‘It’s going to be all about ground game’: Paul Sweeney on Scottish Labour’s fight for Glasgow

As Scottish Labour aim for a path to power in Holyrood, one city that will be key to that goal is Glasgow.

At the general election almost two years ago, the party swept the board – winning all six Westminster constituencies from the SNP.

However, with polls suggesting a slump in support for Scottish Labour, can the party hope to make the inroads it needs in the nation’s largest city?

LabourList met with Paul Sweeney at Scottish Labour’s battle bus launch in Glasgow, where Sweeney is aiming to be re-elected to Holyrood – this time as the constituency MSP for Glasgow Easterhouse and Springburn.

He said: “We’ve got a great team of candidates in Glasgow – people with a great track record, both seasoned candidates and new candidates.”

Sweeney said that, for all the difficulty Labour is having nationally in polling, there is no love lost for the SNP on the doorstep.

“There is a real sense [that after] 20 years of SNP rule people are really scunnered with them. There’s certainly challenges when it comes to the UK Labour Party. We all know about the difficulties there, but honestly, there’s no love for the SNP. People are actually yearning to get rid of them.

“I was out in Denniston, which is normally quite strong for the SNP. I was really taken aback by the level of support for Labour. In fact, three or four people were telling me the SNP had been round a couple of hours beforehand and were getting chased off the door.”

Sweeney said that he anticipates that the election “isn’t going to be a sweeping landslide for any party”, despite polls suggesting that the SNP could have a majority in Holyrood within their grasp.

“It’s going to be a grim fight, like what we saw in Hamilton. You’re probably going to see low turnout and parties winning seats on quite low margins of the vote.

“It’s going to be all about our ground game, and that’s where Labour excels.”

‘The SNP have failed Glasgow’

Reflecting on what SNP rule has meant for Glasgow, Sweeney said Labour’s record stands in stark contrast to that of the current Scottish government and the SNP-controlled city council. In particular, he pointed to the Scottish Event Campus, the site of the battle bus launch.

“The SEC was a Labour project to help reboot the city after post-industrial decline. Labour’s committed to investing in its expansion and to make it one of the premier events venues in Europe.

“It’s symbolic of what’s not happening under the SNP – the worst local government settlement in Scotland, in a city which desperately needs those social improvements.

“The SNP have failed Glasgow. They’ve been resistant to the idea of metro mayors, which have been such a success in the rest of the UK.

“We want to push the reset button and give Glasgow back its rightful status as one of the UK’s top five cities.”

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‘Reform aren’t going to represent the disenfranchised working class’

Although polls have suggested a fragmentation of support among parties other than the SNP, Sweeney noted that the Scottish Greens – which have seen a boost in support – are not standing candidates in every constituency seat.

“The Greens aren’t standing candidates in Glasgow apart from in two seats, so the left fragmentation isn’t as pronounced as in others. I reckon there is a good squeeze opportunity there for someone who’s looking for a progressive candidate, rather than an SNP government minister who’s been presiding over austerity for Glasgow.”

On Reform, Sweeney said Farage’s campaign in Scotland has already been “discredited”, with the party’s Scottish leader missing from the campaign trail while he took part in a yachting race in the English Channel.

“This is not someone who’s going to represent the disenfranchised working class who are alienated from politics.”

‘Undecided voters are all in play’

Sweeney said that there are many voters that are undecided as the election campaign kicks off, with the biggest share of those being people who backed Labour at the general election.

“They’re sitting and watching what is happening right now. Our job is to get out there and persuade them to come out and vote Labour.

“I’ve spoken to over 4,000 people in the constituency and what you’re hearing is a lot of friendly undecideds, who are not against Labour by any means but haven’t fully made their minds up yet. They’re all in play.

“I think you can see big shifts in the polling in Scotland in the next four weeks.”

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