WENDY ALEXANDER today sought to put her troubles behind her and galvanise Labour for a fightback against the SNP in her first conference speech as leader.
Ms Alexander was expected to use her speech to tell delegates at Aviemore that the SNP were dishonest and incompetent, by claiming they were using Scotland, not serving Scotland.
She was due to tell the conference at Aviemore that the harsh re
ality of council cuts would start to bite just as First Minister Alex Salmond jets off to America next week.
This afternoon's speech is a crucial test for Ms Alexander who has had a rough ride since taking over as Scottish Labour leader in September.
She survived calls for her resignation over an illegal donation to her leadership campaign, but criticisms of her performance have not gone away – this week she was accused of doing the SNP's job for them by setting up a commission on more powers for the Scottish parliament.
Yesterday, however, Gordon Brown told the conference Ms Alexander would be Scotland's next first minister.
Today Ms Alexander was expected to underline her determination to spearhead Labour's fight back against the SNP.
She was due to tell delegates: "I will lead by exposing the dishonesty and incompetence of the SNP administration and I will lead by developing a new programme for government."
She was also expected to ridicule as "absurd" Mr Salmond's idea of a multi-option referendum on independence using a 'one two three' voting system, where people could choose between separation, the status quo or more devolution.
Ms Alexander was not expected to refer to her recent troubles, and in what was billed as a positive, forward looking speech she accused the SNP of broken promises and taking Scotland in the wrong direction.
"They promised student debt would be abolished," she said. "They promised every first time buyers would get a £2000 grant, they promised class sizes would be cut and said they could freeze the council tax without cutting service, but cuts have already begun."
Ms Alexander was ridiculed by opponents after she gave herself 10 out of 10 for her leadership of the Scottish Labour Party.
In a website interview she was asked how she rated herself. She replied: "Rising all the time is the answer. Ten out of ten."
A source close to Alex Salmond said: "This is another example of Wendy not being good with figures. You don't get to write your own report card in politics and the peoples' verdict is that she is 75 points behind Alex Salmond."
SNP MSP Alex Neil said: "If Wendy's performance is ten out of ten, imagine how worse it could be."
The full article contains 454 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
