Dear All
Do you ever wonder if you have done the right thing?
Yesterday, I got an email from the Labour Party asking me to
vote in the Labour leadership contest, I knew who I was voting for prior to
that email coming into my inbox.
I voted Jeremy Corbyn.
Did I do the right thing?
Of that I have no doubt whatsoever!
I did the Leave campaign in the recent EU referendum, I was
noticed for my contribution and end up being a guest on the Gordon Brewer Big
Debate Radio show, I had been before but I was always sitting in the audience
so for me it was a real treat to experience life on the other side of the
table.
Did I do the right thing?
Of that I have no doubt whatsoever!
The Labour Party needs to shift left, especially in Scotland
where the party was wiped in the Westminster 2015 elections, I saw it coming,
in fact for years decline wasn’t just restricted to the vote going down and
general unhappiness, it also showed in the way that people have drifted away
from activism.
No candidate gets into public office with help from the rank
and file members who pound the pavements delivering the leaflets, doing the
street stalls and busying themselves with community business.
I was proud of the way that the Leave Campaign in Glasgow
operated and the passion and dedication of the men and women who gave up their
free time to make the case for leaving the EU. They achieved a terrific result
in Scotland with limited time, limited resources and personnel, over a million
votes was garner in the process thanks to their efforts.
Brexit wasn’t just about standing up for the United Kingdom,
it was also about locally standing up for Scotland’s people, those who haven’t prospered
in the EU dream, those who can’t get work because foreign labour is brought in
to undercut them in their own country.
Where were the politicians standing up for the rights of
their own people?
Strangely quiet, the price of being ‘diverse’ was further
alienation of the poorest society destroying their life chances, restricting
their social mobility and subjecting them to stress in the hunt for jobs that
doesn’t exists or are so poor in terms of money and conditions, it is a return
to workhouse conditions in places such as Amazon which some people describe as
little better than a modern day sweat shop.
Owen Smith is standing for leadership of the Labour Party,
he didn’t get my vote, his pitch to Labour voters and members is this in my
opinion, if you vote for me, I will reach out to Conservative voters and bring
forward policies that keep them happy.
If I want to vote Conservative, I would rather vote for the genuine
article.
Owen Smith hasn’t impressed me during this nasty campaign,
and this Labour leadership contest really is a nasty campaign, whoever wins
will not be uniting the party. If Smith’s side wins which I doubt, he will not
be seeing Corbyn activists coming out for Smith/ Progress candidates.
The recent statement by Owen Smith that he will block
Article 50 until the Prime Minister pledges second EU referendum is proof to me
that I made the right decision in my voting.
Owen Smith like Angela Eagle will fade away into the
background; if Smith as leader ordered me to campaign for a general election to
approve the final deal to leave the European Union, I wouldn’t even bother will
him.
Like a million Scots, I want Brexit to be honour, I don’t
want a grubby backdoor deal, I want a clean break so that the United Kingdom
can begin again.
Tomorrow I go to the hustings in Glasgow for the Labour
leadership contest, I may put my hand up to ask a question or I may just sit
and listen, I have voted but it is important to see what is getting said from
the candidates as they lay out a future United Kingdom.
Smith said:
"Labour won't give the Tories a blank cheque."
First point, although he may think he is ‘Labour’, he isn’t
the party and neither are Progress, Labour went downhill when the careerists
took over, you just have to look at how hard they have fallen in Scotland via
the ballot box.
Smith said that Jeremy Corbyn was “deeply irresponsible” for
his comments on the EU referendum result calling for Article 50 to be invoked
immediately. Presumably accepting the will of the people doesn’t sit well with
Owen Smith.
If he won’t accept the will of the people, he fails the real
test of a leader, so who does Owen Smith represent if he doesn’t represent the
will of the people?
Big business?
The same big business which wants to privatise the NHS and
asset strip this country and pay peanuts to the people stuck on zero hours
contracts?
Owen smith isn’t the solution to the problems of the United
Kingdom; he is party of the problem, part of the class who think they are our
rulers and not our public servants. Working people built the Labour movement
but it got hijack by the middle class who couldn’t get elected as Conservatives,
so opted for Labour and Conservative lite agenda, paid for at the cost of those
people who they gave lip service to purport to represent.
He added:
"I'm a passionate pro-European and I will fight tooth
and nail to keep us in the EU. Under my leadership, Labour won't give the
Tories a blank cheque. We will vote in Parliament to block any attempt to
invoke Article 50 until Theresa May commits to a second referendum or a general
election on whatever EU exit deal emerges at the end of the process. I hope
Jeremy will support me in such a move."
This clearly shows why Owen Smith will not be the leader of
the Labour Party, already most of the Labour CLPs have declared for Jeremy
Corbyn at a ratio of about 6 to 1.
Brexit is happening, if it doesn’t then there will be a huge
bloody stink and considerably amount of anger if people are tricked out of what
they voted for, Owen Smith may think he is the man in the high castle, but he
is about to come down to earth with a huge bump once the election of Jeremy
Corbyn is confirmed.
This is the time of the phoney war, the real battle will be
the de-selection of the 172 Labour MPs who led the Labour Party to this
position it now finds itself.
One de-selection or removal I am particularly keen to see is
the vote against Angela Eagle in Liverpool, if you believe what is in the
public domain, her CLP want to get rid of her and I doubt that in other CLPs
there will be a similar feeling towards others.
It is easier to clear out the 172 Labour MPs than continue
to allow them to fester, some people need to be knocked back down to rank and
file member, not activist because the reality of the situation is, once people
like these lose public office, they disappear!
Perhaps it is better they disappear from ever returning to
front line politics!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
1 comment:
poor labour Georgieboy , they actually need you , even I would vote for them then
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