Type your comment here
Andrew Smith:
It was people like Scottish Labour Action who fought for devolution – it was not the UK Labour Party. The UK Labour Party per se had no particular interest in devolution. They were persuaded of it by internal pressure from small n nationalists within Labour a big part of their acceptance was the idea that devolution would kill nationalism. Obviously that hasn’t quite worked out.
That tension between small n nationalists in the Labour Party and ideological unionists has become more and more taut. It may even snap, who knows? We see what people like Henry McLeish really think once they are off the leash.
Indy – you are only correct to a point. SLA – which I was a supporter of – was a small group basically consisting of former student activists. The successful attempts by the right of the party “the project” to quash left-wing voices showed how weak their position was. Even though their argument was strong.
You are missing the influence of the STUC and left-leaning unions and union leaders (Bob Thompson, Bill Speirs and Jim Devine), as well as the genuine conviction of the likes of Smith and Dewar. Most support for devolution was genuine from all wings of the party. Those – like Robertson – who saw it as a tactic were really in a minority. Before 1997 most opponents like Cook (even becoming a SLA supporter) had been converted and others like Wilson had realised that the argument was lost. Leaving the eccentric Dalyell and the miniscule ILP* as the only opponents of Devolution within the party.
