Scottish Catholics spurn Labour for independence

New Labour 'not the party it was', says Scottish Church
By ANDREW M BROWN
SCOTLAND'S traditionally Labour-voting Catholic population is turning its back on New Labour in favour of the Scottish National Party and the future independence of their nation, while the Church in Scotland warned this week that Labour should not take the Catholic vote for granted.
A majority of Catholics 58 per cent — would vote far independence in a referendum, according to an opinion poll conducted by ICM and published in The Scotsman newspaper last Friday. Support for the SNP among Catholics is three times what it was in 1974, as Catholic support for Labour has declined.
The results of the poll seem to indicate that the old perception among Scotland's Catholics, who make up 13 per cent of the population, that the SNP was a Protestant party, has evaporated.
During the 1970s the nickname "tartan Tories" was attached to the SNP. According to a 1974 Scottish Election Study Catholic support for the SNP was just a third of what it was among non-Catholics. There were fears that an independent Scotland might leave the Catholic minority marginalised. The Catholic minority in Scotland is smaller than it is Northern Ireland.
Fr Torn Connelly, the Church's spokesman in Scotland, told The Catholic Herald on Tuesday he was not entirely convinced by the results of the poll, although he did see them as an important warning for Labour.
"I hear people saying on the one hand that this isn't the Labour party they grew up with, that it's in danger of losing its soul," Fr Connelly said, "but on the other hand it was the party that looked after the Catholic minority in the early days. Still, Tony Blair's outfit shouldn't take the Catholic vote for granted."
The opinion poll findings probably reflect the shift in support among the Scottish population generally, shown In repeated opinion polls since the election, in favour of the SNP, at the expense of Labour.
But Catholics in particular Government over student loans, single parent benefits. euthanasia, abortion and homosexuality.
Cardinal Winning has been enthusiastic about Scottish devolution and pushed hard to have the Scottish parliament accorded as many devolved powers as possible, which is also SNP policy.
The leader of the SNP, Alec Salmond, who is a member of the Church of Scotland but writes a column in the Glasgow Catholic
archdiocese newspaper, Flourish, has been pursuing a policy, since he became leader in 1990, of reassuring Catholics that the SNP includes them. One SNP Member of Parliament. Rosanna Cunningham, is a Catholic.
This week Mr Salmond said: "I am very pleased that the SNP's inclusive message is getting across throughout Scotland."
"I have always argued that to succeed the idea of Scottish independence must embrace every part of Scotland and every community and that no-one must be asked to give up their particular badges of identity." Scotland, the poll showed that more than 50 per cent of Catholics would still vote Labour in next May's Scottish Parliament elections. Catholics continue to support Labour in significantly higher numbers than Protestants. Protestants remain twice as likely as Catholics to back the Conservatives.
Analysing the results of the poll. Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University concluded: "With the prospect of a tough battle for power [in the Scottish Parliament elections] at Holyrood ahead, the SNP is still finding it more difficult to persuade Catholics to translate their views into votes.
"If Labour could draw support as strongly from nonCatholics as it currently does from Catholics. the party would face next May's Holyrood election with confidence, rather than trepidation.
"Not only is the level of Labour Party support significantly higher among Catholics than non-Catholics, but Labour's Roman Catholic supporters are less likely to say they might switch to the SNP in the Holyrood election."
The split between denominations in Scotland has 13 per cent claiming to be Catholics and 57 per cent