Editorial

So, under Scottish New Labour rule a year in to our second term Scottish Parliament, it is alright, Jack, for our privatised council security contracts to be wooed by the bids of companies with links to underworld gangsters, whilst we continue to seek to criminalise our young people by pursuing anti-social behaviour orders.

It would also seem to be alright, Cathy, for the newly privatised prison escort contract to make a complete hash that has become so farcical that the nightly news at mid April runs like episodes of Carry On Court House. Murderers let loose and on the run for two weeks. Prisoners abandoned in vehicles outside court buildings for hours on end. A woman prisoner left behind in a court cell hours after the building closed down for the day. Reliance Security hasn't exactly lived up to its name. This is a pilot privatised prison escort scheme. It clearly is not working, and should be stopped.

So, it is also alright, Tony, that Arial Sharon has declared that the Palestinians cannot have both the West Bank and Gaza Strip and that Yasser Arafat, a UN recognised leader of the Palestinian Authority under Israeli house arrest for the past two years has now become an official Israeli target for assassination. The Israeli leader has clearly abandoned the Road Map and is now driving cross country. No surprises that Bush has given Sharon his approval. But where is the condemnation of the British Labour Government?

And it would appear alright that Baghdad and Basra are still burning over a year after the US and UK "liberated" Iraq? The focus groups have shown that it is time to divert the voters away from the mess we have made in Iraq. A referendum on the Euro will not obscure the smoke and shellfire coming from the East.

Scottish New Labour's European election machine looks in serious trouble, not least because the top candidate on the Labour list is subject to an investigation into misuse of expenses. But far more concerning is the lack of motivation amongst activists and Labour members to campaign for the Party in the June elections. Any last remaining pockets of activism and campaigning have been stamped on as the politically centrist driven bureaucratic decision to reorganise CLPs around Westminster has put many core campaigners into hibernation at a time when they should be out working for the Party.

Of course, the Scottish Labour Party machine, rusty and redundant and staffed by people who appear to have no understanding of how to oil the Party's components is the house that Jack built. The Scottish domestic policy is now driven by MSPs and bureaucrats who have abandoned principles for "what plays well" in opinion polls and focus groups. And internationally, we are led by a Leader who still insists on loyalty to the US President even when time and again, Bush shows that the so-called influence of Tony Blair is not worth the paper it is written on.

So another May Day will come and go with the Party in its current parlous state. But this May Day, the Campaign for Socialism can say that we are stronger than last, with a better dialogue with the trade union movement, more members and increasing influence. There is a long way to go before we have a Labour Party that truly merits the name, but on May Day of all days, we should remember that there is no more important struggle in British politics today.