WE are often reminded that in the not too distant past, Scottish Labour votes were weighed rather than counted, such was their dominance in Scotland.
As the party lurches from defeat to disaster, that particular titbit has taken on almost mythical status. Last night, Scottish Labour suffered electoral humiliation, and they have nobody to blame but themselves.
It was their worst ever election result. They lost both their Scottish MEPs and secured less than 10% of the vote.
READ MORE: Civil war again as ‘humbled’ Leonard backs People’s Vote
You need only look to the fact that this former big beast of Scottish politics came in FIFTH place to see just how far they have fallen in Scotland.
To begin to understand their failings, we should start by looking south of the Border. The Labour Party is now a one-man band under the control of the dogmatic and uncompromising Jeremy Corbyn. Unfortunately for Scottish Labour, he has been shown to have little understanding of Scotland or Scottish politics.
His Brexit message was tailored for an English audience. They didn’t fall for his vague offering, and so it is no surprise that Scottish voters didn’t either.
To give credit where it is due, some Scottish Labour politicians have tried desperately to warn Corbyn that his constructive ambiguity towards Brexit would not play well here.
There was a hope that when Corbyn-mania began – and how long ago that seems now – Scottish Labour could ride on the coattails of his hype. Perhaps if Jeremy Corbyn had shown any willingness to engage with those outside of his London-centric fan club, they may have.
But the dark prophecy of the “branch office” has proven true, and Scottish Labour are left floundering. They are now a party that looks directionless. It is difficult to see where they are going to claw back support from. They are outmanoeuvred on the pro-Union side by the Tories and have had to sell a largely pro-Brexit message to Remain-voting Scotland.
Richard Leonard is a loyal Corbynite and so it is no surprise that he was largely absent during the EU election campaign. In the run up to the vote, he was anonymous in a way that even the expert in dodging difficult policy issues, Ruth Davidson, would be proud of. Rather than acknowledging the widening gap of opinion on the EU between Scotland and England, he preferred to pretend it wasn’t happening at all. This was a cowardly decision on his part and his Scottish Labour colleagues deserved better.
The biggest individual casualty of the night for Scottish Labour was David Martin losing his seat. As the UK’s longest-serving MEP, David Martin was a respected and diligent representative of Scotland in Europe. He is vocally pro-EU, which may go some way to explaining why it was left to Nicola Sturgeon to recognise his long public service.
She tweeted: “Obviously I’m delighted with @theSNP result, but genuinely sad for @davidmartinmep – he has been an excellent MEP and passionately anti-Brexit. He was one of the very last Labour people who deserved to pay the price for his party’s prevarication.”
It is characteristic of the graceless and self-serving Jeremy Corbyn that he failed to commiserate a Labour politician of such high stature.
READ MORE: Six things we’ve learned from the Scottish results
In a rambling statement posted on Twitter, he failed to mention his EU candidates at all. Neither did he thank Labour activists for their hard work during the campaign. It was a particularly galling slight as all those who put in the groundwork for Labour did so knowing they were heading for a drubbing.
In normal times, under vaguely competent leadership, a party which faced their worst-ever election result would analyse where they went wrong and change course. I get the impression that this is unlikely to happen under the stewardship of Richard Leonard. As MSPs and activists grow more frustrated with their Scottish and UK leadership, there is little evidence that their concerns are going to be listened to.
In trying to please everybody and dodge the heat of the Brexit debate, Scottish Labour have pleased nobody and let down their supporters.
They are adrift and caught between difficult constitutional questions they aren’t brave enough to offer serious answers to.
The only question is, how much further will they fall?
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