Hypocrisy Exposed
The hypocrisy of Scottish Labour has been put on full display in the party’s latest humiliation.
Numerous Labour MPs from Scotland – including the Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray – have been exposed as bitterly opposing Tory policies towards pensioners in winter, before axing the winter fuel payment with their first move in the new parliament.
The guilty MPs also include Labour Party darling Michael Shanks, who has purveyed misleading information and was feted for saying he would vote for a ceasefire in Gaza and the abolition of the two child cap – before backtracking on both once he was elected.
Here’s a start on the growing list of Scottish Labour MPs whose volte face is showing exactly why they can’t be trusted.
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray (Edinburgh South)
The Secretary of State for Scotland is known for capitalising on a media opportunity and has regularly taken to the airwaves to rail against Conservative policies – at times trying to draw bizarre parallels with the SNP’s record in Scotland, which couldn’t be further from the plans of the Conservative Party.
In a particularly feisty intervention, the Scottish Secretary claimed pensioners were daily “freezing to death” under the Conservatives.
Which makes it even more puzzling that among his first moves as a senior government minister – entitled to a salary of over £160,000 plus expenses – was a vote to axe winter fuel payments for pensioners across the UK. Presumably his Labour government will take their share of responsibility for any pensioners “freezing to death” as a result of their policy.
Ex-Better Together chief Blair McDougall (East Renfrewshire)
McDougall was head strategist for the Better Together campaign, and has unsuccessfully sought elected office before.
Since his entry into politics as a student, he backed the failed leadership campaigns of both David Miliband and Jess Phillips while retaining senior status among the ranks of Scottish Labour.
He has vehemently defended Labour’s time in government and listed the winter fuel payment as among its top achievements. Unfortunately, his senior status in Scottish Labour didn’t warrant any consideration from Sir Keir – and when the call came, he trooped through the voting lobbies to strip pensioners of that same winter fuel payment along with all the other Scottish Labour MPs.
Imogen Walker (Hamilton and Clyde Valley)
A former longtime London councillor, Walker is the wife of Starmer’s chief spin doctor Morgan McSweeney and the couple are high flyers among Labour’s Westminster leadership. She was parachuted into the Hamilton and Clyde Valley constituency in the hope that it would be a winnable seat for Labour – a stark sign that the party was taking local voters for granted before a single ballot had even been cast.
Her new constituents will be unsurprised to learn that she too was vocal about the energy crisis and a ‘long hard winter’. She even promised a Labour government would lower bills.
Since Labour took office, Ofgem has announced it is once again lifting the price cap and bills are set to rise 10%.
Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Another career politician, Baxter has unsuccessfully contested elections before and was previously a senior trade unionist and Labour NEC member.
She urged her followers online to support a petition to create a national strategy for reducing excess winter deaths.
The Labour Party’s own research has suggested its policy of cutting the Winter Fuel Payment could cause in excess of 4,000 deaths.
Baxter, like other Scottish Labour MPs, voted to scrap the Winter Fuel Payment.
Kirsty McNeill (Midlothian)
Having unsuccessfully stood for election in London, McNeill turned her sights to what she thought might be a winnable seat in Scotland. Parachuted into the constituency and immediately appointed to the Scotland Office, McNeill has been silent about the devastating impact Starmer’s winter fuel cut on her new constituents.
She wasn’t so silent in 2022, when she slammed the Conservative government’s decisions and said many families “are set to have a brutal winter.”
We can only assume a cushy Scotland Office job is keeping her too busy to be just as vocal this time.
Michael Shanks (Rutherglen)
Shanks has unsuccessfully sought election three times before.
Once elected to serve as MP for Rutherglen in last year, he quickly backtracked on promises he had made to constituents such as supporting a ceasefire in Gaza and campaigning for the abolition of the two child cap.
Initially, he masqueraded as an MP who would be fighting for those struggling with punishing energy bills.
But before long, Shanks was marching into the voting lobbies to support the winter fuel cut – it seems his position might have changed?
Patricia Ferguson
Ferguson was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, serving twice as a minister and even as Deputy Presiding Officer. Once she left office in 2016, she fought to be a local councillor before her run for the Westminster parliament.
As part of the Labour group, she championed the Winter Fuel Allowance.
After decades of public service, we’d have thought Ms Ferguson might have learnt the value of being true to her word – and the duty to be honest with the people who elected her.
Instead, she managed to sideline her longtime support for the allowance, backing Starmer over Scotland.
Scottish Labour’s most senior MPs have sold out
They’ve sold out on their principles, their policies and most importantly – they’ve sold out Scottish communities who trusted Labour’s promise of change. And their support for Starmer’s fiscal plans is forcing our own government here in Scotland into some impossible decisions.
This is just the beginning. For the next five years, Scottish Labour MPs will continue without fail to put Starmer before Scotland. It’s clear they’ve already forgotten who their real boss is – the Scottish people.
That’s if they ever cared in the first place.
The SNP can promise one thing – whoever you are and wherever you are in Scotland, we’ll stand up for you and your family.
While Labour will spend the next five years taking Scotland for granted, we’ll be busy fighting for the change Scotland really needs.
