Corbyn ‘to blame for collapse of Labour’
Owen’s blast at leader over woes of party in Scotland
LABOUR leadership candidate Owen Smith last night blamed Jeremy Corbyn for the party’s dramatic collapse in Scotland.
At a hustings in Glasgow, the Welsh MP also spoke of his support for Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale – and was jeered from the floor as a result.
The two contenders for the UK party top job clashed at the badtempered gathering at the city’s SECC. Miss Dugdale, who is backing Mr Smith, did not attend.
Mr Corbyn said he was disappointed that the Scottish leader had decided to support his opponent, but insisted that, if re-elected as leader, he could still work with her.
The pair went head-to-head in a leadership debate in front of around 400 people.
The hustings placed Scottish Labour’s future at the heart of the battle and exposed divisions in the party north of the Border.
Mr Smith blamed Mr Corbyn for the collapse of Labour in Scotland, following a dramatic drop in support at May’s elections for the Scottish parliament.
He said: ‘Under his leadership we have gone backwards. We have gone from the second to third party in Scotland.’
Mr Smith added that he had faith in Miss Dugdale, but was forced to defend her when some Corbyn supporters began to boo and jeer when her name was mentioned.
Attempting to calm the crowd, he said: ‘I do worry that I’m getting a lot of laughing and jeering. I am very happy to have her [Miss Dugdale’s] backing.’
But while he struggled to speak over the noise, Mr Corbyn did not jump in to defend the Scottish leader. Speaking earlier, Mr Corbyn said he was disappointed that Miss Dugdale had refused to support him. The Left-winger, was on his first public visit to Scotland since the leadership battle got under way.
He said: ‘I stand just as Scottish Labour did this May on an unashamedly anti-austerity platform. I am therefore disappointed that my friend Kezia Dugdale does not sign up to this programme at the moment. She is an excellent leader.’
During an hour-long meeting with supporters before the hustings, Mr Corbyn also insisted that he had no plans to work with the SNP.
He said a pact would not be in the best interests of the Scottish people in the wake of official figures this week showing Scotland is £15billion in the red.
He added: ‘I fully support devolution. It is right that the responsibilities and powers to make decisions about Scotland’s future lie, wherever possible, with the Scottish people and the Scottish parliament.
‘I’ve laid out our ambitious programme for democratic reforms across the whole of the UK.
‘It is Labour’s commitment to making that difference that
‘I’m getting a lot of jeering’
means we are not looking for an alliance with the SNP.’
His comments came a week after Shadow Scottish Secretary David Anderson said a pact with the SNP would be a price worth paying to keep the Conservatives out of power.
But Mr Corbyn said: ‘I am very well aware that Labour and the SNP come from different traditions and have different goals.
‘Labour’s proposal has always been to shift the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people. The SNP have a different purpose, which is to achieve independence.
‘I respect their right to advance their case, but I also reserve the right to disagree with them and judge, as the majority of people did in 2014, that it would not be in the interest of the people of Scotland.’
Mr Smith echoed this. When asked if he would consider a ‘progressive’ alliance with the SNP he simply said: ‘No.’
There was further turmoil for Labour yesterday when it emerged this year’s party conference could be cancelled after a last-ditch attempt to find a security company to police it failed.
The party has pledged to boycott G4S, which has provided security at party conferences for 20 years, over its links to Israeli prisons.
G4S said it was ‘disappointed not to continue such a successful working relationship’.
A Labour Party spokesman said ‘We don’t comment on commercial arrangements.’