Jack McConnell: Andy Burnham should insist on Scottish Labour election review

Andy Burnham should insist that Scottish Labour holds a wide-ranging review into its election defeat, former first minister Jack McConnell has said.

Anas Sarwar’s party entered the Scottish Parliament election with a claim that it could form the next Scottish Government, but crashed out with its worst ever result.

In an exclusive interview with Holyrood, Lord McConnell has said the new PM should insist on an in-depth evaluation of “what went wrong”.

The party has said a “transparent” review led by its Scottish Executive Committee is underway.

But McConnell – the last Labour politician to be FM – said a “proper review” is needed.

He said: “There's no evidence so far that a proper review is going on with what went wrong in the election campaign, and I think unless you have a proper review, things get worse instead of better.

“I would go back to 2007 where there was never an open and extended debate on why we had lost, I think, because we only lost by half a percent. People thought, ‘well, if you change the leader and we have some new people in place, it'll all swing back again’, instead of saying, ‘we've got some time here in opposition to have a debate, to open up’, and when you do that, you end up with I think ultimately with better ideas and a way forward.

“I've always thought that the 2011 election result in Scotland was partly a direct result of not having an open debate in the party between 2007 and 2011.”

McConnell served as first minister from 2001 to 2007. He succeeded Henry McLeish and was followed by Alex Salmond after an election which saw the SNP take power for the first time.

Hopes that Labour would return to office under Iain Gray in 2011 were dashed when the SNP achieved a landmark overall majority.

The party has had a total of seven leaders since McConnell stepped down.

On whether Anas Sarwar should now remain in post, McConnell said: “If he feels that he still has a contribution to make, and that he can be part of that recovery, supporting those MPs and the work that they are doing, then I think people would respect that choice.”

However McConnell added that Sarwar “should be calling for that kind of detailed review” into what went wrong. 

He went on: “I think Andy [Burnham] should be saying there needs to be that and that he wants to hear the results of that review of the evidence.

“Obviously, political parties are different from the way they used to operate but I do think that politics is stronger when people have had to test their ideas, examine what's gone wrong, and then debate the way ahead, and I think to continually just change leaders and demand loyalty without having that debate doesn't work. It just does not work.”

Speaking on the future for Scottish Labour, he said he has “been very worried about it”, and two years ago the party had “started to rebuild its connection with people” and that “was a great moment of opportunity”. 

However, he said: “Clearly, when you look at the result this year, that opportunity has been lost, at least in the short term, but politics is volatile at the moment and that opportunity can be rediscovered, and I think we have a very talented group of Labour MPs from Scotland – the best, in my view, we've had for a very, very long time – and I think those talents could and should be much better used if you look at the impact some people have been having; Tracy Gilbert, for instance, campaigning on women's rights and tackling sexual exploitation.

“[It’s] interesting to see a Scottish MP campaigning for something to change in Scotland, where the Scottish Parliament has got the powers to do something. It’s how devolution should work, in that it shouldn’t just be a one-way street.

“There’s also Joani Reid campaigning for a grooming gangs inquiry very effectively, changing the public debate in Scotland on child grooming gangs.

“The complacency in Scotland on this and the idea that it was not happening here was a load of rubbish. Joani almost single-handedly, and by sheer force of personality and determination, turned that whole mindset around, and there are a few other really good examples as well of people – Graeme Downie in Dunfermline on defence jobs, for example. There are others and some really good people out there doing some really good campaigning work and not necessarily getting the recognition that they should, and I think if those talents can be allowed to flourish then it's not impossible that Scottish Labour could reconnect with people the way that they did two years ago.”

Burnham, who enters office today, has pledged to “rewire” politics.

McConnell said this should include the scrappage of the “ridiculous” Scotland Office.

The move should be part of reforms to improve democracy in the devolution era, McConnell said.

He told this magazine: “I think it's ridiculous that we still have a Scotland Office and a Wales Office. I would scrap them and put the three territorial national offices inside a big Department of the Nations and Regions with a powerful leader who has got the regular ear of the prime minister and is a leader within the cabinet.

“I think big structural changes need to be made, but I also think that in terms of the operation of government we need to refresh the understanding and intelligence around the devolved nations, and that's partly about advisers who can make those links, but it's also about civil servants.

“So, for example, I think regular exchanges of civil servants between Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, and London would go some way to help, but I would insist on anybody who wants to be a senior civil servant having to spend some of their career on secondment in other areas of the country and that would be true in Edinburgh as much as in London. So if anybody ever wants to be a director or higher in the Scottish Government, they should go and do a wee bit of seconded time in London, and the other way around as well. If anybody wants to be a perm sec or a director or whatever in the UK Government, spend some time with one of the devolved governments and just get the whole system to knit together better and get to understand each other better.”