Douglas Alexander: ‘We won’t just keep seats in Scotland we’ll win even more’

Douglas Alexander has his sights firmly set on General Election success in May.

Douglas Alexander says he spent Christmas watching “a very large quantity of bad films” but he’s convinced 2015 won’t be a horror movie for Labour.

Far from being a bloodbath, he reckons Scottish Labour could even pick up seats at the May general election.

Newly installed leader of the Scottish party Jim Murphy has said he wants Labour to hold all their Scottish seats.

But Alexander, in charge of the party’s general election strategy, says they could do even better.

He said: “Frankly if you look at seats like Edinburgh West or East Dunbartonshire or Argyll then there are other opportunities for Labour.”

All the constituencies he namechecks are currently held by Lib Dems giving an indication of what his plan might be to steer Ed Miliband to Downing Street in May.

Labour are keen to sideline alternatives like the Lib Dems and the SNP and present the election as a straight choice between them and the Tories. It’s the “Vote SNP or Lib Dem and get Cameron” strategy.

Ironically the Conservatives are taking a similar approach but they are trying to shore up their vote with a “Vote Ukip get Miliband” message.

Alexander said: “The country’s got a fundamental choice between a failed Conservative plan and a Britain that succeeds when all of us work together.

“We’ve experienced some very tough years. We’ve got real challenges. But I believe a country that works for everyone and not just the few is the best future for you and your family.

“David Cameron’s plan would take spending back to levels of the 1930s when we didn’t have a National Health Service. We’ve got an economy that just isn’t working for most people in our country.”

He raises the issue of the economy despite Labour trailing the Conservatives by as much as 17 points in polls asking who voters trust to manage the nation’s finances.

He added: “I relish the contest and the discussion around the economy because the Conservatives have a very clear approach and they’ve tested it.

“They want wealth to trickle down from the top of society, they believe that insecurity is the way to get people to work harder and they believe that low pay is the only way we can compete in the world. And we have a different vision.

“We believe that Britain only succeeds when we all succeed. We want a country that succeeds for everyone not just the few at the top.”

If Labour trail badly on the economy the polls have them even further behind in Scotland where they have to win if Miliband has any chance of becoming Prime Minister.

Despite being general election supremo Alexander claims Jim Murphy is in charge in Scotland and he denies this poses a problem for him in drawing up a strategy to win a UK election.

He added: “I nominated Jim, I voted for Jim, he’s the right man to lead Scottish Labour. I believe his leadership strengthens our prospects of defending and winning seats in the coming general election in May and I’ll do whatever he asks to help and support him in that task.

“He’s the leader of the party, he gets to make the calls and he gets to make the decisions in terms of what we do in Scotland.”

Murphy and Alexander were at the core of the Better Together campaign during the independence referendum. But while Murphy was facing down mobs from his famous Irn Bru crates Alexander was largely holed up in HQ devising strategy.

He was central to the campaign ad aimed at women voters that came to be dubbed “Patronising Better Together Lady”.

But he says he’s no regrets.

“You can always look back at individual posters, broadcasts, speeches, interventions, campaigns. I tend by instinct to look forward, not back.

“The campaign made a broadcast. The campaign made several broadcasts. I don’t think I met a single voter who mentioned any one of the campaign broadcasts on either side.

“The issues were much bigger than a single broadcast. This was about who we are, what we believe and we’ve heard the sovereign will of the Scottish people and the sovereign will of the Scottish people is to stay in the UK.”

Jim Murphy and Douglas Alexander have been around politics a while, just like Labour’s other big beasts of the referendum campaign Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown.

Asked to name the party’s rising stars in Scotland he cites Murphy and his new deputy Kezia Dugdale along with Dundee MSP Jenny Marra.

That’s not a huge pool, especially since Murphy hardly counts as he’s switching from Westminster where he’s been an MP for nearly 20 years.

There’s a perception that most of Labour’s young Scottish talent is at Westminster and a feeling that the new leader might be manoeuvring to transfer some of it to Holyrood.

Alexander deflects the question but doesn’t deny it. He said: “It’s for Jim to lead us and for individuals to make their decisions. My sense is those discussions are for another day.”

Similarly he wants to postpone any talk of what happens in the event of a hung parliament the most likely outcome at the election.

Despite surely having negotiating tactics and strategies up his sleeve he said: “I’ll leave it to others to offer post match analysis before a ball has even been kicked.

“This is a bad government that deserves to lose. Our task is to show ourselves worthy of carrying people’s hopes and dreams into that election and that’s what we intend to do between now and May.”