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Referendum Diary: January 2014

‘Ladies and gentlemen, I Mary Pitcaithly, Chief Counting Officer at the Scottish Independence referendum held 18th September 2014 am pleased to confirm that all ballot papers have now been verified and counted and I am content the results are accurate. Accordingly, I hereby certify and declare… The total number of votes counted in the referendum for the whole of Scotland is 3,623,344. The turnout was 84.6 per cent. The total number of votes cast in favour of each answer to the referendum questions for the whole of Scotland is as follows…Yes – the number of votes is 1,617,989. No – the number of votes is 2,001,926. There were 3429 rejected papers.’

Mary Pitcaithly – Chief Counting Officer, Scottish Independence referendum September 18, 2014

1 JANUARY: This will be a momentous year no matter the referendum result. One way or another, Scotland is going to be a different place by the end of the campaign, so I will keep a diary of the year just for my own interest. Chances are no one will ever see it but I want to record it from my own perspective.

As with every New Year I spent Hogmanay at my ma’s. Fiona is working nights at the hospital and Chloe is at a New Year party, so I’m at my ma’s with my brother John and his partner Sharron, my sister Anna, her husband Jim, my cousin Mick, who hails from Liverpool, and his wife Pam, and their kids Ali (mad hippy idealist, and fabulous musician who runs an annual music festival in Wales), Faye (biology teacher at the international school in Copenhagen), her husband Patrick (half Irish, half Danish), their one-year-old Flynn, who is absolutely gorgeous, and Fraser, who has just graduated in agriculture and works as a dairy farmer.

A fabulous night of music from Ali, Mick and Jim with everyone singing along. Plenty of beer, whisky, gin and wine, and some great crack. Hobbled off to bed at 5am – great start to 2014.

Referendum thought: early polls show big lead for No, but many folk are undecided and could sway the outcome. Labour must have a bold radical devo offer; the Devolution Commission must deliver, and deliver BIG. I have said from the moment I was elected that Scottish Labour MPs don’t get it and are just an ‘X’ on a referendum ballot paper away from their P45. Indeed, when I said this at a meeting of MPs and MSPs in May 2014, Jim Murphy said I should keep such views to myself and that they were not required – such arrogance!

Working on a speech for our return to parliament next Tuesday and will use it to promote the position of the Red Paper Collective, of which I am a member. We are calling for radical federalism across the UK, retaining a redistributive system of taxation and the Barnett formula but with double devolution to regions and communities; if only Labour would say the same, I’m sure the referendum would be won quite easily.

2 JANUARY: The Liverpool gang went off to Edinburgh for the day – and they loved it. Edinburgh is a beautiful city, and we often take it for granted, but it’s a great place.

Had a curry at my ma’s with everyone before listening to Radio 4 documentary on miscarriages of justice from the miners’ strike. I took part in the programme as part of my campaign for a review of the cases of miners arrested in Scotland during the momentous strike of 1984/85. That campaign will run and run – and I am determined to make progress with it this year.

3 JANUARY: Started working out campaign plan for this year. Political priority is the referendum, and I hope to expose the crisis in social care and health inequalities, as well as continuing my work on blacklisting and miners’ justice. Personal priorities are the constituency selection and planning for the list selection which may become important post-referendum.

Today, the UK government released Cabinet papers from 30 years ago, the year of the miners’ strike. The papers vindicate Arthur Scargill’s claims that 75 pits were earmarked for closure, and also that the government was prepared to call in the army as the National Coal Board crumbled – and that on almost every count Thatcher lied, lied and lied again.

4 JANUARY: Radio 4 miners story has provoked another 150 people to sign up to my campaign for a review of convictions – now up to more than 2,500.

Went to the cinema with Fiona to watch Long Walk to Freedom, the Nelson Mandela story. Thoroughly enjoyed it and the actress who played Winnie Mandela, Naomie Harris, was fantastic.

5 JANUARY: The Herald splash with the story that John Mulvey – former leader of Lothian Regional Council, and someone I tried to help win the nomination to become our MSP in 1999 – has come out in favour of independence. He is another who made his name in the Labour Party before turning against us when his career was winding down. I have more respect for the likes of Jim Sillars and Alex Neil, who left the Labour Party years ago, before or in the middle of their careers on a point of principle.

6 JANUARY: Attended the funeral of family friends Brian and Kit McLaughlin in the local chapel. It is most unusual for a mother and son to be buried on the same day. Two really good people.

It was then over to Cowdenbeath to help at the by-election caused by the sudden and very sad death of Helen Eadie, a lovely, caring woman with a great Labour pedigree. Alex Rowley, Gordon Brown’s right hand man, is our candidate. He is a shrewd operator and was excellent at the campaign launch. I suggested to Johann Lamont that we should stage a meeting in one of the miners’ clubs and get Nicky Wilson from the National Union of Mineworkers along, as well as others, and tell them that when back in power we will hold a review into the convictions of miners in Scotland. This will go down a storm in Fife coalfield villages such as Lochgelly, Lochore and Ballingry, which are covered by the by-election. Johann isn’t against it but has left the final decision to James Kelly as he is running the by-election with Gordon Banks MP – so that will be that kicked into touch. I guarantee we won’t hear another word of this.

I also took 10 minutes to speak to Ian Price, the party’s Scottish secretary, and urged him to re-think the pairing of the Almond Valley constituency with Falkirk East – (miles apart, no shared history, culture or understanding) but he looked at me in that vacant disinterested way he does and said he couldn’t do anything about it. The SEC will decide on Saturday.

7 JANUARY: Tommy has taken a week’s holiday in an effort to finish his eight-year-long PhD!

I take part in an SNP debate on Scotland’s future, which focuses on child care and free school meals (not introduced by the SNP, but by Barnett consequentials from the coalition’s decision to introduce them). The debate was dreadful, and it seems the new buzz phrase is ‘transformative childcare’.

Every SNP automaton spews out this line as no doubt a focus group told them it was a fantastic phrase and of course only independence in their eyes can deliver it. They have the powers to deliver it but hey-ho that doesn’t matter, as all they have to do is repeat the phrase!

The front bench position was poor. Instead of saying that of the two positive things – free school meals and childcare – we would put money into childcare as this is the best way to help families increase income through work, Johann and Kez got into claims that there is no evidence of the benefits of free school meals etc. This is simply not the case. There is a large body of evidence that suggests free school meals help children develop, concentrate and learn free from stigma. Predictably, this results in the SNP giving us a good kicking. I expected this would happen.

8 JANUARY: The papers have given Labour a hard time over the free school meals vote, which is hardly a shock. Why could people far more experienced than me not see this coming? Apparently Kez (Dugdale) said on TV last night that we may get rid of the small business bonus to fund childcare, and this was repeated by Patricia Ferguson today. I can just imagine the reaction had I said that. It is actually a decent suggestion, as the bonus is a £500 million gift to small businesses for zero return. They don’t need to create a single job or pay the living wage to qualify. At the very least there should be conditions attached. We need to call out the SNP on this as there is no evidence of the policy delivering any of their objectives, but without a doubt it will deliver votes for them.

Went to Lochgelly Business Centre for the by-election launch. Former Dunfermline FC manager and Fife Provost Jim Leishman introduced Johann Lamont and Gordon Brown. Alex Rowley then spoke and was passionate, articulate, unscripted and Fife through and through. An excellent candidate!

It has been quite a day, and it ain’t finished yet. I attended an evening group meeting on SNP plans to end corroboration. Women’s groups believe its abolition will bring more prosecutions for sexual assault and rape cases, but this would be a huge and fundamental change to Scots law, which I fear would open the door to further miscarriages of justice. Not an easy issue, but at this stage I cannot support it, and will urge the Shadow Cabinet to oppose.

My mate Alan Brown and his partner Rebecca had their fourth child today. They called him Keir, after Keir Hardie, founder of the Labour Party. A good name choice.

9 JANUARY: The Herald headlines today with the story of Dr Jane Hamilton, who headed up the perinatal ward at St John’s, Livingston. This was supposed to be a national centre of excellence dealing with vulnerable women and their newborn babies, but she was suspended after raising a series of concerns about the safety of the unit and the procedures it follows, or doesn’t follow to be more precise. I spoke to her at length and find it appalling that she is being gagged from speaking the truth. The NHS’s handling of whistleblowing is very poor. Instead of dealing with these serious matters, and using them as an opportunity to improve services, there appears to be a culture where they attack, discredit or gag the person raising genuine concerns about patient safety. Not a good situation.

I asked Alex Salmond about this at First Minister’s Questions and his retort was sharp. He was clearly unhappy about having to reply, but this is now on the record and I intend pursuing it as I find Jane a credible and committed person who has done nothing wrong. Time will tell if my judgement is right. After FMQs, NHS Lothian came out strongly against her saying everything has been investigated and they have no concerns.

Met with Anas Sarwar, Labour’s deputy leader in Scotland, and he has given me two weeks to write a health paper for our devolution offer. Anas is well-mannered, ambitious and extremely well connected. His father was an MP and multi-millionaire businessman and became a Governor in Pakistan in 2016. He and I have differing political views on some things but there is a mutual respect and we get on well personally.

I then attended a meeting called by 38 degrees on lobbying (In 2012 I introduced the Lobbying Transparency (Scotland) Bill, which sought to introduce a register of lobbyists). Mike Crockart, the Lib Dem MP, defended the awful UK government bill which is really just a naked attack on trade unions and their funding of Labour. Martin Sime, of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), came out strongly against the UK bill, saying it was outrageous etc, but went all defensive when I tackled him on SCVO leading the charge against my bill in Scotland. The reality is he is Salmond’s mate from university and does whatever the Scottish Government ask.

Tonight it was revealed that the French president Francois Hollande has been having an affair with a 41-year-old actress. I thought this was one of the qualifications for being the French President!

10 JANUARY: To Cowdenbeath for canvassing. I feel at home here; very much the same type of community and people as where I live. Cowdenbeath is an ex-mining town with lots of council housing, a football team and great people. I think I will enjoy this by-election.

11 JANUARY: Delivering election newspapers in Inverkeithing and it’s a beautiful winter’s day.

The Scottish Executive met today and agreed not to twin Almond Valley with Falkirk West. This is good news for me and helps if I go for the constituency nomination.

I was really saddened to hear of the death of local man Brian Welsh, who was only in his mid-50s. Cancer is soon to be the killer of one in three Scots and eventually one in two. Depressing stuff.

13 JANUARY: It’s my surgery today, and the agenda includes a disturbing assault case, housing issues and need for drainage at local football pitches. I write to the relevant people and agencies on behalf of my constituents. Surgery and constituents’ cases are the most important things I do and I take great care and pride in replying to everyone who contacts me. After all, they’ve taken the time to do so and deserve to be dealt with respectfully.

Housing is one of the greatest issues of our times. The under investment in council housing and selling off of homes has been a disaster. It is always a topic at my surgeries.

Chloe’s first day on placement as a student occupational therapist. She is at the Orchard Clinic within the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. This is a place for high tariff violent mental health offenders and patients. Her mum and I were naturally anxious about this but she showed no sign of apprehension. She had an excellent first day talking to staff and patients and was unfazed by it all. Chloe has the right attitude for this type of work. Proud as punch.

14 JANUARY: Shadow Cabinet meeting with Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC). They should be our greatest allies but stupid decisions over the years, and the advent of New Labour, have strained relations, and the SNP have cunningly built up a rapport with them. It was, however, a good meeting with Dave Moxham saying he thought the STUC wouldn’t take a position on the referendum. This is as good as we are likely to get as unions are under strong pressure from their members, many of whom support a Yes vote.

15 JANUARY: Shadow health team meeting. Richard Simpson still off after cancer surgery but he calls in via Skype, which is quite effective. Truth is, we are fire-fighting just now without him, as his knowledge and advice is invaluable.

Was due to attend a meeting with Brian Connelly, father of junior doctor Lauren Connelly, who tragically died driving home after a long stretch of 12-hour-plus shifts. I had asked for a meeting with Salmond on this, and he agreed, but I can’t attend, due to a debate I am leading on; so Tommy, and Margaret McCulloch one of his MSPs, agreed to attend. Tommy reported back that Linda Fabiani, MSP for East Kilbride, was there – Salmond must have invited her. I will call Brian tomorrow to talk further on what is a very serious matter.

Labour debate today calling for a wholescale review of the NHS. We need this as every element of the NHS is teetering on the brink. The call has been echoed by the Royal College of Nursing, British Medical Association, Royal College of Physios etc. Health Secretary Alex Neil’s tactic is to dismiss all concerns and personally abuse me! This means we are being effective. If you can’t answer the substantive point have a go at the man. Good speeches by Jackson Carlaw for the Tories, and Hugh Henry and Michael McMahon, with Alex Neil all bluff and bluster. Government rejects all calls for a review.

16 JANUARY: Chloe’s 18th today, which is hard to believe. She is a confident, funny, young woman who is quite a character. She enjoys a night out, likes a bit of fun and can work hard. She doesn’t get everything given to her on a plate and knows she has to contribute.

I went to watch the Standards and Procedures Committee evidence session concerning their inquiry into lobbying. Spinwatch, the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Unlocking Democracy, gave evidence. They were clear and confident with sound evidence, and spoke of the need for a register. In contrast, the reps from the lobbying industry looked smug and self-protecting. Alastair Ross was the best of them, while the others came across as vacuous.

At First Minister’s Questions, Ruth Davidson accused Salmond of ‘misleading people’. The Presiding Officer urged her to withdraw her statement, saying it was unparliamentary. Davidson was quick on her feet and instead said he was ‘detached from the truth’! It was an interesting exchange as misled or misleading has been used over 70 times this session. I thought someone would raise this at the end as a point of order but as no one did I went ahead and asked Patricia Marwick for advice and consistency in its use. She isn’t the greatest Presiding Officer, and can be rather partisan, even though she does give me quite a lot of opportunities at FMQs etc. I personally get on okay with her.

17 JANUARY: To Cowdenbeath to deliver hundreds of leaflets in a block of flats. Response on doorstep is decent and we are hoping for a 5,000 majority. If the weather is good on the day it will definitely help.

Chloe’s 18th birthday party tonight in the house. Fiona put in a huge effort with lots of photos up on the walls, great food, home baking etc. Around 50 people, young and old, appeared and it was fantastic – music, banter, dancing till the early hours. I do love a party in the house and the young folk’s company was great.

18 JANUARY: Lie in till 12 noon, and then it’s the big clear-up after the party. Actually, the house isn’t too bad. Several trips to the bottle bank though!

Excited for tonight. Going to Bathgate to see The Underground Jam tribute band. It will be like a school reunion. The Jam are my all-time favourite band so I expect the place to be bouncing.

The gig was fantastic. The music was spot on and I knew lots of folk there: Tossy McDonald, Elaine and Damian Byrne, Sean, Mikey, Tony Fairley, Gee McCafferty, Toyer, Martin Rennie, our John, Alan Findlay, Brunton. Best gig in ages.

20 JANUARY: Surgery at the office in West Calder. Today’s issues included fishing rights on the River Tay, anti-social behaviour and access to GPs and podiatry.

Off to Cowdenbeath for by-election campaigning and I was out with Councillor Billy Pollock (elected on the same day as Cara Hilton, our victor in Dunfermline) and Harry Cartmill from Bathgate. It was a good session. Ed Balls is in town to do some campaigning. I was leaving just as he arrived. I have to say he looks a real ruthless bastard, but maybe you need that to get to the top in politics.

Alex Rowley has the support of Councillor Willie Clarke, a Fife legend and the last Communist councillor in the UK. It’s amazing to think Cowdenbeath used to have a Communist-run town council. The SNP are trying to discredit Willie locally – and he is a Yes supporter too!

21 JANUARY: Shadow Cabinet meeting with Iain McNicol, Labour’s UK General Secretary. Complete unanimity from members telling McNicol to wake up to what is going on. I spoke out saying I was appalled that Labour were sleepwalking towards independence and MPs would be on the dole at this rate. I don’t think he gets it but he was left under no illusion about how we felt. I feel that as a Scot, McNicol should have known better but it appears he is just reflecting the UK party’s complete lack of understanding of the situation in Scotland.

Spoke in debate on suicide today. A friend of mine, Des Murphy, holds an annual concert in our village to raise money for the charity Touched by Suicide. The community show massive support and raise thousands of pounds each year. Des’s boy committed suicide about six years ago, and his family do so much to help the charity.

22 JANUARY: Spoke to a friendly lawyer today about a letter I received from ex-MP Jim Devine, who is to appear in court in Edinburgh in a defamation case with a former employee, Marion Kinley. The letter says Devine will call me to give evidence. I worked for Devine for about four hours before realising the madness I could be getting involved in, and walked out – sending him a stinging email on the way out. My lawyer pal says he will handle it; that the Irish law firm has no jurisdiction in dealing with this and that the whole thing looks a bit iffy. I feel a bit better now. Devine is a capable man from a very good family, but has lost the plot. I feel sorry for him but more so his family.

To the Bonham Hotel where I was the main speaker on health at a dinner hosted by the Centre for Public Policy. Twenty health people there, including board chiefs, academics, drug company reps, etc. I spoke about health inequality, social care, falling budgets, staffing issues etc. and repeated my call for a wholescale review of the NHS in Scotland. Interesting that the Chair of one of Scotland’s largest health boards supported this but would not commit to saying it publicly. Good event and I think I got my points across well.

23 JANUARY: Met with my brother, John and sister, Anna. John had just crashed his car on the motorway but thankfully didn’t sustain any injuries. They were in for my members’ debate on discrimination by airlines against disabled passengers, and wanted to speak about issues like the lack of small wheelchairs to move passengers etc. John said that each time he goes on holiday it’s an unmitigated disaster with regards to wheelchair and disabled provision, and that many disabled people have had similar experiences. Roberto Castiglioni of the Reduced Mobility Rights passenger group says this happens all over and that the EU must tighten up on it.

I led the debate, and Alex Johnstone and Jackie Baillie were excellent and supportive, while Colin Keir, who chairs the cross party group on aviation, was the apologist for the airline industry. He had clearly been lobbied. Afterwards, easyJet rep said they would change their policy and carry on-board aisle wheelchairs. It was a small victory, but made the effort worthwhile. Let’s hope others follow. The Minister agreed to write to the airlines and the EU about this matter. This has been a good day and hopefully I have made a difference to the lives of some disabled passengers.

Over to Cowdenbeath for five hours of door knocking. It was bloody freezing but hopefully worth it!

24 JANUARY: Stayed up late for Cowdenbeath result. Eleven per cent swing to Labour with 5,488 majority – a brilliant win for Alex Rowley. However, there is still a big worry that working class voters feeling shafted by Tory and Blair Governments are saying ‘to hell with it – independence can’t be worse than this so let’s vote Yes’. I completely understand this, so we need a response that is more coherent than saying Better Bloody Together. It’s clear to me the SNP will go all out to target Labour voters who hold the key to the referendum result.

25 JANUARY: After some union work it was off to the pub to ‘wet the wean’s heid’ with Alan Brown, his family, and our mates. I’m a bit worried that my mates Scotty and Toyer, both solid socialists, are voting Yes. These guys are a good barometer for me.

27 JANUARY: Devolution health paper due in today. I gave it to Richard Simpson for a final look and his fresh pair of eyes was a godsend. We were getting bogged down in detail but he nailed it and I’m very pleased with our contribution.

Received a briefing from Kez Dugdale on her childcare campaign called ‘every step’. It is straight from the ‘movement for change’ manual and ‘Progress’ crib sheet. Kez is ambitious and capable. She appeared recently on BBC Question Time and was very good but it is being over promoted too early by certain people in the party.

Went to surgery at South Queensferry and came home to check emails – one from a regular who is always abusive and threatening, although this one went a bit further. Might have to alert the police to this guy’s behaviour. It turns out he is a council employee, so I may also have to raise this, albeit reluctantly, with the chief executive of the council.

28 JANUARY: To Shadow Cabinet – report from Cowdenbeath is that Labour’s returns show 59 per cent of Labour voters against independence and 17 per cent in favour. I think this is complete bollocks, said so and was supported by others. If folk believe this they are mad!

29 JANUARY: Saw on Twitter this morning that Labour at Westminster will call for an apology for miners arrested at Orgreave, as well as the release of all papers – plus an inquiry. This is fantastic news on one hand but hugely frustrating on the other. I had urged the Scottish party during the Cowdenbeath by-election to announce that we would hold a Scottish inquiry on coming to power. As predicted, the Scottish party dilly-dallied and James Kelly and Gordon Banks failed to lead on this. It would be an understatement to say I am furious. I contacted Johann’s office and urged them to lead with it at FMQs. Again they took a conservative approach and simply put out a press release, eventually, calling for a review. I will push on with my campaign as many people have signed up to support my efforts.

Today Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England said that the sterling zone proposed by the SNP would mean a loss of sovereignty. At last. The Red Paper Collective have been arguing this for two years. Amongst the Yes camp it is difficult to find people who agree with the SNP on this. The Greens don’t, SSP don’t and Dennis Canavan doesn’t, but none of that matters. The SNP hierarchy dictates the line and the others must go along with it.

30 JANUARY: Papers are full of Carney’s criticism – the SNP policy is being savaged but Salmond and Sturgeon bluster on. Their brass neck and ability to say black is white is remarkable.

As chair of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union parliamentary group I work across parties with colleagues who support the work of the union. Today I met Scottish Secretary Lynne Henderson to discuss the likely outcome of their consultation with branches, and the position of the union in relation to the referendum. To date no trade union has come out for a Yes vote but Lynne suspects PCS will. Sturgeon has promised them the world: no redundancies, living wage and new jobs! It’s complete rubbish but she just does this anyway – anything to get folks’ votes. PCS has a small but influential number of Socialist Party of Britain and SSP members in their leadership team and some of their branch activists are pro-independence so not the biggest surprise to me. It won’t change the way I deal with Lynne and her team, or any of their members, but it would be significant if they came out for Yes.