Murphy and Miliband address Scottish Labour conference, as party considers Clause IV change

Tomorrow Scottish Labour meets for a pre-election conference in Edinburgh. The main focus will be the proposed change in the party’s Clause IV to insert patriotism into Scottish Labour’s constitution. That change has not been uncontroversial, but it’s expected to pass this weekend (you can read the full text of the proposed Clause IV here).

However, as well as that important vote, both Jim Murphy and Ed Miliband will be addressing delegates – and both are focussed on the Tories, and the risks associated with voting for the SNP.

Murphy will seek to reconnect the Scottish Labour Party with the working class voters of Scotland, many of whom have defected to the SNP over the course of the past few years. Acknowledging the struggles of working class Scots, Murphy will make the case that Labour is the party of change, and (crucially) the party to beat the Tories:

“We fight not for ourselves but for working class Scots who need a champion against the Tories. Winning is about much more than avoiding losing. We are determined to win not just because we want a Labour Government but because those people who are genuinely in the fight of their lives need a Labour Government.”

“I know that there are Labour supporters thinking of switching to be SNP voters this time. And I’ve met and listened to a lot of those undecided voters and I know that you are desperate for change. So are we. I hear your sense of frustration about how you work harder and feel no better off. What I want to set out to you and the rest of Scotland is that Labour is that change.”

“We will stop a decade of Tory rule and end Tory austerity.”

Miliband meanwhile will focus on the risk of another Tory government – and what that would mean for Scotland – whilst explicitly linking the risk of a Tory government to the rise in support for the SNP:

“The Tories can wreak havoc in Scotland without winning a majority. They can do it simply by being in government as the largest party. It would mean a Tory decade for Scotland: ten years of David Cameron in Downing Street; ten years of injustice; ten years of unfairness; ten years of attacking everything we hold dear in our country.”

“every vote cast for another party, including the SNP, makes that prospect of a Tory government more likely because every one less Labour MP makes it more likely the Tories will be the largest party.”

The need to convince Scottish voters to back Labour on May 7th could not be more important. It’s almost certainly the biggest obstacle that Miliband must cross if he wants to get into Downing Street – a fact reinforced by another depressing Ashcroft poll of Scottish seats just a few days ago.