Reuters/London
The head of Britain’s opposition Labour party in Scotland has unexpectedly quit, further unsettling the party in one of its heartlands and posing a new problem for leader Ed Miliband ahead of national elections in May next year.
Johann Lamont told a newspaper she was standing down with immediate effect. She slammed “dinosaurs” among Labour’s leadership in London who were out of touch with how Scotland had changed even though voters had rejected independence last month.
Some Labour officials in Westminster “do not understand the politics they are facing” she told the Daily Record, adding the Scottish Labour Party was being treated like a “branch office” by its national leadership.
Labour has traditionally dominated Scottish politics and won 41 of Scotland’s 59 seats in Britain’s parliament in the last national election in 2010. But it has struggled to respond to the rise of the Scottish National Party which has won over support from many former Labour voters.
Lamont was named Labour’s leader in Scotland in 2011 after the SNP unexpectedly won a majority in Scotland’s devolved parliament. The nationalists seized on her resignation as a sign of Labour’s “complete meltdown” in Scotland.
“Labour were already a party in crisis, and Johann Lamont’s resignation - caused by infighting and deep division - has plunged them to a new low,” the SNP’s leader-in-waiting, Nicola Sturgeon, said in a statement.
The current head of the SNP, Alex Salmond, announced his resignation shortly after the campaign for independence was defeated on Sept 18.
British media have speculated about candidates to take over Labour in Scotland, including former prime minister Gordon Brown who played a prominent role in the ‘No’ campaign, and Jim Murphy, a Labour lawmaker in the British parliament who toured Scotland to speak out against independence.
Across Britain as a whole, Labour have a narrow lead in opinion polls over the Conservatives of prime minister David Cameron. But Labour leader Miliband scores poorly when voters are asked to assess his suitability as Britain’s next leader.
Lamont said the party in Scotland needed greater autonomy as more powers are transferred from London to Edinburgh following the narrowly-contested referendum.
And her resignation with immediate effect highlights deep divisions within the left-of-centre party, led by Ed Miliband, ahead of Britain’s May 2015 general election.
“Scotland has chosen home rule -- not London rule,” Lamont told the Daily Record newspaper.
“The Labour Party must recognise that the Scottish party has to be autonomous and not just a branch office of a party based in London.
“There is a danger of Scottish politics being between two sets of dinosaurs ... the Nationalists who can’t accept they were rejected by the people, and some colleagues at Westminster who think nothing has changed.”
Lamont said she had been critically undermined by the central party.
“Any leader whose general secretary can be removed by London without any consultation is in an untenable position,” she said.
The 57-year-old added: “This has been orchestrated by people who do not understand the politics they are facing. Scotland has changed forever after the referendum.”
A Labour fiefdom since the 1960s, Scotland is crucial to the party’s hopes of winning the May 2015 general election, making Miliband the prime minister.
Miliband did not address Lamont’s complaints as he paid tribute to her, saying: “Johann Lamont deserves significant credit for the successful ‘No’ vote in the Scottish referendum campaign.”
Tony Blair has denied backing the Conservatives to win the next general election.
The former Labour prime minister has insisted Labour leader Ed Miliband is capable of carrying the party to victory in 2015 following reports in the Daily Telegraph that he privately thinks the Tories are likely to triumph in the polls.
Blair was reported to have told friends during a private meeting that he remained doubtful of a Labour win because he thought Miliband had failed to connect with voters.
The 61-year-old politician was said to have suggested David Cameron was on track to remain in power during a discussion with long-standing allies earlier this month.
But today he denied the newspaper’s claims, saying: “The Telegraph story does not represent my view. Ed Miliband and the Labour Party can and will win the next election.”
Despite the reports, a Labour party source told the newspaper that Miliband would continue with his current election campaign strategy.
The source said: “This election will be won by the party which can get the country working again for working people.
“Labour is the only party which can do this with a plan to save the NHS, change the economy freeze energy prices and reform the banks.”
Earlier this month Miliband begged his party to unite behind him as he vowed to fight with “every fibre” to win next year’s general election.
He told a meeting in Westminster that returning to government after May’s election was “absolutely doable”, adding; “it is within our sights”.
His comments followed reports of divisions within the party’s ranks which were later played down by Labour sources.
Tony Blair and Johann Lamont
