Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale may be hoping that Labour’s regaining some seats in Scotland last night will paint over the absolutely massive writing on her wall today. It will not.
Dugdale deserves not even an ounce of credit for the Labour successes. If they had anything to with her ‘leadership’, Glasgow would not have been lost in last month’s local elections where Labour won last night.
The difference between last month and last night was the fact that General Election rules meant that Labour’s UK leader Jeremy Corbyn was seen by the electorate without the media filters and ‘unelectable’ narrative. That narrative was always-ridiculous and is now thoroughly discredited.
And so is Kezia Dugdale.
In the run-up to the General Election ballot, Kezia Dugdale went from being merely woeful and uninspiring to betraying the Labour Party by telling Scottish voters to vote Tory in order to weaken the Scottish National Party:
This is not only unforgivable, but also an offence under the rules of the Labour Party with an automatic penalty of expulsion.
And it bolstered the Tories, boosting them into their gains from the SNP last night, without which Theresa May would not be able to limp on propped up by Democratic Unionists.
There can be no redemption from that.
Were it not for her inexcusable and idiotic betrayal, Labour would be preparing for government this morning – and the country would be waking up to a future of hope.
Even if her Blairite allies try to save her by crediting her, against all the evidence, for Labour’s Scottish gains last night, she has no place in the Party, let alone leading it in Scotland.
She must go – and go now. If she does not, then her Party must prepare a challenger and topple her for the good of Scotland and the UK.
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Go on, dugdale…Sod off…And don’t let the door hit you on the arse on yer way out.
Imbecile.
Dugdale is a complete liability and exemplifies the Blairite cancer in the Labour party which places its own interests above the interests of the party and the country.
Like May, she possesses neither he decency nor honour to resign and so will have to be toppled.
This is really quite astonishing and disgusting, but I find it hard to believe that someone promoting the Tories would jump before being pushed. May should have resigned before the election but didn’t, and even now still hasn’t!!! We shouldn’t wait any longer for Dugdale to resign; she needs to be expelled!!!
Furthermore, this incident calls strongly for selections. I was very disappointed that most of us in the Labour Party couldn’t choose our candidates, including in Shrewsbury & Atcham, as was decided by the National Executive Committee back in mid-April. Supposedly there wasn’t enough time for the democratic process, which really reflects badly on the Tories’ decision to give us only 6 weeks claiming that it’s in the “national interest” – the nation wants democracy, not this half-baked mess!! But as 6 weeks notice is apparently allowed, ideally, then, we should have already done the selections ready for such short notices.
Now I want to see membership-driven selections in each constituency that either:
• the membership are unhappy with; or
• is not currently held by Labour.
I’m not suggesting that existing elected Labour MPs be replaced now, but to have that selection ready means that they may not simply be an incumbent candidate at the next general election.
Furthermore, I’d like to see official Labour Party policy that declares a new formal role of ‘bank candidate’ and requires a selection whenever either of the following conditions occur:
(a) The Constituency Labour Party membership become unsatisfied with the current candidate.
(b) The candidate has lost or failed to gain the seat in an election.
(c) The candidate resigns from the commitment of being the bank candidate.
She didn’t promote the Tories. She refuted their claim that the Tories made that they were best placed to beat the SNP. There were many voters to whom this was their prime consideration in choosing who to vote for, so it was important that Kezia did this. Skwawkbox just seem to have an axe to grind.
She suggested to voters in the Borders/Highlands that they’d be better voting for the Tories to resist the SNP. Unforgivable – and kept the Tories clinging to power.
She didn’t suggest that voters in the Highlands and Borders that they should vote Tory. She said that everywhere else Labour was better placed than the Tories to keep the SNP out, in response to Tory claims to the contrary. She didn’t say this was the best criteria to decide who to vote for either, but it was gaining traction with voters. Would you rather she’d gone along with their lies?
Reblogged this on elizapdushku's World.
There are many people like her in the higher parts of the party that should be ashamed of themselves. Labour was and always should be for the people. If you need that amount of change in your political beliefs do what others have done and start your own party. Labour is socialism.
Shoddy, Skwawkbox. Very shoddy. Please print Kezia’s actual statement, not just the Express’s biased headline about it. You’d write a full article about someone else doing what you’ve just done.
Speaking on Sky News, the Scottish politician said: “The reality is the vast majority of seats across Scotland, it’s only the Labour party that can beat the SNP.
“There are a few differences in the Borders and the Highlands where the Tories might be better placed but right across Scotland’s centre belt, where the vast majority of Scotland’s population lives, the only party that can beat the SNP is the Labour party.”
This was to counteract Ruth Davidson’s pitch that Scottish Tories were the only vote capable of stopping the SNP’s latest pitch for independence. Would you rather she’d just let their lies slide?
An article with the video will follow. It’s just as damning as the Torygraph’s deadline.
Deadline? And it’s an Express headline you’ve repeated without questioning, not the Telegraph. You’ve dropped a bollock on this one, Skwawkbox.
You know what she said. You – IIRC – quoted them in one of your many comments.
What she actually said is not how the Tory mouthpiece headlined it:
“The reality is the vast majority of seats across Scotland, it’s only the Labour party that can beat the SNP.
“There are a few differences in the Borders and the Highlands where the Tories might be better placed but right across Scotland’s centre belt, where the vast majority of Scotland’s population lives, the only party that can beat the SNP is the Labour party.”
Furthermore, it is Dugdale “The Scottish Labour leader” who “said she had suspended all nine member of the party’s group to protect its “values” because the Tory deal would mean imposing further austerity.”
It is in fact Ruth Davidson, the Tory leader, who encouraged Labour voters to vote Tory to keep the nationalists out.
She will of course have done so as well. But there is video evidence of Ms Dugdale doing it.
Too little, too late.
Amounts to the same thing. Staggeringly irresponsible from a Labour leader to push people toward voting for the enemy.
But she didn’t. Quote the words, here, where you claim she did.
And people still think there’s real opposition between Lab & Tories!! It’s the union ffs, Tories will continue to wreak havoc and JC will sing & dance when told to do so,has nobody been watching this soap all year?
My workmates who is SNP and was at the counts said that Tory and labour were being quite intimidating to some of the SNP grassroots volunteers like her on the night. Being quite rude and quite verbal. Going up laugh in their faces when they lost a seat and congratulating each other on defeating the SNP. If labour won or Tory the other side congratulating the other and not congratulating SNP if they did but as I said being rude. That’s not on. I’m sure Corbyn would not be well chuffed your cozying up to Tories after him fighting tooth and nail against all they stand for.
MsDugdale has not been a supporter of Corbyn ever. In his first lots of elections after his leadership battle and Scottish Labour did do badly she and other MPs & MSPs blamed his leadership. During the leadership battle she openly was against him. I got round robin emails from Scottish labour to vote against Corbyn with some scathing and at times personal attacks against him. If Corbyn had lost that leadership Scottish Labour would be no more. The only reason for them winning so many now is a mixture of people believing in labour under Corbyn and tactical voting to keep one of the other parties out, mostly from what I can tell SNP. The fact they still got 36 seats with all that tactical voting going on seams that Scottish Labour have still got a very long way to go & that people up here are still left of centre socialist & SNP have been the closest we have had to that up here in particular the last 2 labour leaders who were towing the “New Labour” line. They also need to take into account that there are strong socialist labour supporters out there who do want independence which is why so many are still voting SNP. Scottish Labour are not giving them any other options.
SNP Brexiters are responsible for voting Tory. The SNP was propped up by Socialists and Labourites voting SNP in the fatuous belief it would keep out the Tories. Please stop promoting this long discredited media lie about Kezia and provide a retraction & an apology! It helps nobody to shy away from the fact that the SNP let in the Tories by their massive miscalculation over the pro Brexiters’ strength of feeling against the EU.
We’ve seen the video. She encourages voters in the Highlands and Borders to vote Tory to combat the SNP. Inexcusable.