ANAS Sarwar was met with torrential rain in Leith on Thursday as he joined the General Election campaign trail.
Leading Scottish Labour politicians joined him, sheltered under umbrellas, just one day after the Prime Minister was soaked when he stood outside 10 Downing Street to call the election for July 4.
The Scottish Labour leader was confident about his party’s chances.
Asked by journalists if he believes Scottish Labour can better its 2017 result, when it won seven seats north of the border, he said: “I’ve got higher ambitions.
“I believe there is no route to a Labour government that doesn’t go through Scotland. We have to make significant gains here in Scotland.
“I recognise on paper that there is a mountain to climb. But I think we have done a huge amount of work over the last three years to get ourselves in a fighting fit position.”
READ MORE: What the polls say in Scotland as UK General Election announced for July 4
Those higher ambitions, if the polls are to be believed, are more than justified.
Labour were projected to win 39% of the vote north of the Border in the latest survey conducted by YouGov, while the SNP were projected to win 29%.
Elsewhere, the Conservatives were on 12% (-2), the Lib Dems on 8% (no change), the Greens on 7% ( 3) and Reform UK on 4% (-1).
An average of the most recent polls put Labour in a smaller lead. Analysis by Ballot Box Scotland (below) put Labour support at 35.8%, with SNP a little below at 32.3%.
Whatever your belief in polls, especially going into a frenzied snap election, you have to say that returning just 7 MPs appears very unlikely bar catastrophe and would be seen as a huge disappointment for Sarwar.
A lot can happen, though. Even in a campaign that will last just 42 days longer.
Scottish Labour will have to battle with the fact that they haven’t yet confirmed candidates in every seat, unlike the SNP.
There remains no one publicly earmarked for 7 seats: Angus and Perthshire Glens; Arbroath and Broughty Ferry; Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk; Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire; Dundee Central; Orkney & Shetland.
Several of their candidates have already been parachuted up from England. How many more will there be in the seats above?
The party will also have to do a better job of vetting – in much less time – than they did with Wilma Brown (above).
The party was forced to suspend the former General Election candidate in a key target seat after it emerged she had liked and reposted a swathe of offensive tweets.
You also have to wonder, after successive election cycles with meagre returns, how Scottish Labour will stack up to the SNP when it comes to activist and organisational resources.
Still a lot of questions going into what is sure to be a chaotic and action-packed 42 days until polling day – game on.
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