Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): In her Labour conference speech on Saturday, Wendy Alexander tried to frame the Scottish political debate as one of 'socialist against nationalist'.
The world over, politics comes down to a choice
right versus left,
conservatives versus progressives
nationalists versus internationalists
So in reality Scotland’s choices are the same as in the rest of the Western world.
The SNP are wrong to believe they can defy the laws of political gravity.
And when you strip away the spin its clear where the SNP stand.
It is not on the side of those who believe in progressive taxation and public spending....but with those who favour tax cuts for the rich and what's left for the rest.
Iain Macwhirter is not convinced:
It was the SNP government, elected in May, that finally ended private sector involvement in the Scottish health service, after Scottish Labour put it there under Jack McConnell. This minority SNP administration has also abolished prescription charges, saved local A&E units, backdated the NHS pay award, abolished student fees, cut class sizes, begun a pilot for free school meals, given equal rights to the children of asylum seekers, rejected nuclear power, doubled the international aid budget, ended ring-fencing of council spending and condemned the Iraq war. This "right-wing" party seems to have done more to further social democratic values in 10 months than Labour managed in 10 years.
It's an impressive list, but has the SNP peaked too early? Labour's best hope may be that it cannot sustain this momentum over the course of the Parliament.
