Council by elections expose deep-seated anger at Labour and SNP

Matt Dobson reports

The overwhelming hatred and anger towards the main establishment parties – primarily Labour and the SNP – in working class communities was evident in the recent series of council by elections in Glasgow. Turnout collapsed, in the case of the Glasgow North East ward it was just 12.4%, 19% in Maryhill and 15% in Drumchapel and Anniesland. 

Labour – who were defending the three council seats – held on in all three but saw their vote plummet by almost 10% in the North East. The SNP continued their own dismal record in recent elections by failing to win any of the seats on offer and losing more than 10% of their vote in every ward. In the last few months the SNP also lost other council ward contests in Inverclyde and Ayrshire in working class areas. 

As we have pointed out consistently, this is a result of their record in government of implementing cuts and attacking the working class as well as not being willing to mobilise a struggle or even a coherent strategy on independence. 

But these results in Glasgow were no endorsement for Starmer and Sarwar’s Labour. Labour’s vote dropped by 9.7% in the North East from the national council ward elections in 2022. The vacating councillor, now a Labour MP, Maureen Burke, was able to win 46% of the vote in the Westminster parliamentary constituency that included the North East council ward in July – benefiting from a mood to get rid of the Tories and punish the SNP. Labour only managed 34% of the vote this time. 

Partly, the anger towards the main cuts-making parties in the North East and the grasping for an alternative was reflected in the increase in votes for Reform and to a lesser extent the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. Support for the Tories, never high in the vast working class housing schemes, Easterhouse, Ruchazie, Garthamlock and Craigend, dropped and the Scottish Greens were stationary. 

Some media commentators and sections of the left have bemoaned but were also shocked about the size of the far right populist, anti-immigration Reform vote, which was 18.3% in North East. 

Scottish TUSC activists were not so surprised as this came up in the campaign with many who voted – bearing in mind almost 90% did not vote – seeing them and Scottish TUSC as the anti-establishment candidates. 

Pro-independence media outlets also have neglected to mention the reality that a section of the SNP’s previous vote went to Reform, as well as former Labour voters and some Tories. Glasgow City Council have yet to release the full breakdown of the 2nd and third preferences but we expect that these will confirm this trend. 

Reform stood a local small businessman as their candidate who in his X social media campaign called for more public investment into the area and lacerated both Labour and the SNP for their role and hypocrisy in the cut to the pensioner’s winter fuel allowance. Anne McAllister, the Scottish TUSC candidate, and Reform were the only candidates who demanded the Scottish government mitigate the cut.

winter fuel

The winter fuel allowance was a key issue in the campaign. It is clear Labour got a hammering on the doors over it. On the day of the election Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar incredibly announced that Scottish Labour would reintroduce the payment if they are able to form a government in Holyrood in 2026. Scottish Labour have gone even further this week by tabling a parliamentary motion in Holyrood to try and get the SNP mitigate the payment at Holyrood. 

The SNP’s election material focused heavily on attacking Labour on this issue but they themselves have delayed their devolved control over the payment and have implemented Starmer’s cut. They are now under serious pressure to u-turn in their forthcoming Scottish government budget. 

The SNP council administration have consistently in Glasgow needed the support of the Scottish Greens to get their cuts budgets over the line. This coming year is likely to be no different. 

They face further pressure with more council by elections coming in Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire before Christmas. 

Scottish TUSC

Scottish TUSC and our candidate, Easterhouse activist and Socialist Party Scotland member Anne McAllister, got a warm response to our campaign linking the demand for restoration of the winter fuel allowance to nationalising the energy companies to bring down bills. 

We also raised the council trade unions demand for no cuts/needs budgets. Our first preference vote was up 2.5% from when Anne stood in 2022, totalling 3.7% and beating the Lib Dems. We were just a few votes behind the Greens and Tories who have higher media profile and councillors in Glasgow. 

This result – and the result in Strathmartine Dundee in October where Donald McLeod, a NHS worker, got 3.4%, up by 2.7%, shows Scottish TUSC, despite limited resources, is building a credible electoral challenge with new openings in working class areas. 

socialists and elections

Socialists must use every opportunity to challenge the main cuts parties and the far right and that includes at the ballot box. Anne’s material, which went out across the ward and in regular street stalls, raised the need for a mass council house building programme and funding for public services not war. 

If Scottish TUSC had not stood Reform’s vote would have been even higher in North East. That is why it is disappointing that no other socialist candidates stood in the other wards in Glasgow, despite Scottish TUSC’s offer to only contest the North East. 

The Stand up to Racism Scotland campaign, with the Socialist Workers Party playing a leading role, put out calls for trade unionists to campaign against Reform in the Glasgow wards. They are also mobilising for a protest at the Scottish Reform conference on November 30th. However, neither Stand up to Racism or the SWP made any mention of Anne and Scottish TUSC’s socialist, anti-racist, anti-war campaign or why it should be supported. 

Socialist Worker even stated the day after the North East by election: “In the North East ward in Glasgow, Reform UK had campaign material attacking the cuts, for example, “Don’t vote for another Labour councillor that will put their party before the most vulnerable.”

The SWP commented: “Labour’s opting for austerity mark 2 makes it easier for Reform UK to engage in its anti-establishment fakery”. 

But what is also allowing Reform to engage in anti-establishment fakery is sections of the left abstaining in elections in working class areas and also refraining from calling out the main parties, not just Labour but also the SNP and the Greens who, despite their participation in Stand up to Racism, have carried out vicious cuts policies that have created the conditions for Reform to thrive in.

Scottish TUSC in this election made a critical key call for the building of a new mass workers’ party based on the trade unions and fighting for socialist policies. In the meantime we’ll continue to take opportunities to stand in elections to offer a fighting socialist alternative to cuts, poverty and racism in the months ahead.