IAIN GRAY's MESSAGE AT NEW YEAR

The New Year is a time both to reflect and look forward while, hopefully, we have all learned some lessons from the year passed.


The Glasgow East by-election was a sore one for Labour.

However we picked ourselves up and came back against the odds to win in Glenrothes.

We listened to what people had to say, what they wanted and what was important to them.


The electorate responded to our message.

They knew we were on their side.

Labour has not stood by during the economic downturn.

We have acted to support hardworking families, pensioners, mortgage holders, protect services for the most vulnerable.

We have also acted to help stimulate businesses across the country and boost the economy.


I was particularly gratified as Labour’s new Leader in the Scottish Parliament at how my Holyrood colleagues threw themselves in to the Glenrothes campaign.

At all levels we pulled together – local councillors, the MSPs at Holyrood, and our colleagues at Westminster.

Unity is strength and the electorate respect that.


The campaign came against the background of the banking crisis and the credit crunch.

The Prime Minister, along with Chancellor, has given a lead and taken radical action in the global banking crisis, something that has been widely recognised both at home and abroad.


They stepped in with decisive action to save the Scottish financial sector, investing £37bn in two of our major institutions, HBOS and RBS.


The Chancellor also gave the Scottish economy a £2bn stimulus along with cuts in VAT, interest rates and new measures to protect mortgages.


But there is more to be done.

Big challenges lie ahead in 2009: more than in recent years, but it is something we should not flinch from.

Everyone is right to be concerned, but this is not a time to be afraid.

We must remember we are all in this together.


Jobs are a top priority.

That is why I stepped in with my Labour colleagues with a 15 point plan to boost the Scottish economy in response to the SNP’s lack of action.

Their own vague six point plan, which they could not even put down on paper, was an insult to the people of Scotland.


Meanwhile Labour will be doing more, much more in the year ahead.

We will be working in the Scottish Parliament to hold the SNP to account for letting down parents, pupils, patients, passengers when it comes to education, health and transport.


The SNP were increasingly exposed in the latter half of 2008 as incompetent and increasingly irrelevant.

Alex Salmond, in particular, has been caught out.

At a time for serious leadership, rather than just soundbites and photo-opportunities, he has been a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Paralysed by his lack of policies, he is incapable of meeting the big challenges, just like David Cameron and the Tories at Westminster.


Meanwhile Labour moves on with a positive agenda for 2009.

Jobs will be our top priority and Labour will not let the Scottish people down.

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