Labour vote to silence the people of Glasgow... until November!

In one of their last acts of sticking two fingers up to democracy before the Parliamentary recess, ZaNuLiebour MPs have voted to silence the people of Glasgow North East... until November.

Frustrated that no date had been set for a by-election in the seat vacated by ex-Speaker Michael Martin, SNP Chief Whip Stewart Hosie MP forced a debate and vote on the matter in the House of Snouts. The motion was heavily defeated.

Now, the author of this blog has no sympathy whatsoever for Parliamentary Whips who are themselves - in our opinion - an affront to democracy.

However, we do concur with the comments of Stewart Hosie MP who says of the defeat of his motion by ZaNuLiebour: "Labour has had every opportunity to call this by-election but they are clearly running scared of people in Glasgow North East... The sight of Labour MPs trooping through the lobbies to deny people in Glasgow the chance to vote for a new MP is simply unforgivable. These Labour MPs should be named and shamed for putting their party interests before the people of Glasgow".

We've just had a look at the Hansard record of the debate and were most impressed by the contributions of Conservative MP Sir Patrick Cormack who spoke passionately for the people of Glasgow North East and set out why, in a democracy, they should not have to wait until November before having a representative in Parliament.

The Herald newspaper has a reasonably balanced report on the events and a fairly even handed editorial - and despite their efforts to be even handed, the newspaper condemns the outcome of the vote to deny the people of Glasgow North East a political voice.