Scotland’s influence in Britain will be strongest when you have a Scottish Labour Party working with a Labour Government. If you want a Britain that places Scotland and its interests at the heart of the Westminster debate, if you want a politics that is committed to smashing the class ceiling, if you want to see more money for Scottish public services or Scottish community energy projects then that’s the change we can deliver for Scotland. (Keir Starmer, Scottish Labour annual conference , February 18, 2024, Glasgow).
He (Anas Sarwar) said of his relationship with Starmer: “We took a different view on supporting those on the frontline on the picket lines. We took a different view in terms of the call for immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. We took a different view on the two child benefit cap.
“…We have a mutual friendship. We have a shared political route to power and we have a shared desire to not just change the Labour Party but also change our country.” (Anas Sarwar talking to Paul Hutcheon, Daily Record, February 17)
Ian Murray, until recently Scotland’s sole Labour MP, claimed it was Scottish Labour’s biggest ever conference. You could tell there was the scent of power wafting through Glasgow’s SEC by the record number of crisp white shirts, mauve ties and business suits. And, certainly, it was one of the quietest Labour conferences ever: no conflict, no clash between left and right, unanimous approval for composite motions. No wonder the hacks deserted the conclave by the Clyde.
So, plenty of confidence after Kingswood and Wellingborough but fear of complacency? Not obvious to this observer but, then, Sarwar, Murray and the Scottish Labour leadership are painfully aware that the polls so far show a dozen or more Labour gains in Scotland but not enough to win power at Holyrood after an absence of 19 years in 2026.
That was a key message at a Labour Friends of Scotland fringe meeting that raised three big obstacles to a Scottish Labour victory in 2026: voter apathy, a fiscal/spending squeeze in the first couple of years of Chancellor Rachel Reeves – and the failure to win over enough Yes/SNP supporters/voters through the absence of a distinctly Scottish policy agenda.
Murray’s take, echoed by Starmer, was neatly summed up: “We could send a message to Westminster or send a government and I say a government.” In Starmer’s words:
You can’t tell me – Scotland does not deserve better. Because it does. And we will deliver it. A new Scotland. A new Britain. Bound together, again. By an old partnership. The solidarity of working people. Across four nations. Driving our country forward. With a Labour Party dedicated to its service.
Lift up your eyes
Labour’s offer, according to shadow financial secretary James Murray MP, is “a credible plan to grow the economy” built upon three pillars: “stability, investment, reform.” Not only is that, as he admitted, not very catchy as a slogan but it begets the more serious question whether the first 100 days and a lot more of Labour in power in Westminster won’t be dominated by the search for stability – and investment and reform can wait. That means austerity à la Osborne 2010 passim on stilts.
That would be a disaster not only for poverty, inequality, declining social mobility and Britain’s crumbling infrastructure – the issues that matter to voters – but for Scotland and Labour’s chances in 2026. Sarwar won’t win a majority at Holyrood or become first minister if he is saddled with a Labour/Westminster record of continuing stagnation, poorer living standards, a broken housing market, and no hope.
Investment and reform are not afterthoughts that can wait but crucial to delivering “the change Scotland needs” via a new green industrial plan, enhanced public support for innovation, building far more houses, rethinking health spending and service provision, initial tax reform (not just ending non-dom status) and, yes, much greater devolution of power not only to the devolved administrations but local authorities and community councils. Labour in power must begin to put an end to what the Resolution Foundation and its partners call Stagnation Britain.
It’s not just a case, as Mandy Rhodes put it, of ensuring Scotland is “thought of in government” or Labour maximising Scotland’s influence in Westminster. In the 18-24 months of a Labour government in Westminster before the Scottish Parliament elections take place in May 2026 a key focus should be on delivering tangible change that voters recognise or setting train the reformed instruments that a Labour administration, majority or in coalition, could use to effect that change. Without this – and a re-examination of the case for EU membership voters could just decide to stick with the SNP despite its manifold failings in government.
See also: Will Hutton, Tear up these crippling fiscal rules, Observer; Robin McAlpine, The SNIB desperately needs reform, Common Weal.
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