Kezia Dugdale’s resignation as leader of Scottish Labour is not in the best interests of her party. For the first time in the most dismal decade in its history, Scottish Labour has been recovering in the polls. The general election went better than expected. A working relationship had been forged between the UK party’s Jeremy Corbyn and the more reformist Ms Dugdale. With good reason, Labour has set its sights on further gains from the SNP next time. By quitting, Ms Dugdale disturbs that still fragile momentum.
Respect for the difficult job Ms Dugdale was doing at Holyrood has also been growing. Her palpable decency and calm advocacy on Scottish issues have helped to augment, not undermine, the appeal of Mr Corbyn’s politics north of the border. Together they have pushed Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish Nationalists onto the defensive. Ms Dugdale has also been one of the few Labour politicians to pursue a more federalist agenda in British politics, giving her party a distinct and progressive position on the constitutional question.
Now all this has been placed at risk. A bitter party leadership contest may reopen the internal battles at which Labour excels, play into the hands of the disciplined SNP, leave a gap in the political centre for Ruth Davidson’s Scottish Tories to exploit, and leave Labour without the services of one of its too few prominent women.
Yet the resignation may also, entirely consistently, be in the best interests of Ms Dugdale. Labour’s eighth Scottish leader in the 18 years since devolution has been in charge at Holyrood since after the 2014 independence referendum. In less than three years she has had to deal with two UK general elections, a Scottish parliament election, local elections, an EU referendum and two Labour leadership contests. Fighting elections is what party leaders must do. Some will therefore say that, by resigning, Ms Dugdale is abdicating responsibility. Others that if she can’t stand the heat she has no place in the kitchen.
Nevertheless, these rapid-fire contests have been unusually bruising affairs. None has turned out as she wanted. A long personal relationship did not survive the pressures. Now Ms Dugdale has a new partner who belongs to a different political party – a cardinal offence in the eyes of Labour tribalists and conspiracy theorists. Many will sympathise with Ms Dugdale’s wish to step back and to put the personal first.
Claims that she was forced out by Mr Corbyn’s supporters are being widely denied. In the absence of further evidence it would be wise to accept the denials. Scottish Labour marches to a different drum. At this stage, moreover, there is little sign of a concerted push for a Corbynite successor. The early favourite, the former MP and now MSP Anas Sarwar, is a classic urban machine politician rather than any sort of “…ite”.
Ms Dugdale’s time as leader can hardly be judged a success. But, faced with Labour’s dire post-2011 Scottish predicament, she proved it is possible for Labour’s different traditions to work together and achieve successes. Those who see Labour politics as a zero-sum game between left and right will be sharpening their knives for another battle for control. But the real lesson of the Dugdale years is that if the different Labour traditions respect one another and work together they can succeed. If they don’t, they can’t.
