A sitting Labour MP - unhappy with the government's stance on Iraq and Trident, apparently - is about to sign up with the SNP instead, according to a report in the Glasgow-based Sunday Herald today.
The news comes at a time when New Labour are lagging behind the Nats in the opinion polls. Some Scottish commentators reckon the SNP could emerge as the largest single party in the Holyrood elections this May.
The plan, we are told, is to unveil the new recruit just before that contest.And the Sunday Herald warns that other defections could follow:
'A defection would be the first time a Labour MP had switched to the SNP since Dick Douglas joined the Nationalists in 1990.
'The SNP has also had talks with several Labour councillors about jumping ship. The Sunday Herald understands that [SNP leader Alex] Salmond and his colleagues have turned away six Labour councillors because the party doubted their motivation as potential defectors.'
There's some internet gossip that the name in the frame is Ian Davidson, who sits for Glasgow South West. But Davidson's membership of Labour Friends of Israel and his opposition to the call for an inquiry into the Iraq war seems to make that unlikely.
Any other suggestions?
[Hat tip: UK Left Network]
Comments (6)
How about it is Sunday newspaper bollocks - you do not announce there might be a defection, you announce the defection. The SNP have always made Labour look like amateurs in the spin-some-shite-to-the-press stakes and this is no exception. The sad thing about the Scottish media is that they report this keek as though it were gospel.
Agreed, and as a former employee, for a short time atleast, of Ian Davidson, I find this claim absolutely outrageous. Ian is a strong Labour politician with strong Labour principles. I doubt anything more will come of this.
Ian Davidson is the Pa Broon of Labour politics – 50 years out of date, and he even looks like the cartoon character – and he would not be missed. Jump! Jump!
A Labour politician with some principles? Shurely shum mistake!
Well whether it is true or not, the substantive political issue is that the dissolution of the union will be a major issue at the next Hollyrood elections.
A pro-independence majority is a possibility, and there will certinaly be a large block in Hollyrood opposed to the continuation.
This will have a huge impact on such issues as trident (relocating Trident to Plymouth would hugely increase the cost), The Iraq war, Northern Ireland and of course the authority of Gordon Brown. The first PM to have his constituency in a foreign country??
What about Mohammed Sarwar?
I think the UK will move to a Spanish system of autonomous regions, eg, Wales and Scotland, with them having much more power than they currently have like tax raising and more economic control.
Obviously things will change constitutionally. However, will people vote SNP nationally and Labour for Westminster?