by David Cartwright, Glasgow Anniesland CLP
Members of the Glasgow Kelvin Constituency Labour Party have suffered the same fate as Labour Party members in Liverpool: they’ve had their democratically selected candidate removed by the Labour Party leadership. Last week, the party members selected Hollie Cameron, a young party member, to be their candidate. She is on the left of the party. The constituency party executive published a statement today condemning the move against her and saying:
“We wholeheartedly condemn this undemocratic decision and call on the Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) to reverse this decision immediately. We are launching an open letter to the SEC for party members to sign calling for Hollie’s reinstatement. Please click this link to sign: tinyurl.com/reinstateHollie”
To justify her deselection, a panel from the SEC claimed they didn’t think she would follow the Labour Whip if she was elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP). Throughout the selection process (which included an SEC interview panel) Hollie made her socialist ideas clear as well as her views on the timing of when Labour should support a second independence referendum. In an interview with the National newspaper on Sunday she said “There are some of us who think that timing should be when the public wants and when the electorate wants to have that referendum.”
A similar position on the timing of a second referendum was put forward by Scottish Labour Party leadership candidate, Monica Lennon. She spoke in the hustings about Labour needing to support a second referendum if there is a majority for it in the Scottish Parliament after May’s election. This is the only really democratic position to take on this question. And most socialist members of the Scottish Labour Party would support that position.
Instead, the new Scottish Labour Party leader, Anas Sarwar has made it clear that he wouldn’t support a second referendum, regardless of the outcome of the elections. He claims that the focus should be on a “Covid recovery parliament”. But if there was no pandemic, the right wing would still dig their heels in over this basic democratic question. It is a repeat of the disastrous Better Together campaign in 2014 where Labour leaders like Alastair Darling fronted the No campaign and effectively appeared to be defenders of the Tory government in Westminster. People turned away in disgust including large sections of the working class and Labour was reduced from 41 MPs to just one in the 2015 General Election.
The move against Hollie Cameron is yet another example of the way the right wing leadership wants to suppress debate and discussion within the Labour Party. Their methods are exasperating good long-standing members. Many socialists have been provoked into leaving the Labour Party. In Scotland the membership has virtually halved since the Corbyn era and is a mere 16,000 or so. But there is a battle going on. There is no social basis for right wing policies and increasingly the inadequacies of their proponents will be exposed. That’s why people should keep fighting for socialist policies within the Labour Party.
Below is the full statement from Hollie Cameron:
“I am disappointed in the SEC’s decision to withdraw support for my candidacy. I have now received written confirmation of this decision and the reasoning behind it and I thank SEC members and party staff for their time.
I have been very touched by the support I have received from Glasgow Kelvin CLP, party members and important figures in the Labour movement. I am also humbled to have received messages of support from the general public.
My position on another referendum has been clear for years and was clear throughout the selection process. I was selected by a large margin either because, or in spite of my view.
I am a dedicated campaigner who is loyal to the Labour Party and my home city. Following the leadership election, Anas Sarwar stated that Scotland hadn’t had the Labour Party it deserves; I did and continue to believe I am the Labour candidate Glasgow Kelvin deserves.”
