Waiting for a Left Wing Government

In Prospect magazine the author Andrew Adonis writes on Scottish politics (The SNP’s huge electoral test: Humza Yousaf’s party is about to enter an existential battle with Labour). On social media the magazine promoted the article saying “Currently, the SNP’s bid for Scottish independence is inconceivable. Rather, the nationalists should get good at “supporting left-wing governments and negotiating favourable deals on finance,”—making possible the foundations for independence”.

Adonis argument is based on a reading of Spanish politics: “A key strategy for the SNP must be to not overplay its hand in the event of a hung parliament. Spain may offer a foretaste. After last month’s closely fought election the fate of Pedro Sánchez, the left-wing prime minister, hangs on the votes of Catalan secessionists who six years ago tried to declare independence from Madrid. But the newfound strength of the left has come at the expense of nationalists. Sánchez’s socialists are now the largest party in Catalonia. If the nationalists there overdo it, they will probably just end up with another election and further decline.”

This is a familiar trope, that an incoming SNP government has some moral duty to support an incoming Labour one. And it is a misplaced analogy to compare Pedro Sánchez with Sir Keir Starmer. Adonis goes on:

“In this politics—with nationalists in decline and left-wing parties relieved to be ascendant once more in potential breakaway territories—a successful bid for independence is inconceivable. Rather, nationalist skill in Barcelona and Edinburgh will lie in supporting left-wing governments and painstakingly negotiating favourable deals on finance, culture and the locations for new public and private institutions, strengthening the foundations for possible independence hereafter.”

To be fair negotiating with a new Labour government may be necessary, even if small beer could be expected given the mutual animosity between Labour and the SNP, but several things rankle about Adonis’s analysis. First, we are not a ‘breakaway territory’. Second, Labour are not a left-wing party. Third the mechanistic idea that ‘nationalists are in decline and left-wing parties are in the ascendancy’ is a very superficial take.

The daily-reveal of abandoned Labour pledges continued yesterday with a scoop by Lucy Fisher, Michael O’Dwyer and Jim Pickard in the Financial Times:

“Labour has watered down plans to strengthen workers’ rights as Sir Keir Starmer tries to woo corporate leaders and discredit Tory claims that his party is “anti-business” ahead of the next general election. A pledge to boost the protection of gig economy workers was diluted by the party’s leadership at Labour’s national policy forum in Nottingham last month, according to people familiar with the matter and text seen by the Financial Times. The party also clarified its position on probation for new recruits, confirming a future Labour government would continue to allow companies to dismiss staff during a trial period.”

“The moves come ahead of a battle for the support of business leaders before a general election expected next year. Conservative ministers are looking to highlight what they see as a contradiction between Labour’s policies and Starmer’s efforts to court corporate chiefs in what party insiders have called a “smoked salmon and scrambled egg” offensive.”

The Best Thing to Come out of Scotland

The move comes alongside Labour abandoning their commitment to devolving employment law as previously declared (Labour would not devolve employment law to Scottish Parliament, says Angela Rayner). Paul Hutcheon expressed a touching disappointment writing: “This seems like a big u-turn by the UK party. Anas Sarwar told me earlier this year the devolution of employment law would be “phase 2” of a Labour Government.”

In fact Rayner’s decree should be put alongside the other announcements of Starmer’s Scottish visit. In a week where Keir Starmer declared that Scotland could be the ‘beating heart of a New Britain’ echoing both David Cameron’s ‘lead don’t leave’ and Tony Blair’s notion of ‘a revived young Britain’, it was an exercise in vacuous rhetoric.