LABOUR'S UK conference is currently under way, and that means policy announcements ... but it was a reference to Scottish Labour by shadow chancellor John McDonnell that proved most incredible.
The Labour MP had just finished some big reveals – a 32-hour working week, restoring full trade union rights, and free personal care at the point of use in England.
McDonnell then pointed out that a Labour government (remember those?) had already introduced this in Scotland.
Putting a Scottish angle on the policy, he went on: "When we spend the billions needed to guarantee free personal care in England, there actually will be billions more for First Minister Richard Leonard when he takes office in 2021."
No, that isn't a typo – trying to sell his party's policy, he seriously suggested Richard Leonard would win the Scottish Parliament election in 2021.
Let's put this into perspective, firstly by looking at the most recent Holyrood poll, taken for The Times from August 29 to September 3.
That YouGov poll had the SNP on 45% and the Tories in second on 23% for the constituency vote. Labour were at only 13% – just a point ahead of the LibDems. In other words, the SNP polled more than three times higher than Labour.
This was a particularly dismal one – but it fits a trend. The latest polls before that had Labour on 16%, 18% and 16%, with its list vote roughly the same.
When Leonard took over as Scottish Labour leader, his party was polling around 25% in both the constituency and list vote.
Unless you're a Scottish Labour MSP named James Kelly, these numbers will have informed you by now that "First Minister Richard Leonard" taking office in 2021 is about as likely as a coherent, consistent Labour position on Brexit.
Running that YouGov late-August poll through Weber Shandwick's Scotland Votes returns a prediction of 65 SNP MSPs and 12 Labour MSPs.
While Labour does approach "Federalism" as a magic word expected to solve all ills, even they would admit that it might take somewhat more accomplished sorcery to overturn a deficit of 53 MSPs.
Less charitable folks than ourselves might even suggest that McDonnell's stumbles trying to get his statement out were due to his attempts to contain his laughter at having to suggest an FM Leonard.
Still, the Scottish Labour leader will just be relieved someone knew his name.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel