If you’d like to know whether the Labour MP Joani Reid is any good, canvass the opinions of some of her colleagues in the Commons. You’ll hear that the 39-year-old is, variously, too big for her boots, an attention seeker, and, of course, a right-wing Zionist stooge. More than one comrade will tell you she’s only an MP because of who her grandfather was. It doesn’t matter that the much-admired trade unionist Jimmy Reid died in 2010 or that he was a member of the SNP at the time. He just fixed it for her, right? That’s how it works. But Reid, the MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven (a seat she snatched back from the Scottish nationalists last year) is a very good parliamentarian indeed.
Across a range of significant issues on which colleagues are either absent or wrong, Reid is clear, direct and frequently correct. Notably, she speaks sense in areas where Scottish Labour is vulnerable to Nigel Farage’s Reform, now a serious force north of the border and on course to win 14 or more of Holyrood’s 129 seats next May.
Reid rejects the crank gender ideology that’s gripped so many of her colleagues. When the Supreme Court confirmed in April that, when it came to the law, sex is a matter of biology, she stood out as a rare example of a Labour politician who’d been on the side of the feminists campaigning for that victory.
After the murderous attack on a Manchester synagogue, earlier this month, she was swift to urge others not to attend pro-Palestine marches (provoking those Zionist stooge charges). And, while many of her colleagues remain paralysed with fear when it comes to talking about immigration, Reid is refreshingly willing to speak uncomfortable truths.
When the SNP’s leader in Westminster, Stephen Flynn, recently accused the Home Office of failing Glasgow over funding for immigrants, she accused the nationalists of choosing to turn Glasgow into a ‘sanctuary for asylum seekers through their own virtue-signalling policies.’ Raising concerns about the viability of an asylum project isn’t the sort of thing Scottish Labour MPs do. It is, however, the sort of thing that chimes with voters.
Reid’s positions on issues such as gender, the Middle East, and immigration have so enraged some on the left of her party that they’ve felt obliged to inform her that her grandfather will be spinning in his grave.
This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of Jimmy Reid’s shirt-and-tie-on-Sunday values. He did not crave revolution for revolution’s sake. Rather, he was a great pragmatist and his granddaughter appears similarly afflicted.
Clever, confident and stricken with common sense
Last July, Scottish Labour won 37 of Scotland’s 57 Westminster constituencies. After almost two decades of decline in Scotland, the party seemed rejuvenated. Anas Sarwar looked like a decent bet to become first minister. Since then, Scottish Labour’s ratings have slumped. A series of unpopular decisions taken by Keir Starmer have boosted support for the nationalists. John Swinney is leading the SNP towards a fifth consecutive Holyrood election victory.
With the resurgent nationalists likely to hold the majority of Holyrood’s constituencies, next May, Labour will depend on votes on the regional lists to ensure a healthy presence in the Scottish Parliament.
Reform will be chasing those same votes and they will do so with clear messages on women’s rights and immigration. Reid – gaining a reputation in political circles but still a Pointless answer – could be Scottish Labour’s secret weapon. She’s clever, confident and stricken with common sense. If I were Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, I’d have her on the ministerial team.
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