Kenneth Gibson, Robert Brown and Margaret Curran

Well, not content with contending the Glasgow East by-election and putting together a potential challenge for the Labour leadership, Margaret Curran has also found the time to positively skewer Kenny Gibson for some Crap Holyrood Chat. Indeed, this was the inaugural Crap Holyrood Chat if memory serves correctly.

Margaret was assisted to this end by Robert Brown. The Labour / Lib Dem coalition lives on!

Original Motion
S3M-02296 Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (Scottish National Party): Glasgow East By-Election— That the Parliament condemns the Labour Party for its decision to call the Glasgow East by-election on 24 July 2008 in the middle of the Glasgow Fair, when Glaswegians are traditionally on holiday; is aware that such a decision will disenfranchise thousands of voters who will be unable to secure a postal or proxy vote in a constituency that already has a history of low electoral turnouts; believes that Labour’s decision to call the by-election so quickly is due to a chronic fear of the SNP winning one of its safest seats; considers that calling a by-election so swiftly does not allow voters time to effectively assess the merits of individual candidates and policies, and is of the view that for the democratic process to work effectively by-elections should be held not less than eight weeks after the writ is moved.
Supported by: Stuart McMillan, Keith Brown, Christina McKelvie, Bashir Ahmad Lodged on Wednesday, July 02, 2008;

S3M-02296.1 Robert Brown (Glasgow) (Scottish Liberal Democrats): Glasgow East By-Election— As an amendment to motion S3M-2296 in the name of Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow East By-Election), leave out from “believes that Labour’s” to end and insert “notes, however, the SNP’s poor electoral record in Westminster elections and that the Liberal Democrats are the challengers to Labour in Scotland at that level, with 12 seats to the SNP’s six and with the most recent by-election gain in Scotland being by the Liberal Democrats at Dunfermline and West Fife; further notes that the SNP is in any event largely irrelevant in Westminster elections, with one of their most senior MPs hardly ever in attendance, and believes that the electorate in Glasgow East is more than capable of identifying both the failures of the Labour Government at Westminster and the many u-turns and broken promises that are the hallmark of the SNP government, including those on class sizes, police numbers, student debt, first-time buyer grants and slashed support for Glasgow Science Centre.”Supported by: Ross Finnie, Hugh O'Donnell, Tavish Scott, Mike Pringle Lodged on Thursday, July 03, 2008;

S3M-02296 S3M-02296.2 Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Scottish Labour): Glasgow East By-Election— As an amendment to motion S3M-2296 in the name of Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow East By-Election), leave out from “condemns” to end and insert “notes that if a by-election is not held in Glasgow East now, the earliest that the rules permit a by-election to be held is at the end of October 2008; notes that when an MP resigns, a writ for a by-election cannot be moved during the summer, unlike when an MP dies or is elevated to the peerage; believes that the people of Glasgow East should not go without a voice for four months; supports the decision to call a by-election now, and condemns the SNP for trying to deny the people of Glasgow East a voice until the end of October.”