SNP in the House of Commons

The Phoenix rises from the ashes as the SNP reactivate the House of Commons with a clear parliamentary based opposition to the brand of Tory rule.
It used to be the role of the Labour Party to enunciate the condition of the poor in our society but since New Labour came into being there often seemed less than the thickness of a cigarette paper between themselves and the Tories as Labour tried to invent a centre ground political party.
Apart from the "braying" which goes on at Prime Ministers Question Time, usually a measure of grandstanding and mud slinging which makes the dignity of Parliament look like a junior school playground, the weight and tenor of the questions, since the Scottish Independence Party came into the chamber has greatly improved.
The SNP are clearly a party much closer to its electorate. The members themselves coming from the very estates in which their electorate live, know first hand the problems which to the 'professional politician', having learnt what they know through a political degree and the apprenticeship they gain of knowing the ins and outs of the Westminster bubble by attaching themselves to a party as a political advisor, Labour, vis a vis SNP, are like chalk and cheese. There is little of no connection, other than a philosophical connection learn't in university, to the people they are supposed to represent and you see the difference in the type of questions and the radical fervour as the SNP address the government. It is dramatically different.
We had become emmured  to a middle class discussion about the technicalities of government forgetting that governance is about people. The debating chamber had become nothing more than an ongoing discussion with few if any positive outcomes.
The rise in the 1920s of a people's party, the Labour Party, to represent their specific problems had been swept to one side by Tony Blair in his concept of what a people's party should look like dressed in the clothes of Middle England. The word "socialism" was out of bounds for fear of frightening the horses, and with it went the compassion that a party reared on humanitarianism must have at its core.
Humanitarianism was replaced with the balance sheet and balanced budgets which, whilst essential must not be allowed to supplant "compassion" at the top of its agenda.
It's hard to believe that politician today who joins and is part of the Labour Party understands, beyond the "statistical" nature of the electorate, how the electorate gets through their day with the enormous stress of not having enough to make ends meet.
Yes the Scots are refreshing but it is to be seen how soon the carnival that is the House of Commons will take its toll as the Tories under the generalship of George Osborn, stonewall any sense of compassion or fair play and the Scots become disgruntled and disillusioned. There are people in the House for which being a member is but a badge. It is a lifetimes obsession to catch the Speakers eye and for a moment or two take centre stage in the drama !!




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