LOCKED down at home with time on our hands, many of us have learned new skills during these last few months. Which makes you wonder why Richard Leonard didn’t have a go at teaching himself basic political strategy.
Indeed, surely even a quick skim of Politics for Dummies would have prevented the Scottish Labour leader making his latest in a long line of political misjudgements.
They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It’s one of those cliches that usually turns out to be true, especially in politics. And yet for some reason Mr Leonard refuses to believe it applies to him or his party. Why else would he place outright opposition to a second independence referendum at the heart of his campaign for next year’s Holyrood election?
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The policy proved to be a unmitigated disaster for Labour at the last general and Holyrood elections. For a significant proportion of Scots it also completely undermined not only UK Labour’s arguments over Brexit, but the credibility of the leadership race that followed Jeremy Corbyn’s resignation. Yet Mr Leonard keeps trying to flog voters this same dead horse.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the terms of the constitutional debate in Scotland,” Mr Leonard proclaimed over the weekend in a message to supporters, at the same time as a new poll suggested support for independence is on the increase. Does he really, honestly think coronavirus will change minds? Bring down the SNP? I suspect this is more likely to be naive wishful thinking picked up from London Labour circles.
“If the pandemic has taught us anything it is that people do not want to be divided,” Mr Leonard droned on, conveniently ignoring that coronavirus has already widened and accentuated many political and social divisions. And how does he plan to address the democratic deficit so many Scots already feel so keenly and may become more acute as Scotland emerges from the crisis? Through “home rule and devolution”, of course! Talk about Groundhog Day. A collective groan could be heard up and down the land. It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so grim.
What makes Mr Leonard’s stance all the more extraordinary is that with 11 months to go until the Holyrood elections he needn’t have committed himself now to a definitive policy on indyref2. Surely it would have been far cannier to wait and see what the rest of the year brings, not least in terms of how the consequences of the pandemic – both health and economic – is handled by the Scottish and UK governments.
Then there’s the small matter of the no-deal Brexit looming over us all once again. Boris Johnson hopes coronavirus will provide cover for the terrible damage it would wreak, on top of the dire economic troubles we already face. Such a ruse may work in Tory-voting England, but I doubt Scots will be fooled. Scottish Labour arrogantly telling us we should not have the option to choose a different future looked terrible last time around. It would look even worse now.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour reiterates opposition to second independence referendum
Nobody knows how coronavirus will impact the political landscape in Scotland and the UK in the short, medium or long term. I suspect, however, that voters pummelled by hardship and tragedy will be more ruthless than ever in punishing parties and politicians they believe treat them with disdain.
Opposing Scottish independence is a perfectly legitimate position. Characterising those who support it as sinister nationalists akin to Nigel Farage is not, especially when you insult half the population in the process. Support for independence remains an awkward inconvenience for Labour both north and south of the Border and yet the party continues to insist it is the electorate, rather than their own inability to offer a viable, attractive alternative, that is at fault. The disgraceful way Labour under Mr Corbyn let down the very people it purported to represent only adds to the hypocrisy.
Interestingly, one of the more sensible things Mr Corbyn did was shift his position on indyref2, stating that although he remained opposed to independence, it would be for the people of Scotland to decide whether a ballot should be held. His successor Keir Starmer appears to take a similar view.
The fact that Richard Leonard is neither willing nor able to see the political expediency of this approach, let alone the democratic legitimacy, tells you everything you need to know about why he and his party remain doomed.
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