Scottish Labour Party

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(Redirected from Labour Party in Scotland)

For other uses, see Scottish Labour Party (disambiguation).

Image:NewLabour-newScotland.gif The Scottish Labour Party is the part of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland. It is the largest and most successful political party in modern Scottish politics, having won the largest share of the vote in Scotland at every UK general election, Scottish Parliament general election and European Parliament general election since 1979 (its last defeat being at the 1979 European Parliament election).

In March 2006 the Scottish Labour Party had 18,800 members, and membership peaked at approximately 30,000 in the run-up to the 1997 UK general election<ref>"Panic within Labour as membership falls", The Scotsman, 5 March, 2006</ref>. The total annual income of the party in 2005, as registered with the Electoral Commission<ref>pdf file: The Scottish Labour Party, Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st December 2005, Hardie Caldwell, Chartered Accountants, Citypoint 2, 25 Tyndrum Street, Glasgow, G4 0JY</ref>, was £523,523 (up from £318,609 in 2004), with assets of £169,502.

1 Executive
2 Secretariat
3 Conference
4 Further reading
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Executive

Senior office-bearers:

Chairperson: Karie Murphy (replaced Sandra Macdonald in February 2006)
Vice-Chairperson: Stuart Clark
Treasurer: Hugh Scullion

Parliamentary and local government representatives:

Scottish Parliamentary Labour Group:

Jack McConnell MSP, First Minister
Cathy Jamieson MSP, Minister for Justice
Margaret Curran MSP, Minister for Communities
Scott Barrie MSP, Chief Whip

Westminster Parliamentary Labour Group:

European Parliamentary Labour Group:

David Martin MEP, former Vice President of the European Parliament (1989-2004)

Local Government Section:

Cllr Margaret McDougall (North Ayrshire Council)
Cllr Jim McCabe (North Lanarkshire Council)

Regional representatives:

Central Scotland and Glasgow Section:

Jean McKeown (Lanark and Hamilton East Constituency Labour Party (CLP))
Steven Purcell (Glasgow North West CLP)

Lothians and South of Scotland Section:

Claudia Beamish (Clydesdale CLP)
Jalal Chaudry (Edinburgh East CLP)

North East Scotland and Highlands and Islands Section:

Sandra Macdonald (Aberdeen South CLP)
Rhoda Grant (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey CLP), former MSP (1999-2003)

West of Scotland and Mid Scotland and Fife Section:

Stuart Clark (Paisley South CLP)
Judy Hamilton (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath CLP)

Trade Union Group:

Jackson Cullinane (Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU))
Ellen Davies (TGWU)
Isabel Fyfe (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, USDAW))
Richard Leonard (GMB)
Philomena Muggins (Amicus)
Cathy Murphy (GMB)
Karie Murphy (UNISON)
Hugh Scullion (Amicus)
Dave Watson (UNISON)
Nicky Wilson (National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Scotland)

Co-operative Party and Socialist Societies Section:

Mary Lockhart (Scottish Co-operative Party)
John Russell (National Union of Labour and Socialist Clubs)

Young Labour Section:

Helena Brackenridge
Neil Bibby

In addition to the Executive Committee there are 3 other business committees:

Scottish Policy Forums, Chair: Bristow Muldoon MSP
Constitution and Finance, Chair: Stuart Clark
Local Government Liason, Chair: Cllr Jim McCabe

[edit] Secretariat

The General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party is Lesley Quinn, since November 1999. She had been the Acting General Secretary since the departure of Alex Rowley in May 1999<ref>"Labour denies London control claim", BBC News website, 20 May 1999</ref>, having previously been Rowley's assistant<ref>"Statement of Lesley Quinn taken by D Sandison on 3 October 2000", Select Committee on Standards and Privileges, The United Kingdom Parliament</ref>. Lesley Quinn is also the Registered Treasurer of the party.

In the financial year 2005 three members of staff were paid salaries directly by the Scottish Labour Party (two members of staff in 2004); all other salaries being paid directly by the Labour Party in London.

The party has its headquarters at John Smith House, 145 West Regent Street, in the Park district of Glasgow.

[edit] Conference

The party holds a biannual conference, the most recent being held in Aviemore between 26-26 February 2006. The next conference is to be held between 24-26 November 2006 in Oban.

Traditionally a representative of the Scottish Trades Union Congress would be invited to address conference, but this link was broken in 2003 when the invitation to Bill Speirs was withdrawn<ref>Press release, 20th May 2003, Scottish Trades Union Congress</ref>. He subsequently addressed the Scottish National Party's annual national conference.