THE defection of Christian Wakeford from the Conservative Party to the Labour Party is not only a reflection on the performance and behaviour of Boris Johnson but also a damning indictment on the state of the Labour Party itself.
The ease of movement between these parties clearly indicates that the Labour Party has become so similar to the Conservative Party that it no longer exists to serve the interests of the population who must sell their labour or the product of their labour to make a living.
READ MORE: Christian Wakeford called Labour a 'bunch of c****' before defecting
The only hope for the majority of Scots to have our interests served politically is to leave the toxic Union as soon as possible so that new political parties can develop to replace the corrupted Westminster parties.
Ni Holmes
St Andrews
BURY South MP Christian Wakeford says defecting from the blue Tories to the red Tories was the hardest thing he has ever done. This is blather.
He saw that his wafer-thin majority of 402 was about to disappear with Boris Johnson’s Tory Titanic. So he decided to abandon ship. He has voted against measures to tackle climate change, voted in favour of brutal Tory cuts to Universal Credit and voted against measures to tackle tax avoidance.
On the same day as Starmer was welcoming Wakeford, his George Osborne-in-waiting, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, was giving an interview to the Financial Times. She reassured the oligarchs that a new round of austerity will be brutally, vigorously and enthusiastically enforced by the red Tories. Reeves is a former Bank of England economist.
READ MORE: The REAL Scottish Politics: Defection shows key failing of Union
In the interview Reeves even gloated about Labour membership decreasing during her tenure, falsely smearing those who had left as “anti-semites”. She also repeated there would be no reversal of Brexit; instead the red Tories have now decided to endorse the fiction of “making Brexit work”. Appealing to the same backward folksy Empire nostalgia of the Tories and Nigel Farage.
Labour have been trying to woo the ruling elite. Starmer whipped his MPs into abstaining on a bill that limits the amount the government spends on welfare payments. The Tories propose that benefits should go up by the rate of inflation last September. This is 3.1%. However, as inflation is at either 6% or 7.1% depending on the measure used, those at the bottom will have their living standards eviscerated.
It is abundantly clear that Starmer and Reeves represent the same dead-end neo-liberal centrist corporatism and neocon foreign policy of the Blair years. Within the Union, Scotland has no future. Independence is the only sensible path.
Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee
THE Omicron variant is lessening in London but still very active in northern England. Never mind, though, all restrictions are off in England – we need to get people in the pubs and shops and back to work even though one-third of people in England have not yet had their booster. Johnson doesn’t care about the rest of us, he is only about appeasing his back benchers and saving his own skin.
His behaviour on Wednesday in parliament when Ian Blackford was asking a question was reminiscent of the school playground. He thinks making a fool of the person speaking makes him look good – it just makes him the fool, but that is a small price to pay to save his own skin.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson aide denies reports PM has been in tears during meetings with angry MPs
On Thursday we heard of the activities of the Tory whips and their threatening behaviour towards any MP who is against Big Dog. This is not about Tory policy, this is about the behaviour of the Tory Prime Minister, and therefore I ask if it is their business.
The lie-and-deny Tory partiers are getting away with it because the whole culture of Westminster is corrupt and run by just a few large donors who are calling the shots.
We have all heard the phrase “follow the money” – never a truer word spoken.
The buying of time with the Sue Gray report is nothing less than an obfuscation, as Rees-Mogg would say, giving the whips time to single out and threaten the detractors, and then the report itself will appear when their job is done, giving enough wriggle room to drive Big Dog through. I am utterly ashamed of this Westminster government.
Winifred McCartney
Paisley
LINDSAY Hoyle may by all accounts be a nice, genuine man, but his role as the Speaker in a nonentity.
Can you for one minute imagine the furore if, at First Minister’s Question, the answer given was on a completely different subject time an time again? The Murdo’s blood pressure would boil over, the part-time linesman would wave for offside and the press would go bananas.
But that’s exactly what happens day in day out in the House of Commons. So why have Prime Minister’s Questions at all if bumbling Boris doesn’t have to answer the questions – NOT ONE?
WATCH: Nadine Dorries rapped after BBC licence fee plans leaked to media before MPs told
So what exactly is the Speaker’s remit? To keep telling the playground that he’s in charge! To ask a certain member to ask a question that the questioner knows he won’t answer. Surely he can make a judgement as to whether or not the question has been answered? If not then the whole charade is a complete waste of time.
Would it not be worth a day’s suspension to ask the Speaker straight to his face if he can make sure the question is properly answered.
Food for thought?
Ken McCartney
Hawick
IN my opinion, Westminster is using the Christmas party events is really to keep the press from investigating the billion-pound contracts for PPE given to the Tory party members and friends.
William Purves
Galashiels
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