The Economist - 25 November 2017 by The Economist

Author:The Economist
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: The Economist, Tin tức
Publisher: The Economist
Published: 2017-11-23T18:56:29.392000+00:00

You’ll take the left road

Richard Leonard is elected Labour’s new leader in Scotland

To regain its dominance the party must woo nationalists and unionists alike

Nov 23rd 2017 | LANARK

EVERY Monday morning, a dozen evangelical Christians gather in a shabby café-cum-church in Lanark, in Scotland’s central belt, and pray for the country’s politicians. “It doesn’t matter what party they are in,” says one attendee, fresh from a session. Now a new name will be in the thoughts of Lanark’s faithful: Richard Leonard. The left-wing ally of Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s national leader, was elected head of the Scottish Labour Party on November 18th after a sometimes sharp campaign against his more centrist fellow MSP, Anas Sarwar. Mr Leonard faces the job of rebuilding a party that once enjoyed a near hegemonic position north of the border. It now sits third behind the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Conservatives in both Holyrood and Westminster.

The task facing the privately educated Yorkshireman, who admits that he still supports the England football team, is illustrated by Lanark. The fading town was once a safe Labour seat. It is now one of Britain’s tightest constituencies, a three-way marginal between Labour, the Tories and the SNP, which holds it. Only 360 votes separated the three parties in the general election in June, but everything from class to nationalism and religion splits the voters. No wonder its residents feel politicians need divine intervention.

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To restore Labour’s dominance in Scotland, Mr Leonard must win over the voters who deserted the party en masse for the SNP after the independence referendum in September 2014, when Scotland elected to stay in the United Kingdom by 55% to 45%. At the same time, he needs to lure back those who defected to the Tories in June’s election, citing both the party’s strong support of the union and its energetic leader, Ruth Davidson.

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