From BBC Scotland today, the above and:
Scottish Labour’s Holyrood election result was a “disaster…made in Downing Street”, according to one of the party’s former MSPs.
Monica Lennon, who lost her seat in May’s election, said voters could not get beyond the prime minister’s unpopularity, and therefore “Scottish Labour couldn’t get a hearing.”
Mince.
They’ve be working this line for years.
Last September, 7 months out from Holyrood 26, they knew they were in trouble despite the July 2024 Labour ‘Change’ wave in the General Election, when we in the SNP got a chilling reminder of just how easily influenced most of the electorate is.
In the Scotsman 7 March 2026, Prof Curtice claimed:
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party “really are in deep doo-doo”, polling guru Sir John Curtice has said. Sir John, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, said the party’s poll rating is arguably at an all-time low.
That was obviously true but this wasn’t:
Pollster Mark Diffley said recent developments were bad news for Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar as his party looks towards the Holyrood election next year. “It’s really bad timing, obviously, for Anas,” he told The Scotsman. “Hugely bad.” He added: “He must think, ‘Will I ever get a clear run to be able to make some progress?’”
Mr Diffley said Labour is polling badly in Scotland because of perceptions of the UK Government.
“It seems to me he [Mr Sarwar] just can’t get on the front foot, really,” he said. “It feels like he’s going into this with one arm tied behind his back with everything that’s going on completely outwith his control, but which is continually negatively impacting his chances. That must be hugely frustrating.” He said Scottish Labour are “hamstrung” by events down south. https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/sir-john-curtice-starmers-labour-really-are-in-deep-doo-doo-5305573
This is an old story now – the idea than Anas Sarwar would do better in the polls if it wasn’t for Sir Keir Starmer’s policies.
It’s hard to see the sense in this when it ignores so much.
First, the people now know that, despite BBC Scotland’s attempts to shield him from scrutiny, Sarwar is on record as having publicly supported all of those same policies, including scrapping benefits, closing a Scottish refinery and genocide in Gaza.
Second, the people also know that their new local Labour MP has been loyally voting with the PM on all of those same policies and, I’ve heard, not responding to them.
Third, in the last 10 UK polls, Reform UK has had an average lead over Labour of 10.9 while in Scotland, the SNP has had an average lead over Labour of 14. Labour in Scotland, under Sarwar, are doing worse than Labour in the UK under Starmer.
So, it’s not Starmer to blame but Sarwar and the Scottish Labour MSPs and MPs to blame for being cynical opportunists and/or spineless lackeys
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Talking-up Scotland 
So glad grifter Lennon lost her seat.
Labour will destroy Labour, it’s on the cards. Oh dear.
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The problem that Labour in Scotland has never managed to resolve, since Winifred Ewing won in Hamilton in 1968 was how to respond to the growing support in Scotland for independence.
While they tried other arguments, such as the real dangers of ‘blood and soil’ nationalism, and the values of internationalism and the common interests of working people everywhere, increasingly, their arguments crystallised around hostility to the concepts of Scotland and Scottishness.
Even though during the period from 1980 to 2010 they had a number of very talented MPs who held strong socialist and social democratic views, they struggled against Alex Salmond’s immense political skill and this pushed them into a position where they were attacking Scotland and Scottishness.
Unlike Labour MPs in Wales, who were openly proud of their Welshness, Labour MPs in Scotland were clearly uneasy, increasingly unhappy in their Scottishness, and this evolved into hostility to things Scottish. They became uncomfortable in their own skins.
This evolved into cavilling oppositionism after the party lost the Scottish elections in 2007. Since then, they have not even attempted to present a vision of Scotland which would attract large numbers of voters in Scotland. Voters can see that Labour in Scotland sees Scotland and Scottishness as inferior to ‘Britain’ and ‘Britishness’.
But, there has always been a conflation of the concepts of ‘Britain’ and ‘England’ and Labour, across the UK has always backed away from analysing what these different concepts connote. Its failure to address this has left the defining of ‘Britain’ and ‘England’ to the right wing, to the Tories, Reform and Restore etc.
Labour in England has to decide what ‘England’ and ‘Englishness’ are and how these relate to ‘Britain’ and ‘Britishness’. People like the former Minister, John Denham, are doing that and Burnham’s devolution ideas will probably advance that. Labour in Scotland will be excluded from that, not because people like Denham and Burnham are anti Scottish, but because Labor in Scotland has separated itself from Scotland and Scottishness.
If it is to survive, Labour in Scotland has to become ‘Scottish’.
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Poor Anas ! Ha ! Ha!
Even when he pretends that he is different from Labour in England he is tainted with Labour in Scotland !
Perhaps he should pretend that he has nothing to do with Labour ANYWHERE !
Trouble is , he will still be Anas the Ambulance Chaser , Anas the ghoul making political capital out of the death of a child !
An Ass !
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Yes, Sarwar didn’t win his own constituency seat. That wasn’t because Starmer was so unpopular, was it…..
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