TIME and time again we hear the same promises from Labour. Ever since they lost 40 of their 41 seats north of the Border, they repeat one vow and hope we don’t notice anything else they say.
They tell us we’re listening. We hear you. We want to win you back.
Keir Starmer made this promise shortly after being installed as Labour leader this year and pledged he and his shadow cabinet would make more frequent visits to Scotland.
(We’re sure Starmer’s particular concern about Scotland is nothing to do with the report into Labour’s disastrous 2019 election performance warning he would need to win back several SNP-held constituencies if he ever wants to be prime minister.)
At the same time, though, it seems like he doesn’t actually want to win back the former Labour territories.
He has been advised to make Labour the “voice of the Union” to win back Scottish voters. He tells us a second Scottish independence referendum isn’t needed.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer to visit Scotland just days after saying indyref2 was 'not needed'
And yet opinion poll after opinion poll shows increasing numbers of people who vote for Labour in Scotland actually support independence, with recent estimates coming in between a third and 40%.
And this latest Labour advertising campaign proves once and for all that they just don’t have a clue when it comes to what’s happening in Scotland.
Starmer was Corbyn’s Brexit secretary and is keen to detach himself from that role – while in that position the party’s Brexit strategy was to push for a second referendum, giving the public the choice of a deal negotiated by Corbyn or remaining part of the bloc.
The strategy did not go down well with the party’s so-called “Red Wall” voters in the north of England, many of whom had voted for Brexit and wanted it dealt with – something the Tories successfully capitalised on last year.
Now Starmer wants to shift his image to someone about the Remain/Leave row, someone who wants to ‘Get Brexit Done’ in the words of Boris Johnson.
He told Sky last week: "I'm very clear therefore what's now in the national interest is getting a deal. We need to get a deal and we need to move on."
His party’s new Facebook ads show a Union flag in the background, with text reading: “Labour says: Get the Brexit deal done.”
At first glance you’d think it was a Conservative promotion.
Could you add anything to that graphic to make it more off-putting to people in Scotland?
Some 62% of Scots voted to stay in the EU and consistent polls tell us they stand by that. We also know that support for independence is now the majority position in the country.
SNP MSP Bob Doris was shown the advertisement. He told The National: “Labour are already completely out of touch with voters in Scotland, but they will never be forgiven for their part in dragging Scotland out of Europe against our will.
"For as long as the Labour Party promote this kind of Tory-light rhetoric whilst turning their back on a second independence referendum they will remain irrelevant in Scotland."
Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
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