Labour bungling branded a sign of desperation Mon, 12/08/2013 - 15:41 A bungled attempt by Labour to grab headlines with an attack on immigration has shown that the political weather in Westminster is still being made by UKIP – a party that has consistently failed even to save its deposit in Scotland. Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant was today forced to withdraw comments attacking Tesco and Next just hours before he was set to deliver a speech on immigration. With the major retailers accusing the Labour politician of making basic errors, the party was forced into a humiliating climb-down ahead of his speech. The apparent rush to enter this debate without having done robust research was today branded a sign of desperation over leader Ed Miliband’s flagging leadership and a further demonstration that UKIP is continuing to set the tone for the Westminster parties. Commenting, SNP MP Pete Wishart said: “Labour’s bungling attempts to enter into this debate can only be considered a sign of desperation - and one that is rapidly backfiring. It is further evidence of the divergence between Scottish and Westminster politics. “Their need to end the flurry of questions over Ed Miliband’s unimpressive leadership has seen Labour leap to adopt the mantras of UKIP - seemingly without doing any basic research first. “It is deeply embarrassing and will only generate more speculation about the Labour leader’s future. “The entire episode has shown that once again the political weather at Westminster is being set by UKIP, a party that has never even saved a single deposit in Scotland. “Instead of standing up for people in Scotland, Labour seems more interested in pandering to UKIP’s right-wing agenda. It is scarcely any wonder that the most recent opinion poll put Labour 18% behind the SNP – even further behind than the landslide 2011 election result.” Details of Chris Bryant’s climb-down on his trailed speech can be viewed at theguardian/uk-news/2013/aug/12/labour-tesco-next-foreign... Poll details Sunday Times / Real Radio Scotland : Panelbase poll (1,001 sample) Conducted 17-24 July Constituency (change on 2011 result) SNP 48% ( +3 ) Lab 30% ( -2 ) Con 13% ( -1 ) Lib D 4% ( -4 ) Other 5% (+3) Regional (change on 2011 result) SNP 48% (+4) Lab 25% (- 1) Con 13% ( 0) Green 6% (+2) Lib D 4% ( -1) Other 4% (-2)
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 15:15:32 +0000
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