Originally Posted by
Mibbes Aye
After the 1979 GE Labour were pretty dominant for a good few decades in Scotland and when in Government introduces the Devolution Bill. UK Labour government brought in the minimum wage, child tax credits, pensioner credits and SureStart. And found the funding to replace the crumbling schools and hospitals that were commonplace in the mid-nineties.
Labour in government in Scotland saw some really progressive legislation introduced - land reform, mental health, incapacity all stand out.
Politics is cyclical and Labour are in a bad place just now in Scotland. Whether they can recover in their present guise is debatable. Since 2010 politics has seemed far more fluid. No one really anticipated the potential for coalition UK government or the rise of populism but that was maybe naive, when allied to the increased instant gratification offered by the growth of tech, the internet and social media.
I don’t see traditional Labour values dying as such, though I worry about how many would cleave to a broad prospectus (and that’s true for all the established parties). People expect single-choice issues now. More than that, the two referenda demonstrated the deep divides within society, not necessarily being down party lines and it is hard to avoid the impression that we are heading towards a la carte politics, which I’m not sure I find reassuring.