:00:14. > :00:17.very much. Tonight Newsnight Scotland... Has the Labour party
:00:17. > :00:25.lost its way? We will ask what Labour north and south of the border
:00:25. > :00:27.has to do to become a serious challenger? And tributes to the
:00:27. > :00:30.former leader of the Scottish Conservatives David McLetchie who
:00:30. > :00:35.died today. Good evening. After weeks of
:00:36. > :00:40.inaction Labour attempted to grab the headlines with a speech on
:00:40. > :00:45.immigration which backfired. The Shadow Minister Chris Bryant ended
:00:45. > :00:50.up backpedalling on allegations made against Tesco and the firm next.
:00:50. > :00:56.Some MPs are expressing concern about the lack of ideas. Critics in
:00:56. > :01:01.Scotland say there is a similar problem. But if members of Holyrood
:01:01. > :01:08.are concerned they are keeping to themselves. For those in Westminster
:01:08. > :01:13.decked in Labour red, it smells of Labour blues. With their lead in the
:01:13. > :01:17.polls narrowing, some are questioning the party direction,
:01:17. > :01:24.strategy, message to voters and in recent days that disquiet has been
:01:24. > :01:28.given a very public airing. I think the real worry is the former
:01:28. > :01:32.deafening silence that there has been from the Shadow Cabinet at a
:01:32. > :01:37.time of the year which is traditionally the right time for the
:01:37. > :01:44.opposition to attack the government. The government is on its holidays
:01:44. > :01:54.and not thinking. This hurt being betrayed -- this has been portrayed
:01:54. > :02:00.
:02:00. > :02:04.as a bit of a mirror. -- Moran -ish. Andy Burnham says the party needs to
:02:04. > :02:08.short -- shout louder and come up with attention grabbing policies to
:02:08. > :02:14.fight the general election that is less than two years away. Today's
:02:14. > :02:18.message on immigration certainly grabbed attention. But it was not
:02:18. > :02:25.the kind they had in mind. It raises questions about an overarching
:02:25. > :02:35.strategy. I am disappointed we are not hearing voices from Labour in
:02:35. > :02:40.
:02:40. > :02:44.Scotland on this. Labour MSP is and MPs are strangely quiet. Scottish
:02:44. > :02:49.Labour have their own particular concerns having been trounced in the
:02:49. > :02:58.2011 Holyrood elections, leader to one Lamont is asked with winning
:02:58. > :03:05.back borders. -- boaters. The problem facing her is that she must
:03:05. > :03:10.persuade people she has the personality and ideas for a devolved
:03:10. > :03:16.Scotland. She has made moves in that direction. She said maybe we do need
:03:16. > :03:26.to address some of these things. She has not given us any details of
:03:26. > :03:27.
:03:27. > :03:29.that. She has given the SNP a free hit as a result. Factor in the
:03:29. > :03:33.Independence Referendum Bill questions about leadership and
:03:33. > :03:38.direction become more pressing, plenty for Scottish Labour Party Mac
:03:38. > :03:42.newly reshuffled front bench to consider. We will do fine for
:03:42. > :03:48.ourselves what the party stands for and if people should find that the
:03:48. > :03:58.cult to do, it is up to both Ed Miliband -- Miller band and Johann
:03:58. > :04:00.
:04:00. > :04:05.Lamont to say to them I mourned ideas from you. -- want. Perhaps
:04:05. > :04:11.they should search for a convincing narrative.
:04:11. > :04:14.We did ask to speak to the leader of the Scottish Labour Party or her
:04:14. > :04:20.deputy or Shadow Scottish Secretary, but none of them are available. I am
:04:20. > :04:25.joined by Lon Jarrett -- John Rentoul of the Independent newspaper
:04:25. > :04:30.and the blogger Ian Smart. John Rentoul, let us not get bogged down
:04:30. > :04:37.in immigration but is it being seen as an index of what some Labour MPs
:04:37. > :04:43.are saying, that Labour does not seem to know what it is doing.
:04:43. > :04:50.would seem so. After all the complaints of Labour silence over
:04:50. > :04:56.the start of the summer, as soon as one shadow minister pops up to make
:04:56. > :05:06.an important speech and an important subject, it descends into a force. I
:05:06. > :05:07.
:05:07. > :05:11.am not sure how serious an amount of damage was done. -- into comedy.
:05:11. > :05:16.What about the broader allegations that seem to be coming from people
:05:16. > :05:23.within the Labour Party, including MPs that Ed Miliband is not
:05:23. > :05:30.providing leadership? He is not. You can admire it are deprecated but he
:05:30. > :05:35.is simply practising Zen art of leadership are not leading. He gives
:05:35. > :05:44.his mobile phone to his wife and goes on holiday. In a way it is
:05:44. > :05:54.quite admirable and almost admirable, but it is not up to the
:05:54. > :05:57.
:05:57. > :06:01.current state of politics. Is there an underlying problem, do you think,
:06:01. > :06:06.is Labour really confused about what exactly it stands for or is it all
:06:06. > :06:10.about public relations? underlying problem is that the
:06:10. > :06:13.economy is on the turn and the Labour Party is on the turn with it.
:06:13. > :06:19.They have attacked the coalition government for failing to produce
:06:19. > :06:24.economic growth. Now economic growth looks like it may be arriving, the
:06:24. > :06:33.Labour Party knows it has a problem. If the economy is growing, the
:06:33. > :06:37.government message will be strong. Ian Smart, is there a similar issue
:06:37. > :06:47.in Scotland? I am not sure we are any zero what Johann Lamont is going
:06:47. > :06:48.
:06:48. > :06:58.to do? -- clearer. The election of the Scottish Parliament is still the
:06:58. > :06:58.
:06:58. > :07:03.best part of three years that we have in the meantime. The whole
:07:03. > :07:09.question of the Independence Referendum Bill, there are plans in
:07:09. > :07:12.place for what is happening after a potential no-fault. It is now almost
:07:12. > :07:18.one year since Johann Lamont made that speech talking about how she
:07:18. > :07:23.wanted to stop the something for nothing culture. Almost one year and
:07:23. > :07:29.we are still no wiser as to what you was talking about. Behind-the-scenes
:07:29. > :07:39.there has been a lot of policy work. You have to remember that the scale
:07:39. > :07:40.
:07:40. > :07:49.of the defeat in 2011, and we have had to exercise that, but some of
:07:49. > :07:54.the new people are beginning to get a profile in their own right.
:07:54. > :08:02.seem to be avoiding the question. John Rentoul is asking about Ed
:08:02. > :08:08.Miliband. There is a question, isn't there, about what Labour thinks it
:08:08. > :08:13.is for in Scotland? What it is for, I mean, I will give you a practical
:08:13. > :08:23.example, the exam results last week, there is much talk about how good
:08:23. > :08:23.
:08:23. > :08:31.they are. The bottom 20% of children in terms of achievement... I get the
:08:31. > :08:37.general idea... Once again, Labour must be the party that stands for
:08:37. > :08:42.the people who were at the bottom. Is that enough, John Rentoul. You
:08:42. > :08:48.alluded to a problem that the Labour Party appears to have, that actually
:08:48. > :08:51.leaving aside the argument about whether or not it is correct to say
:08:51. > :08:56.that the coalition government inherited an economic mess from the
:08:56. > :09:00.Labour Party, and leaving aside the arguments that that was the Labour
:09:00. > :09:09.party's fault, they seem to have won the argument with the borders that
:09:09. > :09:12.was the case. Absolutely. I must take issue with Ian Smart on his
:09:12. > :09:21.point. It is never enough for the Labour Party to simply represent the
:09:21. > :09:25.people at the bottom. That is not how you win elections. You must be a
:09:25. > :09:29.party at the centre ground and you must represent people who are
:09:29. > :09:32.successful and are aspirational as well as those who are less well off
:09:32. > :09:37.stop that is the problem in Scotland and across the whole of the United
:09:37. > :09:44.Kingdom because Ed Miliband has not yet recaptured the Blairite,
:09:44. > :09:50.previously Thatcherite voters in the middle ground. That actually applies
:09:50. > :10:00.to allot of people at the bottom as well. But aspirational rhetoric is
:10:00. > :10:06.
:10:06. > :10:14.not the Labour Party yesterday. -- to some people. The polls might show
:10:14. > :10:21.that specifically Labour has not made any impact in that campaign.
:10:21. > :10:24.Labour's vision of its own is that we fear independence which we think
:10:24. > :10:34.would be a disaster for people in Scotland and across all economic
:10:34. > :10:35.
:10:35. > :10:38.groups. Hang on. Wouldn't it be better to say let's put forward a
:10:38. > :10:48.positive Asian for the future of Scotland as part of the United
:10:48. > :10:50.
:10:50. > :10:56.Kingdom? -- positive vision. What I am saying is that all the focus must
:10:56. > :11:02.be on September 2014. That is the immediate challenge. We are running
:11:02. > :11:09.out of time. The other side as are we being a bit unfair? There is
:11:09. > :11:15.always dressed in opposition parties during the summer. The and the
:11:15. > :11:20.shadow leader go off. I think it happened with Tony Blair and Gordon
:11:20. > :11:30.Brown, didn't it? Can't Ed Miliband just turn up next week, say that is
:11:30. > :11:33.all froth, here is what I think and we will forget about it? Of course.
:11:33. > :11:40.This is mostly gossiped for the Westminster classes and the likes.
:11:40. > :11:46.There is no question. But it does have an impact more broadly. If
:11:46. > :11:53.Labour MPs do not feel they are being led, they sink into torpor. As
:11:53. > :11:59.Harold Wilson once said, like a car, you have got to drive it very fast
:11:59. > :12:03.otherwise people complain and they want to get out! Thank you.
:12:03. > :12:08.Tributes have been paid to the former Conservative leader David
:12:08. > :12:17.McLetchie who died today at the age of 61. Political opponents including
:12:17. > :12:25.Alex Salmond and Jack McConnell joined comments and praise to
:12:25. > :12:28.sharpness as a politician of decency. David McLetchie received 91
:12:28. > :12:37.votes and he was elected leader of the Scottish Conservative
:12:37. > :12:40.Parliamentary group. His legacy is huge. After the 1997 wipe-out, he
:12:40. > :12:45.took this into Holyrood and established us as a party. That took
:12:45. > :12:50.a lot of doing and he was equal to that task. He was the best debater
:12:50. > :12:54.in the chamber at that time and since. He established the party on
:12:54. > :12:59.that feeding and the work he did subsequently, he was always a
:12:59. > :13:05.massive figure in Parliament and he has friends in every single
:13:05. > :13:13.political party. He also had a life he loved away from politics. He
:13:13. > :13:19.loved his family, he loved golf and football and he loved karaoke! He
:13:19. > :13:22.was a big, warm, generous and funny man. He was a man who made the
:13:22. > :13:32.Scottish Parliament a strong institution. He made a huge
:13:32. > :13:34.
:13:34. > :13:42.contribution to public life. That ability to disprove the arrogance of
:13:42. > :13:51.politicians, he spoke to everyone. It is a very sad day and a very sad
:13:51. > :14:01.day for his family. I am joined by Annabel Goldie who succeeded David
:14:01. > :14:05.McLetchie as leader of the Scottish Conservative Party. They all face
:14:05. > :14:13.questions about his legacy is how much of a role that he play about --
:14:13. > :14:23.the obvious question, how much of a role did he play when the party had
:14:23. > :14:24.
:14:25. > :14:29.to do a handbrake turn following demolition? -- devolution. We needed
:14:29. > :14:38.some mechanism for a leader to lead us into the Scottish Parliament
:14:38. > :14:44.campaign in 1999. He took a party that was shell-shocked and battered.
:14:44. > :14:54.He established a credible political unit. He led the party very
:14:54. > :14:55.
:14:55. > :15:02.effectively in 1999 and delivered 18 MSPs. Was it difficult? Where people
:15:02. > :15:06.arguing to reject the idea of the Scottish Parliament? Very difficult.
:15:06. > :15:15.The public perception was that we did not want the parliament. You had
:15:15. > :15:25.to counter that. David did that very effectively. He had an acute sense
:15:25. > :15:25.
:15:25. > :15:29.of strategy, eight plan, policies, a manifesto. -- a plan. But he also
:15:29. > :15:33.had to draw a line in the sand with the party. This parliament has been
:15:33. > :15:39.voted for by the people of Scotland, whatever you thought
:15:39. > :15:44.before, we need to get in there and he made a very good fist of saying
:15:44. > :15:52.to the party, you must understand, there is a new dawn, we must be a
:15:52. > :16:00.part of this political landscape. had to resign as leader after a...
:16:00. > :16:10.Scandal. But he came back. He did not vanish from the Scottish
:16:10. > :16:10.
:16:10. > :16:12.Conservatives. People recognise his obvious and injuring attributes. A
:16:12. > :16:18.forensic political analyst. A forensic political analyst. Walby
:16:18. > :16:26.did anybody, or opponent or conservative, who took him on
:16:26. > :16:33.without adequate preparation. is the trouble with lawyers. He had
:16:33. > :16:40.a huge intellect, and it will be a great loss to the parliament and
:16:40. > :16:43.Scottish public life. You were talking about the turn around.
:16:43. > :16:48.Obviously it was helped by the proportional representation system
:16:48. > :16:58.of the Scottish Parliament. But it established a quarter conservative
:16:58. > :17:00.
:17:00. > :17:03.vote which has not changed since. -- core. That must have surprised you.
:17:03. > :17:10.We all realised it was there, but given the circumstances confronting