Hopes for a breakthrough on teacher strikes as Dominic Raab says offer also on the table for junior doctors
Even the most loyal SNP supporter would admit that the current leadership contest has not been a great advertisement for the party. None of the candidates are seen to comparable to Nicola Sturgeon in leadership ability, some of the debates have been acrimonious, and the contest has opened up a public debate about the failings of the SNP government.
One person taking a close interest in this is Keir Starmer. Scotland was predominantly Labour territory, not SNP territory, in UK elections before 2015, and Starmer wants some of those voters back. He has made a pitch for them in a major interview with the Daily Record. Here are the main points.
Starmer claims the SNP are “falling apart”. He says:
I do think the SNP are falling apart. I think they have run out of road and the mask of many years, which is to argue only about the constitution in the hope that nobody will notice how bad you are in government, has slipped completely.
They’ve descended into an internal wrangle where they are bitterly accusing each other of being pretty well unfit for office on the basis of their appalling record.
He claims the SNP is lurching to the right. He says:
They are showing that they’re not truly a progressive party. They’re not truly the party of change. They’re actually the party that’s run out of ideas, run out of hope.
I do think there’s a real lurch to the right. I think it exposes the SNP as a party that hasn’t got a common thread running through it.
Starmer urges progressive voters wanting change to back Labour. He says:
If you’re progressive, if you want change, if you see a better future for Scotland, where the economy is thriving, where we are rushing towards the next generation of green jobs, if you want a Scotland with better public services and opportunities for every child and a safer Scotland, then that change is on offer. And that change is with Labour.
He says reforming the Gender Recognition Act will not be a priority for a Labour government, and criticises Sturgeon for not taking public opinion with her when her government passed its gender recognition reform bill. He says:
What’s happened in Scotland is a reminder that if you want change, you have to carry the public with you.
Gender recognition will not be one of the priorities of the incoming government.
I think the expectation will be the budget is set, it provides enough resource, but of course with all of these things, and particularly with something as fluid as the strikes, the opportunity to make sure we get that right is there.
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