TOMMY Sheppard has described Labour accusations he would have voted for 18 years of Thatcherism and would do so again as “a lie”.
The Edinburgh East MP hit out today after he was pressed on the SNP’s support for a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Jim Callaghan’s Government in 1979.
Callaghan’s Government collapsed after he lost a parliamentary vote of confidence by a minority of one - forcing him to call an early general election.
READ: Tommy Sheppard's comment piece in full
The motion was brought by opposition leader Margaret Thatcher, who went on to win the election later that year and remain in power until 1990.
Writing in The National, Sheppard said it was a “shocking distortion” to suggest those who supported the no confidence motion voted for Thatcherism.
“[Labour’s] dirty tricks department did their best this week to make out that I would have voted for 18 years of Thatcherism. And that I’d vote for it now. That is a lie,” he said.
He said in 1979 many on the left were disillusioned with Callaghan’s Government over its “betrayal” of trade unions over pay demands, the party’s loss of support among nationalist and republican MPs in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles, and its refusal to legislate for Scottish devolution which had been supported in a referendum north of the Border earlier that year.
“The vote of no confidence did lead to a General Election but to say that means those who voted against the government were supporting the Tories is a shocking distortion,” he said.
“It wasn’t that vote that brought in Thatcher – it was the general election of May 1979 when the people of the UK voted for her.
“And they did so in large part because of the right-wing Callaghan Government that had left so many traditional Labour supporters disenchanted (remind you of anything?).
“The Tories went on to win a further three elections and Labour failed to beat them every time. Even though the people of Scotland never voted in a majority for the Tories, they had to endure them because of Labour’s betrayal of devolution.”
READ MORE: Sorry Scottish Labour, this is the truth about who ushered in Thatcher ...
He went on to say he would support a future minority Labour Government should the results of an election lead to that possibility, and that the SNP had done so between 1974 and 1979.
However, he added that SNP support would be conditional on Labour keeping any promises made to people in Scotland, as well as people south of the Border.
Labour did not resond for a request for a comment.
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