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Margaret Curran averts Labour calamity

Labour has alienated its core vote in its heartland because it is seen not to care, writes Jenny Hjull of the Glasgow East by-election. Policies such as the scrapping of the 10p tax rate by Brown appeared heartless; going on about wasting food appeared frivolous. “They have moved away from what they once stood for,” one constituent told this paper last week.

[SNP leader Alex] Salmond, on the other hand, has courted voters with populist measures such as abolishing prescription charges and freezing council taxes. And he has worked hard to lure the Catholic community away from Labour and neutralise the perception that the SNP was anti-Catholic.

The composer James MacMillan wrote last week that Labour’s social liberalism has cost it the devotion of Catholics in communities like Glasgow East and that the party in London is far removed from the moral values of voters in Scotland.

This is clearly not the case. Working- class voters, Catholic or otherwise, do not seem unduly guided by Christian belief, and those who detach themselves from Labour are seeking refuge with the SNP, hardly a beacon of social conservatism. The evidence suggests they are swayed more by Salmond’s politics than his religion, by his standing up for Scotland.

[Labour candidate Margaret] Curran now has to find ways to combat him. It helps that she is a Catholic, but it helps more that she is canny.

Full story at the Sunday Times.