Following articles in the papers over the weekend you may well expect Alistair Darling and Des Browne to be in fear for their roles in the Cabinet. Yet it seems that their positions may be even more precarious than they may have otherwise thought, a recent poll of polls suggests that both Darling and Browne could be unseated by the SNP in a future General Election.
The aggregate of all five UK polls, with a Scottish breakdown, conducted in May suggests that Browne and Darling may be among 23 Labour MP’s to potentially lose their seats to the SNP in Scotland. Overall the figures show massive losses for Labour, with the Lib Dems not doing much better:
SNP: 35% (+17%)
Lab: 26% (-14%)
Tory: 20% (+4%)
LibDem: 14% (-9%)
Other: 5% (1%)
The SNP are bound to be buoyed by these figures whilst the situation continues to look increasingly bleak, even with a hyper-evasive Salmond sitting in Holyrood Labour have been unable to regroup under Gordon Brown and his rightly labelled dithering leadership.
The Labour party in Scotland will be coming under further pressure following remarks in the weekends papers by former minister Stephen Ladyman MP and his colleague Lindsay Hoyle MP who have stated that:
“It is important to recognise that the election is won or lost in England. We need to have English voices speaking and giving messages that make sense in English communities” - Ladyman
“Voters are looking to see a better balance within the cabinet to ensure that all the regions of England are represented.” - Hoyle
There comments seem to have been widely interpreted as having meant to apply pressure on Gordon Brown to remove his Scottish colleagues from the Cabinet. Out of the twenty ministers who sit in the Cabinet only three are Scottish (excluding Brown himself), these being Alistair Darling, Des Browne and, Douglas Alexander. All of the Scottish cabinet members have responsibility for portfolios which encompass the entire UK, rather than those which may only be limited to England and Wales.
It is likely that this is an attempt to reach out to the English Right, those likely to swing to tory in any forthcoming election. However, it is likely that such comments will only serve to further alienate the Labour core in Scotland who have already been hard pressed following the removal of the 10p tax band and the refusal of Westminster to tackle the growing fuel crisis.
Related Links:
SNP Press release
Scotsman - Brown urged to get rid of ‘Scots Mafia’
Times Online - MPs tell Gordon Brown to purge his Scots
Stephen Ladyman MP
Lindsay Hoyle MP
