John Nicolson: Keir Starmer's Labour are offering nothing for Scotland

Of course, some say it’s always unwise to write off the Tories . They will fight this campaign with habitual venom. But their client media and billionaires’ cash will not be enough to save the hapless, incompetent Rishi Sunak government.

Westminster General Elections are won or lost in England. Scotland last ­altered the results of England’s votes way back in 1974. And England wants the ­Tories out and a right-wing Labour ­government in. Sir Keir is happy to oblige.

Since he became Labour leader Sir Keir’s strategy has been to ditch every promise he made when running for the Labour leadership. It’s safe to say Jeremy Corbyn (below) is no longer “my friend Jeremy”. And all the “sacred pledges” have gone.

These days, Sir Keir tries to say as ­little as possible about anything important. The less he says, the less he can be pinned down or quoted – or so his strategists believe. He’s the political jelly not pinned to any wall, red or otherwise.

But now, thrown into a snap ­election campaign, he can’t wobble and evade scrutiny. And the sight of Sir Keir ­exposed is unedifying, to say the least.

READ MORE: Keir Starmer unveils Labour's Trident 'triple lock' commitment

The slick media managers’ plan seems to be to ensure that Sir K is wrapped in a Union flag (unless he’s in Scotland) with the word “change” held up on placards never far from view.

Of course, on the dire need for change, we can all agree. The UK is broken. You do not need me to list all the horrors ­inflicted on us over the last 14 years by the Tories. For the first time in peacetime history, we are worse off at the end of this parliament than we were at the start, and we are getting poorer faster than anytime in living memory.

We need massive change – a radical and sweeping programme of reform and renewal – like that offered by the Labour post-war government of 1945. That was my mum’s first election and she always described to me the thrill of Clement Attlee’s ambition and the promise of real and meaningful change. Brave changes from a brave leader.

But what of Sir Keir and the current Labour leadership? All we are offered by them is timid tinkering. The “Ming vase stratagem”, they call it – avoid ­dropping the metaphorical vase of power on the tiptoe route to Number 10.

To be fair, there is one thing we do know for sure about Sir Keir. He is not loved much by voters. No pre-Iraq Blair here.

In fact, when he is elected, he will ­enter Downing Street with negative ­popularity ratings. That’s quite a feat for an ­incoming prime minister with a ­massive parliamentary majority.

But it’s what we don’t know about Sir Keir that troubles me. And I worry how easily he sheds one political skin after another depending on who he’s trying to please.

Look at the evidence of some of the very few things he has been forced to opine upon since he dropped his ­Corbynite cloak.

READ MORE: Keir Starmer will 'directly harm Scotland' with pledge to cut net migration – SNP

The two-child benefit cap is ­shameful. For those unfamiliar with it, this is the Tory law which says a woman has to prove she’s been raped in order to receive benefits for more than two children.

The humiliation of having to sit in front of strangers to prove that your child is a result of “non-consensual ­conception” – as the Tories call it – is beyond nauseating.  How can any group of politicians have ended up in such a dark place that this was thought decent?

As Gordon Brown said, “it condemns children to live in poverty”. He calls it an iniquitous policy. Brown says Sir Keir should scrap it. But Sir Keir says it’s not a priority.

The SNP Scottish government has tried hard to protect us all from the most heinous Westminster policies of ­recent years. The Scottish Child ­Payment has lifted over 100,000 children out of ­poverty. Scotland’s child poverty rates are now lower than any other part of the UK.

This landmark SNP ­government ­policy is, ­according to Oxford ­University’s Professor Danny Dorling, “responsible for the biggest reduction in child poverty in just one year anywhere in Europe”.

This is an SNP policy making a real difference to Scots who’ve suffered from years of Tory austerity both in my ­constituency of Alloa and Grangemouth and all across Scotland.

So you’d think Sir Keir would be ­desperate to emulate it. But no. Not “a priority”. Unlike bankers’ bonuses of course. Once upon a time, capping those was a priority for Sir Keir. But now he’s happy for them to stay as they are – a ­totem of greed and inequality.

Then take Brexit. Please. You may ­recall impassioned platform speeches from ardent Remainer Sir Keir Starmer.

In September 2019 after he became leader of the Labour Party, he said: “After years of deadlock, I am now convinced the only way to resolve Brexit is to go back to the British people. There is no other way to break the Brexit cycle and for the country to move on.”

He made a second referendum party policy. It was a pledge. A solemn ­promise. Remember? Now the word “Brexit” ­rarely passes his lips. He thinks his Brexit ­flip-flop is necessary to win over Brexit-voting constituencies in the north of ­England, and that goal has overridden any principles he ever had.

But he must see the economic ­catastrophe that is Brexit. He knows the untold damage Brexit is doing to ­businesses up and down the country. He knows Scotland voted against Brexit. He knows the rest of the UK now realises Scotland was right. But despite the huge costs of Brexit Sir Keir’s new position is, ludicrously, that there’s now “no case” for rejoining.

As Michael Heseltine said: “Ignoring Brexit will make this election the most dishonest in modern times.”

But it’s not just on child poverty and Brexit that Sir Keir has shape-shifted. His other abandoned pledges and principles make for a fascinating insight. His U-turn on scrapping tuition fees in England would make even Nick Clegg blush.  Sir Keir once promised he’d take the utilities back into public hands – as the SNP government has done with Scotland’s railways. Sir Keir has dumped Labour’s £28 billion green prosperity plan. And, of course, there’s the House of Lords. Labour have been promising to abolish that for more than a century. But it’s a comfy place for retiring Labour MPs and is set to stay despite Sir Keir’s promise to get rid of it. So can the real Sir Keir please stand up?

We will find out soon enough who the real Prime Minister Starmer is. But for Scottish voters, there is a very clear ­message. The Tories are going to lose and lose big. There will be a Labour ­government – one that’s limpet close to the Conservatives being ousted.

But who will stand up for Scotland when Sir Keir becomes Prime Minister? Anas Sarwar (above), the titular Labour leader in Scotland, says he will stand up to Sir Keir. But the evidence hitherto suggests that when Sir Keir phones him and says “jump”, Anas asks “how high?”.

History teaches us that parties with huge majorities become arrogant governments. We all remember Blair and Iraq. So, Scotland is going to need a strong independent SNP voice fighting for us at Westminster – not a phalanx of Labour MPs providing Scottish lobby fodder for Sir Keir as they rubber-stamp his every whim.

As the campaign trundles on and we see and hear more of Sir Keir, I ­suspect voters will realise how flimsy and ­uninspiring Labour’s offer is.

Here’s a test. Every time a Labour ­candidate says “Of course we’d like to do that, but...” understand what you’re ­being told is: “No change is Labour’s real offer to Scotland’s voters.” This when what we desperately need is brave, meaningful change.

Scotland needs the SNP breathing down Labour’s neck at Westminster. We have no other agenda than standing up for our country and Scotland’s progressive values.