Scottish Labour’s endless doom loop
by If political amnesia were an Olympic sport, Scottish Labour wouldn’t just win the gold – they’d retain it for two decades straight.
Looking at the current chaos engulfing Scottish Labour as they scramble to replace serial failure Anas Sarwar – who, was elevated to the Lords by Andy Burnham as a reward for leading his party to its worst election defeats in Scottish history, despite saying he wouldn’t – one thing becomes crystal clear: Scottish Labour has learnt absolutely nothing over the past 20 years.
Scottish Labour’s political strategy has long resembled a mechanical parrot programmed to squawk two phrases: “Vote for us to get the Tories out” and “We believe the Scottish people are sovereign“. Yet every time the they get handed the key, Labour uses it to lock the door on Scottish democracy.
In 2010, after benefiting from a wave of anti-Tory votes, Scottish Labour immediately rolled over and accepted Tory-led control over Scotland. To add insult to injury they then allied with the Tories in the anti-independence campaign.
Fast forward to 2024, when voters once again backed Labour purely to kick out a broken Tory government. What was the reward? Labour instantly turned around and imposed core Tory austerity policies right back onto Scotland.
Scottish Labour’s playbook appears to be:
- Tell the Scottish people they are sovereign
- Demand anti-Tory votes to “deliver change”
- Win
- Allow or impose Tory policies & deny Scottish democracy
- Lose 16 of the last 18 elections
- Repeat until political irrelevance
What makes this track record even more shameless is the blatant hypocrisy. In their own glossy policy manifestos before the 2024 election – such as their Stronger Holyrood document – Labour declared in black and white that:
- “The Scottish people are sovereign and have the right to determine the best form of government suited to our needs.”
- “The UK should be a union of equal nations.”
- “Power should lie with the people.”
Yet the second the votes were counted, those grand declarations vanish into thin air like snow off a dyke. The moment Scottish voters express a preference for taking control of their own future, Labour’s belief in ‘Scottish popular sovereignty’ evaporates, replaced by rigid adherence to Westminster control.
As opinion polls show independence remaining the preferred choice of the Scottish people – and with a pro-independence majority repeatedly returned to Holyrood – Labour’s response has not been self-reflection, but a hysterical effort to pretend the constitutional question doesn’t exist.
Their ongoing leadership contest to replace Lord Sarwar has rapidly descended from a political debate into a pub fight.
MSP Monica Lennon has publicly blasted the leadership contest, warning it “reeks of misogyny and male entitlement” and operates like a “private members’ club.” Senior party figures stand accused of orchestrated stitch-ups to block Lennon from even getting enough nominations to join the ballot, desperate to airbrush independence out of the contest entirely.
Challenger Joe Fagan – a figure previously suspended from his local council for leaking information and described by colleagues as “authoritarian” and “intimidating” -watched embarrassingly as supporters frantically tried to clean up his past by editing his Wikipedia page in real time.
In a twist worthy of a cheap soap opera, Maureen Devlin – the councillor who took over from Fagan in South Lanarkshire – has popped up as campaign manager for Fagan’s arch-rival, Michael Marra. When your own close colleagues run to manage your opponent’s campaign, the stench of internal rot is impossible to hide.
Commenting on the spiralling chaos, the SNP MSP for for Glasgow Baillieston and Shettleston David Linden said:
“The Labour Party in Scotland has been led to crushing defeat after crushing defeat, and yet they still refuse to contend with the reason why.
“For as long as they deny Scottish democracy to the Scottish people, why should they expect the Scottish people to put their faith in them?
“Polling shows independence is the preferred position of the Scottish people, our parliament has an historic number of pro-independence MSPs, and Holyrood voted for our right to decide. Unless their next leader engages with that reality, they will be forever consigned to the doom loop they find themselves in.”
Adding to the criticism, the SNP MSP for Rutherglen and Cambuslang Clare Haughey noted:
“Something very murky is going on within the Labour Party. Councillors that have spent years working with Joe Fagan are doing everything they can to stop him winning – what do they know which they are not telling the public?
“The Labour Party in Scotland are in a mess and unless they face up to the fundamental issue as to why they keep losing elections rather than fighting amongst themselves, this mess will end in their demise. That blindingly obvious issue is they continue to deny democracy to the Scottish people and a say over our own constitutional future.”
Scottish Labour’s attempts to run Scotland while ignoring its national right to self-determination is like trying to drive a bus with no steering wheel – you can floor the accelerator as often as you like, but you’re still heading for a crash.
Until Scottish Labour abandons its anti-democratic stance, honours its own written promises on Scottish sovereignty, and stops treating Holyrood like a branch office playpen, they will remain trapped in an inescapable doom loop of their own making.