WELL that didn't take long, did it? You might have thought that the Labour Party might have waited a week or two before revealing that it has learned nothing at all from its long period in the electoral wilderness. Labour's new MPs have scarcely got their bums on the benches and Anas Sarwar is already back to his party's traditional duplicitous and double dealing self.

In 2022, the Labour conference passed a resolution calling for a shift to a proportional model of voting in Westminster elections, as already exists in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Yet on the back of Keir Starmer winning a crushing majority in the House of Commons but winning just over a third of votes cast, Sarwar suddenly tells us that people are not interested in the issue of proportional representation.

The SNP did not drop its support for proportional representation even when the First Past the Post (FPTP) system was working in its favour – allowing it to pile up Commons seats out of proportion with the percentage of votes the party received.

But now that it's Labour's turn to reap the benefit, Anas Sarwar has lost all interest in proportional voting systems. Who'd have thought it?

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Speaking to BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show, Sarwar said: "Our manifesto set out that we support the current voting system and we’ve got to make this system work. Everyone knew the rules going into the election campaign. We’ve fought the election campaign and we won the election campaign. We don't make the rules, we played the election by the rules.”

There's so much to unpack there. Let's start with the glaringly obvious. You DO make the rules Anas – or rather, your party does. I'm sure you've noticed that your pal Starmer is now the Prime Minister with a massive Commons majority which allows him to do as he pleases.

There is absolutely nothing to prevent him from introducing a proportional voting system for Westminster elections, he just doesn't want to. It would prevent him from piling up a massive majority in future Westminster elections.

Keir Starmer repeated the word 'change' to no end in the General Election campaign

When Starmer promised “change”, he certainly didn't mean changing the dysfunctional, sclerotic, and undemocratic Westminster system. The very last thing that Starmer is interested in is being held to account.

Spare us the intelligence-insulting nonsense of "we don't make the rules" – when you are literally the party of government that makes all the rules.

While we are on the topic of "we played the election by the rules”, is that not precisely what the SNP did during the Scottish Parliament election of 2021.

During that election campaign the SNP and the Scottish Greens both stood on a platform of asking for a mandate for a second Scottish independence referendum, they won a convincing majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament. Labour and the Tories lost.

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By the established rules, the SNP and Greens achieved the mandate for a second independence referendum, only for the losers, Labour, the Tories, and the LibDems, to get their pals in Westminster to effectively rewrite the rules and decide that there was no such mandate after all.

Now, "playing by the rules" is sacrosanct. Isn't it peculiar that long established rules need only be respected when it's in the interests of the Labour party.

Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman has slated Sarwar's self-serving comments saying Labour "must not turn its back on electoral reform just because it has benefited from the system this time. She added: "To do so would be a total betrayal of democracy."

With Starmer in charge, it's a case of “meet the new boss the same as the old boss”. Proving this, the Scottish Government says it has been totally left in the dark on the new "council of regions and nations" which has been announced by Keir Starmer.

(Image: Press Association)

On Tuesday, the new Prime Minister promised to set up the new council bringing together both regional and national leaders across the UK. Starmer said that the new body, which was first mooted by Gordon Brown's deeply underwhelming constitutional review, would be used to discuss “shared challenges” and “opportunities”.

Starmer made the announcement as he met with metro mayors from the English regions.

It's unclear whether the leaders of Scottish city councils will be invited or where the meetings will take place. A spokesperson for the Scottish Government told The National that it had not been given any information about how the new body would operate.

It's only been a few days since Starmer took office. It's already a case of deja do as you're told – and a high-handed Westminster laying down the law to Scotland without consultation.

READ MORE: Ian Murray urged to clarify stance on 'lifelong opposition' to nuclear weapons

New Scotland Secretary Ian Murray looks set to be as high-handed and dictatorial as his predecessor, the dreadful Alister Jack.

Speaking on BBC Good Morning Scotland, Murray repeatedly refused to rule out any planning decisions being taken by the UK Government over the heads of local people or devolved governments.

The Scottish Government is opposed to nuclear power stations being built in Scotland, prefering to invest in the development of Scotland's massive renewable energy potential. Instead, Murray said it was “really important” for Labour to deliver on pledges in its manifesto – which includes promises to “end a decade of dithering” and build new nuclear power stations.

This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.

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