The Scottish Labour Party: History, Institutions and Ideas - Gerry Hassan (editor)

Alex McKenna

Edinburgh University Press. 15.99

In the course of this book Gerry Hassan states that when Tony Blair became Leader his approach to the Labour Party was "honest and refreshing". Resist however, the temptation to dismiss Mr Hassan as some sort comedic ironist or visiting extraterrestrial. That would be a mistake. This collection of essays and historical sketches is usually interesting and sometimes thought provoking.

A variety of academics and journalists examine the Scottish Labour Party, its institutions and structures and the context, current and historical within which it operates. It is perhaps surprising but in the flood of Scottish political books in recent years this is the only full length study of, as is repeatedly pointed out, Scotland's largest and most successful political party.

Those involved with the Scottish Labour Party, incidentally that includes only one of the fifteen authors (Bob McLean of Midlothian CLP and Scottish Labour Action fame) will probably find those chapters dealing with the contemporary party most interesting despite the paradoxically bleak picture they paint. no. I am completely wrong apparently most of the authors are or have been LP members. Suggest losing from "incidentally…to fame)

Paradoxically bleak, because at one level they describe a party is described that has a record of success unparalleled in UK or European history. Scottish Labour has won the last 11 general elections, currently elects 108 of Scotland's 209 national representatives - (MEP's, MP's, MSP's), and has a significant presence in local Ggovernment. Another equally real, much less (ahem) rosy picture is also present however; the electoral success is based on the mobilisation of a fairly small amount of the populace, by a party with a small membership, whose internal organisation is nearing crisis point.

Jane Saren and John McCormick examine Labour's heartlands. They take a cold hard look at election returns and the results do not make for comforting reading. They Saren and McCormick measure the "density" of the Labour vote iei.e. what the %percentage support is of the whole electorate, not simply the %percentage vote. In "consistently" Labour seats the average support is 21% - only in six seats does the Party gain endorsement by more than 25% of the adult population. By this measure Scottish Labour's ultimate heartland seat is….… the Western Isles with a density of 27.4. Clearly the current message of the pParty is signallysingly failing to motivate actual or potential supporters. Of course, using the same measure the SNP are tiny and the SSP are microscopic, but the point is the improvement of society not simply bums on seats.

The poor state of Labour support might of course be linked to the state of the Scottish lLabour pParty itself. Here again the conclusions reached, whilst not surprising for activists, make for unpleasant reading. Peter Lynch and Steven Birrell look at the Sstructure and autonomy of the party and state bluntly that Scottish Labour 's "Oorganisation and membership is weak" . Membership is low and falling. The failure of John Smith House to publish membership figures in the Annual Report this year can only lead to the suspicion that the decline has been particularly serious in the last year. They Lynch and Birrell describe what is essentially a branch office of a (highly centralised) UK party, (albeit a better staffed office than in previous years). Interestingly they point to the "defactionalising" of the party as a contributroycontributory factor in the decline. at the. Like many people they view with amazement the fact that the Scottish Labour Party can have not one but two leadership elections each involving less than 90 people.

Whilst the discussion of the feminist contribution to the Party is mainly a historical sketch it does touch on current organisational matters. The lLabour gGroup in the Scottish Parliament has 56% women. The Scottish Executive also has women in key ministries who are conscious feminists. It can be argued that the promotion of a women's agenda is one of the Executive's success stories - improved childcare, support for Women's Aid , reform of the Ccriminal justice system to name a few. This can be linked back to the previous presence of both a separate women's structure in the pParty even the political education provided by the Scottish Labour Women's Caucus. Now however the separate structure is largely in abeyance and young (new?) female activists are quoted as saying " the arguments have been won". They may have but whether an upcoming generation of "women without feminism " canfeminism" can hold on to victory is a valid question.

This is not a book without flaws, the contributors are overwhelmingly
centrist in outlook, their there appears to be no affection for the Party and what it has meant to generations of people (including those outside its ranks). Labour "chauvinism" and reluctance to take seriously the existence of progressive opinion outside the Party's ranks are frequently (sometimes rightly) criticised. That such progressive opinion often seemed more concerned with pluralism than poverty is neither acknowledged nor explored. Trade Unions are not properly analysed, the book does contain an ill considered rant by Mark Irvine, but it says more about its author than the Union Labour link. Other than this they unions are merely mentioned in passing as fixers or strong arm merchants.

Their There is much to appreciate in this volume however, the discussions of the pParty's (difficult) relationship with nationalism and its role in British Labour and politics are thoughtful. Chris Harvie's brief look at post war Scottish economy and politics is a brilliant piece of writing. Gerry Hassan' s chapter on Gordon Brown is, despite its brevity, a detailed and revealing examination of opinions Brown has held over the years (Did you know Tthe Chancellor used to support the idea that, post devolution, Scottish MP's shouldn't vote on English only matters?). But there are clear warnings that things will not go on indefinitely as they are. Will anyone heed them?