What should Labour do to win back Scotland?

[Mechaman]

Become a Left Wing party.  Seriously, at this point I really don't get what the big difference is between Labour and SNP anyway.  I mean yes I can understand some of the gripes from the left on here if Labour had been a strong defender of left wing principles during the past two decades.  Instead their appeal to the Scots had largely been something along the lines of "hey at least we are not Thatcher!"

So yes, the last thing you folks need to do is to continue treating the Scots like weathervane hicks who vote the way the wind changes.  Instead Labour needs to take an active involvement in their concerns and just drop the whole anti-independence position.  Oh no, you guys don't need to be pro-independence, in fact I would just leave that up to the discretion of individual members.  As it is I believe that Independence is inevitable and it will happen but until that time comes it would really help Labour's positioning among the Scots to actually listen to their concerns and act on it instead of sit in a corner and say "SNP wants a petrostate blah blah blah blah blah blah".  Sitting in a corner and waiting for people to tire of SNP is not a good strategy, it is bullshit!

Face it folks, Brittania will fall again.

Let me put it this way: When Scottish Independence does happen (which it will), wouldn't it be nice to have a left wing counterbalance to the inevitable nationalistic right wing government that would emerge instead of being the party that was known largely for saying "fuck you assholes" in regards to it the whole time?  Or have you guys really learned nothing from the Irish Free State?

I mean damn seriously folks, I am amazed at the stupidity sometimes.

/rant over

[Mechaman]

Mechaman's "rant" has a kernel of truth in it perhaps about Labour maybe losing its enthusiasm for opposing Scottish independence to the extent they think their days of bountiful harvests of Labour held seats in Parliament are over, particularly if the whole issue is seen as costing them seats in England. Scotland was its worst nightmare in this last election.

Yes.

While the Referendum did fail last year many missed that it only failed by ten points.  And Labour was one of the parties that seemed to be the most adamant that Scotland stay in the UK.  It is quite incredible how deadset many "left wingers" seem to be against the coming tide of history and the fall of Brittania simply because the loudest voice in favor of said fall happens to be a party advocating a petrostate.  It seems to me that the question was hardly ever raised "well hey what if we propose a viable left wing alternative to these big oil fiends?"  Instead what we got was a bunch of hoopla about how the UK and Scotland "need" each other or what not and about how going away would break the UK's heart.  And despite all of that cheery feel goody "I WISH I COULD QUIT YOU GEORDIE!" talk the Scots still voted 45% for independence from a nation that according to every Labour supporter on this site insists has always been good to them and has represented their interests and never gave them any reason to oppose the union.

If that was so the truth, the question of the 45% needs to be asked rather than pulling a Mitt Romneyesque put down about them.  Labour effectively made the Referendum voters their own "45 percent".  It is fuckin' inevitable you goddamn motherfuckers, whether you fucking like it or not!  There is no amount of self-deception, lazy man talking points (but but but muh oil state!), or half ass rationalization (it's okay if we continue to oppose history because the dumb sheeple will eventually come around like they always have!) you can come up with out of your asses.  The Scottish people don't owe you shit, and the election results last night very well shows that in action.

You know what?  Maybe the Scots are a bunch of entitled bastards.  So what?  If you have a hope in hell of being anywhere close to the numbers you had up there in the beginning of the last decade you will realize that you are fighting a losing battle instead of put your heads further in the bullshit and actually prepare for the future.  And you know what Scotland will need in the future?  It will need a goddamn strong left wing party to defend their interests and also fight for the needs of working class English, Welsh, and Northern Irish communities.  Make the British left once more about representing working class interests and not about defending some outdated view on "Muh nationalism" because you are too lazy to change your campaign and believe that working people should just be expected to vote for you because your name is "Labour".

The world is much bigger than the existence of the United Kingdom and you can't claim to be a true left winger if you are deadset against the possibility of a future independent Scotland as it stands.  It is time that Labour prepares to exist in an Independent Scotland just as much as they focus on their general UK platform.  Otherwise, I really do not see how they can come back from this.  And I am not basing this off of my own biases, though I do admit that I do have strong biases on this matter.  Comparisons to American states do not work here, as there has not been any statewide referendums of the magnitude of what happened last year.  The people may at times be fickle idiots, but the results in recent history have been very consistent.  You would be a fool to ignore them.