can destroy parties. This is best exemplified by the damage that the right of the party is doing to Sunak and the disastrous fifty-day Truss premiership. Starmer’s current leadership style, which tends towards complete executive control, is not one that is suited to devolved government and politically polarised regional divides that we see, most prominently on the issue of Brexit. Starmer, in trying to crush opposition within the party, might in turn provide an opportunity to provide opposition to his leadership from the Labour’s left wing. Managing this threat is essential if he is to command the majority in Westminster that is currently being projected in opinion polls.
“Kezia Dugdale 2016” by The Scottish Parliament is licensed under CC BY 3.0.
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