Labour has assembled a crack-team of 13 Scottish MPs to spearhead the fight against the SNP in the run up to the forthcoming independence referendum, which the Scottish Government has pledged to hold sometime between 2014 and 2016.
Led by new Shadow Scotland Secretary Margaret Curran, it is composed of some of the party’s brightest young Scottish talent, including Gemma Doyle and Gregg McClymont, and a number of its more established figures like ex-Defence Secretary Lord Browne and former MSP and Scottish Executive minister Cathy Jamieson.
Commenting on its formation, Curran said the new group – which she described as “powerful”- would focus on the “big economic issues” and work to “hold the government at Westminster to account day in, day out”. In an echo of the attack line used by Scottish Labour during its disastrous Holyrood election campaign earlier this year, she also drew a parallel between the Nationalist administration in Edinburgh and the Coalition administration in London: “These are tough times for many families caught between a Tory government cutting too hard and too fast, and an SNP government whose economic policy simply isn’t working.”
However, the precise remit of ‘Team Scotland’ is unclear. How will it relate to the party north of the border, particularly in light of the latter’s efforts to distance itself from Westminster influence? What part will it play in opposing Scottish Government policy, a role which had up until now been reserved for the MSP group? Crucially, will it be accountable to the next Scottish leader or to Ed Miliband?
These questions lay bare the dilemma Labour has found itself in with regard to Scotland over the last few years. For instance, if Curran’s troupe is answerable to Miliband, the SNP will, rightly, take it as confirmation that the party has failed to come to terms with the nationalist dynamics currently fuelling Scotland’s drive toward greater autonomy. If not, Salmond and his supporters will cite it as evidence that the Unionists are dancing to a separatist tune and claim a further, albeit minor, victory in their bid to dismantle the British political structure. Either way, Labour comes off second best and Curran certainly has her work cut out.
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