TOMMY SHEPPARD insists that new leadership will not be enough to save his old party.
The SNP MP for Edinburgh East was assistant general secretary of Labour under Scottish leader John Smith, but was made redundant in 1997 after Tony Blair rose to power.
Now his former party is preparing to elect new leaders at Holyrood and Westminster after a disastrous General Election.
But the comedy club owner, who won his seat for the SNP with almost 50 per cent of the vote, says a new leader will not change Labour’s fortunes in Scotland. “Before we ask the question ‘who should lead the Labour Party in Scotland?’, we should ask the question ‘what is it for?’ I don’t think it’s for anything,” he said. “The SNP has replaced it as the social democratic, left-wing cause party and you have the bonus that we stand up for Scotland as well.
“Yes voters backed us in the general election, but many No voters were also comfortable voting for us because they knew a vote for the SNP wasn’t a vote for independence.”
After Ian Murray became Labour’s sole MP north of the border in May’s election, former first minister Lord McConnell called the result “catastrophic” and the race is now on to elect replacements to drive the party back to poll success.
Sheppard, who was once Labour deputy leader of Hackney Council, admitted he is “saddened” by the current predicament of his former party.
“I think England needs a good Labour Party and it’s a shame what has happened to it,” he said. “But Scotland no longer needs it. I’m glad at a UK level that Jeremy Corbyn got a nomination because it was embarrassing for a while watching the Labour leadership candidates falling over each other trying to see who could be the most right wing. Labour didn’t lose the election by being too left wing. People voted Ukip in England because they had lost faith with Labour.”
Sheppard believes the change will pose little threat to the SNP, which has seen membership rise to more than 105,000 since the referendum. “Whoever wins, good luck to them. I wouldn’t like to choose because I don’t want to intrude on private grief.
“Unless the SNP dramatically messes up or Labour Party has some miraculous rebirth, then it’s odds on that the SNP government will get re-elected.”
But Scottish Labour business manager James Kelly MSP dismissed his comments, saying: “Tommy Sheppard may wish to check the SNP’s record in government. They voted against Labour’s plans to extend the living wage to low-paid workers, against banning exploitative zero hours contracts and against banning rip off rent rises from bad landlords. The SNP rhetoric just doesn’t match the reality.”
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