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Scottish Labour

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Template:Infobox Scottish Political Party

The Scottish Labour Party is the part of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland. It is a unionist party and until recently has been the largest and most successful political party in modern Scottish politics, having won the largest share of the vote in Scotland at every UK general election, Scottish Parliament general election and European Parliament general election since being defeated at the 1979 European Parliament election, until coming in second place to the SNP in the Scottish Parliament general election in 2007.

The Scottish Labour Party is the second largest party in the Scottish Parliament, with 46 out of 129 seats, 39 of 59 Scottish seats in the UK Parliament, and 2 of 7 Scottish seats in the European Parliament.

In March 2006 the Scottish Labour Party had 18,800 members, and membership peaked at approximately 30,000 in the run-up to the 1997 UK general election.[1] The total annual income of the party in 2005, as registered with the Electoral Commission,[2] was £523,523 (up from £318,609 in 2004), with assets of £169,502.

John McTernan, the Director of Political Operations at 10 Downing Street, has been seconded to the Scottish Labour Party to run its campaign for the Scottish Parliament general election on 3 May, 2007.[3]

Executive

Senior office-bearers:

Parliamentary and local government representatives:

Scottish Parliamentary Labour Group:
Westminster Parliamentary Labour Group:
European Parliamentary Labour Group:
Local Government Section:

Regional representatives:

Central Scotland and Glasgow Section:
Lothians and South of Scotland Section:
North East Scotland and Highlands and Islands Section:
West of Scotland and Mid Scotland and Fife Section:

Trade Union Group:

Co-operative Party and Socialist Societies Section:

Young Labour Section:

  • Neil Bibby
  • Helena Brackenridge

In addition to the Executive Committee there are 3 other business committees:

Secretariat

The General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party is Lesley Quinn, since November 1999. She had been the Acting General Secretary since the departure of Alex Rowley in May 1999,[4] having previously been Rowley's assistant.[5] Lesley Quinn is also the Registered Treasurer of the party.

In the financial year 2005 three members of staff were paid salaries directly by the Scottish Labour Party (two members of staff in 2004); all other salaries being paid directly by the Labour Party in London.

The party has its headquarters at John Smith House, 145 West Regent Street, in the Park district of Glasgow.

Tony McElroy is the media spokesman for the Labour Party in Scotland.


Conference

The party holds a biannual conference, the most recent being held in Aviemore between 26-26 February 2006. The next conference is to be held between 24-26 November 2006 in Oban.

Traditionally a representative of the Scottish Trades Union Congress would be invited to address conference, but this link was broken in 2003 when the invitation to Bill Speirs was withdrawn.[6] He subsequently addressed the Scottish National Party's annual national conference.

Further reading

  • Donald Dewar, Scotland's First Minister, Wendy Alexander, Mainstream, 2005.
  • Scottish Labour Leaders 1918-1939: A Biographical Dictionary, William Know, Mainstream, 1984.

References

  1. ^ "Panic within Labour as membership falls", The Scotsman, 5 March, 2006
  2. ^ pdf file: The Scottish Labour Party, Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st December 2005, Hardie Caldwell, Chartered Accountants, Citypoint 2, 25 Tyndrum Street, Glasgow, G4 0JY
  3. ^ "Blair aide sent to stem SNP tide", The Scotsman, 16 January 2007
  4. ^ "Labour denies London control claim", BBC News website, 20 May 1999
  5. ^ "Statement of Lesley Quinn taken by D Sandison on 3 October 2000", Select Committee on Standards and Privileges, The United Kingdom Parliament
  6. ^ Press release, 20th May 2003, Scottish Trades Union Congress

See also

Template:Labour MSPs

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