IT is surely a given in any election campaign that the public should know what they are voting for. But residents in the Dumbarton constituency and West of Scotland region would be forgiven for feeling confused about where to place their cross when they go to the ballot box.
Jackie Baillie’s decision to uphold her long-standing support for Trident will, in itself, raise fewer eyebrows than if she were to renounce the multi-billion pound nuclear weapons system. Vocal in her assertions, she has become Labour’s strongest pro-nuke voice north of the Border.
However, the party will now publish a commitment in its manifesto to oppose the renewal of Trident. That commitment is a promise to the public – a vow, if you will – that the electorate will expect to be upheld.
When Baillie insists that she has no intention of sticking to this pledge, where does that leave the electorate – do they believe the frontbencher, or the leader? Do they mark their cross against Labour, because they want to scrap Trident, or to keep it? It is regrettable that this confusion has raised its head just a fortnight before Scotland goes to the polls, and it reflects well neither on Baillie nor on Kezia Dugdale.
It could be argued, perhaps, that nuclear weapons are a complex issue and there is no simple answer to the questions they pose. But of course the Greens, the Tories, the Lib Dems, Rise, Solidarity and the SNP have managed it.
Two weeks before the day when Scotland decides who will lead its devolved government, Scottish Labour still fails to speak with one voice on a matter on which rests billions of pounds and potentially countless lives.
No-one would ever argue that employment is not important, but Trident is a life and death matter. Do we blow billions on weapons we can never afford to use, or leave the Cold War behind and invest in both rational, useable, defences and public services?
The question is unlikely to go away any time soon and senior Labour figures would be best advised to find an answer they all agree on.
Jackie Baillie goes rogue on Labour with support for Trident
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