Scottish Labour has gone missing.But it’s not too late to rediscover it | Kevin McKenna

The time has come for some straight talking to halt the loss of members and bring the party back to life

When Scotland’s next generation of modern studies students is asked to explain the main reasons for the abject decline of the Labour party in Scotland, the possible answers should be offered in a multiple-choice format. The major problem facing the examiners would be: which options to leave out.

I suspect many would be tempted to plump for the one about the ruinous sense of complacency that had settled upon the party towards the end of the 1990s. This was evident in the conduct of some of its superstar MPs who felt that a long-distance relationship with their constituents was sufficient to maintain their support. By the time the SNP had got its electoral machine in full running order in 2011, Labour was desperately handing out satellite navigation systems to some of its big beasts for the purposes of reacquainting them with their neighbourhoods.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2HO8ys3