Starmer celebrates a “strong summer” – but what of Scottish Labour?

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“It’s been a really strong summer from everyone. And we’re starting to see a real contrast now. Professional, credible and responsible opposition – in the national interest. Versus an utterly incompetent government that’s holding Britain back,” Keir Starmer told his parliamentary party last night. The PLP meeting was held over Zoom, of course, and that will only change in time with a shift to a hybrid system whereby shielding MPs can join, LabourList understands. The government is also extending its hybrid system for parliament, according to Playbook, which means MPs will be able to participate virtually until November 3rd.

“Professional, credible and responsible” – those are the key aims of the Labour leader. They were reflected in his priorities over the summer: the repeated lines on competence; the engagement with typically hostile pro-Tory publications such as the Daily Mail, particularly on schools reopening; the strong focus on message discipline among frontbenchers. Added to these aims, which came through during the leadership election, Starmer is stressing that Labour is patriotic, with phrases such as “in the national interest” and “holding Britain back”. But as I said last night to Anneliese Dodds, the other part of that puzzle is Scotland. And things aren’t going smoothly in Scottish Labour.

Over the last few weeks, Richard Leonard has been working to draw public attention to Scottish Labour’s policy agenda – and away from another independence referendum – in the run-up to May’s Holyrood elections. He launched his vision for a Scottish Green New Deal, he joined with Dodds to warn the SNP of a jobs crisis (she suggested in our interview that it was no coincidence they announced more funding for culture and arts that day), and yesterday called for a Scottish National Care Service (which Sturgeon then announced would be going ahead). But the internal pressure on the Scottish Labour leader has just intensified, with the resignation of a shadow cabinet member who has called on him to quit, as have two other MSPs.

As highlighted in the Labour Together election review, unless fortunes in Scotland are reversed, UK Labour would need to go so far down its list of seats that Jacob Rees-Mogg’s North East Somerset would need to be won to form a majority. Starmer’s big electoral test in May 2021 is not limited to the bumper set of local contests in England and Wales – the Senedd and Holyrood will also count. And just like the review says of UK Labour, a change of faces at the top won’t solve the party’s problems: they go far deeper than that. When the UK party struggled with the dominance of an existential question about national identity last year, skirting around the issue did not work – and it won’t work in Scotland either. But as in 2019, any alternative approach is fraught with difficulties.

On LabourList today, we have a write-up of my interview with Dodds, which covers the root of government failures during Covid, how pushing Rishi Sunak for an economic response has been “like pulling teeth”, Labour’s position on wealth taxes and much more. Plus, we’ve revealed that alleged racism complaints against three of Labour’s national executive committee candidates are being investigated by the party. And later on, we’ll be reviewing our first Prime Minister’s Questions after the summer recess. We can bet that the word “incompetent” will feature heavily in Starmer’s attacks.

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