THERESA May’s disastrous June election showed that even a disunited Labour could still appeal to voters as long as it had progressive policies, though not enough to prevent a Conservative-DUP victory.
The events of the last few days, however, have yet again exposed Labour’s deep rifts over many issues, not least Brexit and immigration. If the party was truly honest, it should rename itself the Labour and Unionist Party, but it is not their inconsistent stance on Scottish self-determination which The National highlights today.
No, it is the Labour leadership’s stance on Brexit and immigration which shows how utterly divided the party is on fundamental issues.
It has long been thought by their opponents that there is a sinister side to the Labour Party, and not in the original Latin meaning of the adjective – ‘the left’ – and it is Corbyn’s own words on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday which exposed that pernicious and disquieting element in Labour’s make-up.
READ MORE: Labour’s truce cracks over immigration and single market policy
Saying that he would let EU nationals stay here after Brexit, Corbyn added: “What there wouldn’t be is the wholesale importation of underpaid workers from central Europe in order to destroy conditions, particularly in the construction industry.”
So immigrants are to blame for poor wages? It is bad enough hearing such Ukip-type sentiments from the Torykips, but for a Labour leader to voice such a view on immigration that is simply incorrect is shameful.
Mark Lazarowicz, former Edinburgh Council leader and MP for Edinburgh North and Leith from 2001 to 2015, during which time he was a shadow minister for international development, said it in a single tweet: “Shocked at this language from Jeremy Corbyn. Comments about Central European migrants could have been made by UKIP.”
Even as his close ally and shadow chancellor John McDonnell was holding out the hope of the UK remaining in the single market, Corbyn was adamant we must be out of it: “The single market is dependent on membership of the EU ... the two things are inextricably linked.”
Meanwhile shadow trade secretary Barry Gardiner said staying in the customs unions would be a “disaster” and he wants a Turkey-style customs agreement, while shadow Brexit and foreign secretaries, Keir Starmer and Emily Thornberry, both say the UK should negotiate some form of membership of the customs union.
A recent poll of Labour members showed a majority in favour of staying in the single market, while Labour’s Welsh leader Carwyn Jones eloquently told Corbyn there was “no need” for the UK to leave the single market.
It appears that Corbyn is coming to Scotland to hold rallies here. Perhaps the unusually quiet Kezia Dugdale and her members can tell him that this nation of Scotland voted to remain in the EU, that we need immigration to keep our health service and industries going, that we require access to the single market and customs union.
This newspaper has comprehensively shown that a hard Brexit will be a catastrophe for Scotland. It is time for Scottish Labour to tell its UK leader that his stance on Brexit and immigration is plain wrong.
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