12/08/2013 Newsnight Scotland

very much. Tonight Newsnight Scotland... Has the Labour party

lost its way? We will ask what Labour north and south of the border

has to do to become a serious challenger? And tributes to the

former leader of the Scottish Conservatives David McLetchie who

died today. Good evening. After weeks of

inaction Labour attempted to grab the headlines with a speech on

immigration which backfired. The Shadow Minister Chris Bryant ended

up backpedalling on allegations made against Tesco and the firm next.

Some MPs are expressing concern about the lack of ideas. Critics in

Scotland say there is a similar problem. But if members of Holyrood

are concerned they are keeping to themselves. For those in Westminster

decked in Labour red, it smells of Labour blues. With their lead in the

polls narrowing, some are questioning the party direction,

strategy, message to voters and in recent days that disquiet has been

given a very public airing. I think the real worry is the former

deafening silence that there has been from the Shadow Cabinet at a

time of the year which is traditionally the right time for the

opposition to attack the government. The government is on its holidays

and not thinking. This hurt being betrayed -- this has been portrayed

as a bit of a mirror. -- Moran -ish. Andy Burnham says the party needs to

short -- shout louder and come up with attention grabbing policies to

fight the general election that is less than two years away. Today's

message on immigration certainly grabbed attention. But it was not

the kind they had in mind. It raises questions about an overarching

strategy. I am disappointed we are not hearing voices from Labour in

Scotland on this. Labour MSP is and MPs are strangely quiet. Scottish

Labour have their own particular concerns having been trounced in the

2011 Holyrood elections, leader to one Lamont is asked with winning

back borders. -- boaters. The problem facing her is that she must

persuade people she has the personality and ideas for a devolved

Scotland. She has made moves in that direction. She said maybe we do need

to address some of these things. She has not given us any details of

that. She has given the SNP a free hit as a result. Factor in the

Independence Referendum Bill questions about leadership and

direction become more pressing, plenty for Scottish Labour Party Mac

newly reshuffled front bench to consider. We will do fine for

ourselves what the party stands for and if people should find that the

cult to do, it is up to both Ed Miliband -- Miller band and Johann

Lamont to say to them I mourned ideas from you. -- want. Perhaps

they should search for a convincing narrative.

We did ask to speak to the leader of the Scottish Labour Party or her

deputy or Shadow Scottish Secretary, but none of them are available. I am

joined by Lon Jarrett -- John Rentoul of the Independent newspaper

and the blogger Ian Smart. John Rentoul, let us not get bogged down

in immigration but is it being seen as an index of what some Labour MPs

are saying, that Labour does not seem to know what it is doing.

would seem so. After all the complaints of Labour silence over

the start of the summer, as soon as one shadow minister pops up to make

an important speech and an important subject, it descends into a force. I

am not sure how serious an amount of damage was done. -- into comedy.

What about the broader allegations that seem to be coming from people

within the Labour Party, including MPs that Ed Miliband is not

providing leadership? He is not. You can admire it are deprecated but he

is simply practising Zen art of leadership are not leading. He gives

his mobile phone to his wife and goes on holiday. In a way it is

quite admirable and almost admirable, but it is not up to the

current state of politics. Is there an underlying problem, do you think,

is Labour really confused about what exactly it stands for or is it all

about public relations? underlying problem is that the

economy is on the turn and the Labour Party is on the turn with it.

They have attacked the coalition government for failing to produce

economic growth. Now economic growth looks like it may be arriving, the

Labour Party knows it has a problem. If the economy is growing, the

government message will be strong. Ian Smart, is there a similar issue

in Scotland? I am not sure we are any zero what Johann Lamont is going

to do? -- clearer. The election of the Scottish Parliament is still the

best part of three years that we have in the meantime. The whole

question of the Independence Referendum Bill, there are plans in

place for what is happening after a potential no-fault. It is now almost

one year since Johann Lamont made that speech talking about how she

wanted to stop the something for nothing culture. Almost one year and

we are still no wiser as to what you was talking about. Behind-the-scenes

there has been a lot of policy work. You have to remember that the scale

of the defeat in 2011, and we have had to exercise that, but some of

the new people are beginning to get a profile in their own right.

seem to be avoiding the question. John Rentoul is asking about Ed

Miliband. There is a question, isn't there, about what Labour thinks it

is for in Scotland? What it is for, I mean, I will give you a practical

example, the exam results last week, there is much talk about how good

they are. The bottom 20% of children in terms of achievement... I get the

general idea... Once again, Labour must be the party that stands for

the people who were at the bottom. Is that enough, John Rentoul. You

alluded to a problem that the Labour Party appears to have, that actually

leaving aside the argument about whether or not it is correct to say

that the coalition government inherited an economic mess from the

Labour Party, and leaving aside the arguments that that was the Labour

party's fault, they seem to have won the argument with the borders that

was the case. Absolutely. I must take issue with Ian Smart on his

point. It is never enough for the Labour Party to simply represent the

people at the bottom. That is not how you win elections. You must be a

party at the centre ground and you must represent people who are

successful and are aspirational as well as those who are less well off

stop that is the problem in Scotland and across the whole of the United

Kingdom because Ed Miliband has not yet recaptured the Blairite,

previously Thatcherite voters in the middle ground. That actually applies

to allot of people at the bottom as well. But aspirational rhetoric is

not the Labour Party yesterday. -- to some people. The polls might show

that specifically Labour has not made any impact in that campaign.

Labour's vision of its own is that we fear independence which we think

would be a disaster for people in Scotland and across all economic

groups. Hang on. Wouldn't it be better to say let's put forward a

positive Asian for the future of Scotland as part of the United

Kingdom? -- positive vision. What I am saying is that all the focus must

be on September 2014. That is the immediate challenge. We are running

out of time. The other side as are we being a bit unfair? There is

always dressed in opposition parties during the summer. The and the

shadow leader go off. I think it happened with Tony Blair and Gordon

Brown, didn't it? Can't Ed Miliband just turn up next week, say that is

all froth, here is what I think and we will forget about it? Of course.

This is mostly gossiped for the Westminster classes and the likes.

There is no question. But it does have an impact more broadly. If

Labour MPs do not feel they are being led, they sink into torpor. As

Harold Wilson once said, like a car, you have got to drive it very fast

otherwise people complain and they want to get out! Thank you.

Tributes have been paid to the former Conservative leader David

McLetchie who died today at the age of 61. Political opponents including

Alex Salmond and Jack McConnell joined comments and praise to

sharpness as a politician of decency. David McLetchie received 91

votes and he was elected leader of the Scottish Conservative

Parliamentary group. His legacy is huge. After the 1997 wipe-out, he

took this into Holyrood and established us as a party. That took

a lot of doing and he was equal to that task. He was the best debater

in the chamber at that time and since. He established the party on

that feeding and the work he did subsequently, he was always a

massive figure in Parliament and he has friends in every single

political party. He also had a life he loved away from politics. He

loved his family, he loved golf and football and he loved karaoke! He

was a big, warm, generous and funny man. He was a man who made the

Scottish Parliament a strong institution. He made a huge

contribution to public life. That ability to disprove the arrogance of

politicians, he spoke to everyone. It is a very sad day and a very sad

day for his family. I am joined by Annabel Goldie who succeeded David

McLetchie as leader of the Scottish Conservative Party. They all face

questions about his legacy is how much of a role that he play about --

the obvious question, how much of a role did he play when the party had

to do a handbrake turn following demolition? -- devolution. We needed

some mechanism for a leader to lead us into the Scottish Parliament

campaign in 1999. He took a party that was shell-shocked and battered.

He established a credible political unit. He led the party very

effectively in 1999 and delivered 18 MSPs. Was it difficult? Where people

arguing to reject the idea of the Scottish Parliament? Very difficult.

The public perception was that we did not want the parliament. You had

to counter that. David did that very effectively. He had an acute sense

of strategy, eight plan, policies, a manifesto. -- a plan. But he also

had to draw a line in the sand with the party. This parliament has been

voted for by the people of Scotland, whatever you thought

before, we need to get in there and he made a very good fist of saying

to the party, you must understand, there is a new dawn, we must be a

part of this political landscape. had to resign as leader after a...

Scandal. But he came back. He did not vanish from the Scottish

Conservatives. People recognise his obvious and injuring attributes. A

forensic political analyst. A forensic political analyst. Walby

did anybody, or opponent or conservative, who took him on

without adequate preparation. is the trouble with lawyers. He had

a huge intellect, and it will be a great loss to the parliament and

Scottish public life. You were talking about the turn around.

Obviously it was helped by the proportional representation system

of the Scottish Parliament. But it established a quarter conservative

vote which has not changed since. -- core. That must have surprised you.

We all realised it was there, but given the circumstances confronting