Defeating New Labour

News that John McAllion is standing for the SSP in Dunfermline and West Fife has got to be good for Scottish politics, right? Well mibbes aya and mibbe naw. McAllion is a good speaker, ran the Public Petitions Commitee (perhaps the best thing to come out of the Scottish Parliament yet?) with vigour and always strikes you as that rare thing in politics, someone with an ounce ofintergrity.

But as the scenario described by Scott (an IWCA contact in Glasgow) goes:

"The SNP are standing a guy called Billy Macallister for a vacant council seat. Billy is a sound working class candidate who has been fighting a long running campaign against drug dealers who run a community centre in the area with the backing of local and national labour party figures ( the seat was vacated by gary gray the labour party whip and clairvoynt who was forced out when caught with his finger in the cookie jar).

The strange thing here is that the SSP even knowing the background to what is going on in the Milton area are standing someone against the SNP. This is why we always end up with the labour party getting away with it. By-elections like this are always pretty small turn outs so the vote could be pretty tight. The idea that the SSP could split the vote and let labour in just so the can say they stand every where makes me sick.

I would ask anybody on here who is in the SSP to ask some questions about why they are standing in milton when anybody invloved in community politics know that Billy Mcallister would be a thorn in the side of those who run glasgows one party system."

Given the turnout and results and the Liberals collapse, surely the same could be said about running John MacAllion against the SNP in Fife.

Here's the results from the By-Election.

Rachel Squire Labour 20,111 47.4 -7.1
David Herbert Liberal Democrat 8,549 20.2 +5.9
Douglas Chapman SNP 8,026 18.9 +1.1
Roger Smillie Conservative 4,376 10.3 +0.6
Susan Archibald Scottish Socialist Party 689 1.6 -0.8
Ian Borland UK Independence Party 643 1.5 +0.1
Majority 11,562 27.3
Turnout 42,394 59.9 +2.3

With the Liberals still infighting over the Kennedy Assassination, and ongoing turmoil of too much of the heavy-bevvy and rent boys, the way is clear for a real assault on New Labour: the party of nuclear power, Trident Missiles and harrassment of work-shy disabled folk.

The Independence Convention is a great thing - but this is a stark reminder of the need for a real strategy and effective campaigning coalition.