Scottish Labour’s revival could win the next general election | UK Politics | New Statesman

[@rhobatbrynjones7374]

One factor missing from this discussion was the reason for Labour's staggering overnight failure which was their decision to join with the Tories in campaigning for a No vote in the independence referendum. It wasn't their opposition to independence that was the problem but their standing shoulder to shoulder with the party which imposed the poll tax on the Scots before England and Wales. There will be many voters who still distrust Labour to this day because of what they saw as a betrayal.

[@baltasarnoreno5973]

And an awful lot of water has flowed under the bridge since 2014 and people move on.

[@mmcc5846]

​@@baltasarnoreno5973no hasn't labour will not win Scotland

[@rhobatbrynjones7374]

@@baltasarnoreno5973 Yes it has and yes they do. But it's only nine years ago which is not long in political terms and while Starmer and Anwar may well be able to turn the tide in Labour's favour, there is a higher crest to surmount because of 2014, which I don't believe would be the case if if hadn't happened.

[@southafrica73]

English people speaking about Scottish politics. Deep joy!

[@monkeynews8311]

Shame the electorate don't take the same view towards the party that imposed the highest tax rate in the UK on to them.

[@acenmitch1048]

Freddy is best commentator in this podcast. Always like to listen to what he says. Reminds me of Lewis Goodall

[@ArtSmart91]

“Given the state the SNP is in”…typical, labour only winning because everyone else is doing crap lol i

[@daviddevoy2197]

It will be interesting to see how much Starmer is visible in the campaign. IMO he is not an asset to Scottish Labour. And Scottish voters will become disillusioned with a Starmer government quite quickly.

[@daviddevoy5966]

@Pando12345 It is hard to come to any other conclusion. Your next UK PM has vowed to "make Brexit work". That aint gonna go down well in a country which voted 62% in favour of remaining within the EU. Sarwar, the Scottish labour leader, has had to distance himself from Starmer on the 2 child benifit cap for example. And as Stamer seems intent on following Blair's trick of mimicking the Tories to get into power, like Blair he will find himself as welcome as a fart in a space suit in Scotland. I think the SNP are indeed a traincrash right now but Starmer's Labour have shown no intent or ability to fill the vacuum.

[@mohammedsarker5756]

@Pando12345 The optics of an English politician dominating the Scottish branch of the party isn't terribly helpful, no?

[@rhobatbrynjones7374]

If they're not already. Their Rutherglen and Hamilton West candidate, Michael Shanks, has distanced himself from Starmer by stating that the two-child benefit cap is heinous and has to go.

[@beachcomber1able]

He better watch out Starmer doesn't purge him. 😆

[@rhobatbrynjones7374]

@@beachcomber1able 🤣

[@christopherherdman153]

Don't be daft. As much as I despair at the current state of the SNP; Starmer's Labour Party remains toxic.

[@gilbertmoyes2918]

So hell will be frozen over shortly.

[@christopherashton8692]

really hating these constant posts about labour gaining in scotland because of the snps controversy, yes the snp arent doing well that is clear, but how exactly are labour primed to take advantage of that? so far keir has offered nothing to the scottish people in terms of policy or even in practise (going further to the right every month) so how exactly are they primed to take that? typical english commentary from pundits who never understood the shift to the snp over the last few decades and still dont understand the incredibly distrust of labour and westminister as a whole. absolutely stinks of “oh the snp experiment has failed, now they’ll come back to labour” which considering that just puts more power back in the hands of essential the westminister elite, is extremely suspicious.

[@malik250988]

Why dont we wait for the result of this by election to make this assumption...

[@christopherashton8692]

its not an assumption. labour has done nothing in terms of specifically trying to win back the scottish voter. but particulary from this affiliation theres constant remarks of snp controversy equals labour wins and that to me is incredibly insulting. like the scottish voter has no choice but to turn to a party who has done nothing for them recently and doesnt seem to want to do anything for them any time soon. like scottish votes are something you can pick up off of someone elses failure rather than actually winning it on your own merit.

[@LeftLib]

@@christopherashton8692 Rightly or wrongly there is an expectation Labour will win this by-election. If instead the SNP win, then that would actually give them an even bigger boost than they would get if the SNP were favourites. So if you are right then you ought to be pleased with this commentary.

[@christopherashton8692]

@leftlib its not their specific prediction i’m getting at, its a by election and their importance are always massively overstated. (think labour losing in london to tories, won by a local issue and not respresentitive of national politics) its the constant predictions that the scottish electorate will turn back to westminister when that completely disregards the last decades worth of voting where it wasnt just about the snp itself, it was scotland voting for scottish interests. and that lack of understanding or purposeful omission from posts likes this shows that nothing has changed in british politics from a scottish perspective because it always come back to how britian (england) sees scotland and not how scotland sees itself.

[@Sam-eq9bu]

Agree, hearing nothing from Labour about what they are going to offer Scotland in the next general election. I think they are relying on people fancying a change from the SNP and Labour being the only home for these voters - rather than offering further devolved powers / federalism / any decent policy to win back independence voters.

[@YellowfinGrouper]

Vote Labour in Scotland - get more Westminster Tory Governments. Over time Tory Governments will outnumber Labour Governments. Independence is the only way forward.

[@alexpotts6520]

There's this imagination failure of Scottish nationalists, they always assume that an independent Scotland would have SNP governments (or at least left-of-centre governments) forever, ignoring the fact that basically every independent democratic state has right-of-centre coalitions capable of winning elections. Sure, the Tories can't win elections in Scotland *now,* but post-independence would be a whole new ball-game. And given that independence is generally expected to cause a recession, and recessions generally push voters to the right...

[@anthonysullivan3238]

Love your podcasts. They're very informative

[@rhobatbrynjones7374]

In a democracy, that is up to the voters to decide.

[@rustynail1194]

What labour revival? Are you serious?

[@steverichmond7142]

Labour in Scotland are as inspiring as a dead halibut. Dear god... is this the best the party of Keir Hardie can do. They want to give all the new energy gains of Scotland to the UK.

[@RedToriesBlueTories]

Despite the problems the SNP are having the thought of going back to Scottish Labour run by branch manager Sawar fills me with dread. Scotlab msps disagree with pretty much everything Starmer stands for. Brexit is definitely the elephant in our country.

[@steverichmond7142]

@@RedToriesBlueTories Sawar the Incredible thinks it's ok to send all our money to London.

[@kayedal-haddad]

You’ll be lucky if Scottish Labour win up to 10 seats in Scotland!

[@aricato4399]

Coming from the future. Labour won 37 seats.

[@southafrica73]

English people speaking about Scottish politis. Deep joy! I especially liked the reference to deep fried Mars Bars.

[@deanunio]

Errrr one of the people is Scottish, and us English have numerous Scottish born MPs and during Blair Brown half the cabinet were Scottish. God you people moan

[@pastyman001]

People from the West Country can also talk about Yorkshire politics, legally and morally. Or even British about French politics

[@keithparker1346]

​@@deanunio"you people" quite patronising

[@deanunio]

@@keithparker1346 you’ve just proved my point! I was talking about the moaners on here. But I do often observe the sore Scottish person looking to for a reason to feel “patronised”

[@Glasgow_kiss]

@@deanuniowhat you have done is just lump every Scottish person in together. And your justification is some mps have been Scottish. The fact is this is that labour have lost 66% of by-elections that polls suggested they should have won with huge majorities, now this lot are desperate for a labour win and hoping Scotland will bail them out, despite it being only a by-election, which are usually a poor turnout and largely protest votes against the incumbent. You would never hear of this by election if labour wasn’t desperate. Using phrases like deep fried marsbars is akin to saying haggis or kilt to define a nation.

[@2000bhoy]

Cant see it happening but i have been wrong before.

[@georgemorrison9280]

It’s not so much a vote for Labour but a resounding vote against the SNP and all it has done to Scotland’s detriment over the past decade .

[@CacklingAntagonist]

You keep repeating the phrase "Scotland will form an essential part of labours majority at the next general election" as if Scotland has factored into the outcome of any general election in the last 30 years. I can't see us becoming important to any politician outside Scotland now

[@alexpinna]

What are you talking about. A large number of the cabinet, including the Chancellor, in the Labour 1997-2010 gov was Scottish and/or held Scottish seats. Similarly, as much as I dislike them, the Tories from 1979-1997 had a significant amount of Scots in their cabinets throughout. This SNP narrative that Scotland only got a voice once they go into parliament is false, tired and parroted too often.

[@henrysnowdon7563]

​@@alexpinnagreat point.

[@alexpotts6520]

In 2017, gains by the Scottish Conservatives kept the party in office. So Scotland has indeed had an impact on recent elections - even if not in the way you would like...

[@michaelhance7888]

What revival? There hasn’t been one and never will be . Can you imagine how many Labour members there are in Scotland ? 200 or something.

[@mikeinforeignland3749]

Can I just say - Freddie is so damn cute :)

[@sturdywordy1158]

What a choice! Labour or SNP

[@maryfenton958]

No way... labour is finished in Scotland.. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@gerrymacmillan8233]

ha ha ha Labour wins in scotland, am in Holland and yes i am a snp supporter ........... labour has no chance in scotland, scotland has moved on from labour just labour has not seen this.

[@richmaniow]

Labour could pinch it if the SNP vote stays at home but they could easily loose it again at the general election when turnout will be higher and when the vote really matters..

[@theshadowdirector]

The revival is vitally important to getting an effective Labour government. Multiple Labour majoritys in the past would have either been unworkable or non existent if not for Scottish support.

[@Steviebond2]

Should Labour take it, it'll generate some momentum and they could be on their way to picking up at least a few seats in Scotland.

[@monkeynews8311]

They'll pick up plenty in Scotland. No other party is worth voting for. No one is going to vote conservative, SNP are finished after their corruption, theft and complete mismanagement of everything they've touched, alba are a joke with sleepy cuddles, Russian Salmond, greens don't have any support and are borderline demented... So who are we going to vote for then?

[@Sam-eq9bu]

The Scottish press are happy to turn a blind eye to the serious disagreements on policy from UK v Scottish Labour, imagine if it were the other way around and the SNP candidate disagreed with their leader