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Scottish Parliament election

Election 07 graphic

Working together

  • Brian Taylor
  • 11 May 07, 04:09 PM

Startling us all, Gordon Brown has declared that he wants to be the next leader of the Labour Party.

He wants a government of all the talents, he concedes that mistakes were made in Iraq and he wants to listen and learn.

But could he work with Alex Salmond as First Minister?

Asked at his news conference today, he skipped over the question. Significant? Not really, no.

Remember that the official (Labour) fiction is that the issue of the governance of Scotland remains unsettled.

Remember that Alex Salmond has yet to become First Minister. G. Brown was reflecting these circumstances.

Can he work with an SNP administration? He wouldn't have any choice. They got more votes than Labour.

They're more entitled to be in power. Gordon Brown is a democrat.

Would he work for an SNP administration, would he forward their main aim of independence? Of course not - but that is a rather different question, prompting a rather different answer.

PS: Alex Fergusson has now put himself forward for the post of Presiding Officer at Holyrood. (Incidentally, that's not the Man Utd manager. Check the spelling of the name.) But then you knew that was going to happen. You read it here yesterday.

Comments   Post your comment

Presiding Officer. As if anyone doubted you, Brian!

  • 2.
  • At 06:26 PM on 11 May 2007,
  • david wrote:

Brian

Do you plan on blogging the parliament here, once the election of a First Minister & presiding officer is sorted?
It has made Holyrood seem more alive, and makes the 成人快手 coverage more interesting. Please consider it.

  • 3.
  • At 12:20 AM on 12 May 2007,
  • Bedd Gelert wrote:

Tomorrow's news today ! We love it.

But can you imagine what life would be like if his namesake were to be the presiding officer ? Let's not dwell on that for too long..

Given that Scotland is a key Labour heartland, will it not be the case that Gordon Brown's biggest challenge as prime minister will be how he positions himself in relation to the Scottish question? While it is unclear if the SNP vote is a factor of Blair's unpopularity or an indication of support for Scottish independence, floating voters in Scotland may well be as interested in how he behaves towards Scotland, given his own Scottishness, and this may be measured by his ability and willingness to engage with Salmond, and tackle the issues that concern Scottish voters most, in the period leading up to the next general election.

Given the result for Holyrood (if we can yet call it a result)it could be an interesting tightrope for Brown to walk in trying to satisfy both English and Scottish voters and be a leader for Britain and the interests of all. Perception will be all important here, and it may be that the media plays a key role in defining how Brown is perceived in Scotland.

  • 5.
  • At 04:28 PM on 14 May 2007,
  • Charles Niven wrote:

G. Brown may be a democrat but above all he is a Unionist-is it in his personal or UK Labour's interest to be seen as co-operating with the SNP at Holyrood having just been beaten by them? Can he depend on Scottish votes to secure a majority at Westminster at the next General Election or will he continue to pander to Middle England as he already has-he has clearly stated that he supports England at football for example.
Of course you could argue that Labour lost as a result of a backlash against Blair but equally it could be that people have already seen through the reality of Brown (higher taxes for the less well paid from 2008 and removing so-called ring-fenced funds from the scientific research) as PM and they don't like him either. He will have a hard job convincing people that he can accept the decision of the small majority of electors who voted on May 3rd in Scotland.

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