Early Days

When Alexander was first appointed by Keir Starmer, the First Minister John Swinney commented on Radio Scotland that Alexander had made life difficult for Scotland and that he had ‘soured’ relations between Scotland’s government and Westminster considerably.  This had led to the haemorrhaging of what had been a ‘pretty constructive relationship’ during Ian Murray’s term – even though the latter was no lover of the SNP himself.

The appointment of Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to the House of Lords adds insult to injury. Sarwar’s ‘elevation’ to the Lords can surely only strengthen the view amongst many – including those who voted Reform – that politicians are self-serving. Sarwar’s move cannot but damage Labour’s general standing with the Scottish public. The Lords are part of the archaic UK governance system which prompted Sarwar himself in 2022 to call for it “to be abolished, as it has no place in 21st Century politics”.

Labour’s Sisyphean task

Scottish Labour has a massive hill to climb if it is again to gain relevance in Scotland’s politics – an impossible task under Sarwar and other old Labour hacks.  Despite massive donation funding – £553,635 in the last quarter of 2025, including £150,000 in December from the Easdale family, Labour’s eventual vote under Sarwar and Jackie Baillie’s – 16% on the overall list – was the lowest in its history since Scotland’s Parliament was established. 

Gerry Hassan, writing on Bella Caledonia, has described Scottish Labour currently as ‘a hollowed-out entity, still unsure of how to act in opposition’.

Sarwar’s ‘elevation’ and Alexander’s re-appointment seem to suggest real change isn’t coming soon.

Meanwhile the pro-independence parties remain strong, both in terms of their voting share and representation in Holyrood.

But before pro-independence voters console themselves that all it needs is one final push ‘if only’ the undemocratic denial of a second referendum can be removed, there is a lot to be questioned about the current state of the independence movement both in and out of Parliament. This is an area where sensible democrats in Scottish Labour should surely push for their own change of course in order to regain a position as part of the sensible pro-independence movement, for a different Scotland, and to be – in Gray’s words – ‘in the early days of a better nation’.

For genuine change, and to answer the question ‘what is independence for?’ the pro-independence parties need to rebuild a connection to the communities in Scotland which are increasingly in a state of economic emergency.

This is where the Labour tradition in Scotland can help, and in doing so, can help regain a solution to Labours ‘hollow core’ problem.

There needs to be real debate on Scotland’s economy. Under successive UK governments including Labour, Scotland has become increasingly de-industrialised and has lost control over key industries.

There was no real debate on the economy in the last election – and even the situation in Grangemouth where helpful legislation exists on a ‘just transition’ away from carbon fuels, there was a failure of an adequate response from the SNP government.  Within Scottish Labour, where there is still an ambiguous approach to real action on climate change (as opposed to a blind re-exploiting of Scotland’s undoubted fossil reserves), the ‘blame game’ seemed to trump united action of the kind which could have had an impact.

Last year’s Fraser of Allander Institute’s report also indicates that there are still key structural issues with Scotland’s economy which need solved if our level of public spending can be properly resourced. Scottish Labour’s response to this has to be better than simply saying Scotland cannot afford independence. However, the SNP’s response cannot be to ignore that a question and problem does actually exist.

On democratisation, there is still a huge gap between the centralist approach of Scotland’s parliament and the enabling culture of decentralisation where power could be further devolved to communities. Despite its criticism of the SNP this is not an area where Labour has a great record either.

Having said this, Labour in some areas has been promoting community wealth creation and ’15 minute neighbourhoods’ – which could be one aspect of bringing power downwards.

Neither can the problem be simply solved by the imposition of Manchester-like Mayors. Mike Danson’s recent work, again reported by Bella Caledonia, indicates that the Manchester Mayoral process may have helped the region to some extent but it did not particularly empower the individual boroughs in the region.

A different Scotland by 2033?

Let us fast forward our imagination to a currently unrecognisable but possible scenario: Scotland in 2033.

Two years earlier, in the 1 May 2031 Scotland Parliament elections, Labour had won the biggest share of the vote – standing with its opponents SNP and the Greens on a pro-independence ticket.

A year later, again on 1 May 2032, an independence referendum had produced a 65% YES vote, supported by the three left-of-centre parties: Labour, SNP and the Greens.

Not only Scotland is witnessing a renaissance of national and cultural pride and economic entrepreneurism, but a new mood of optimism has captured people’s imagination more widely in Wales, Ireland and England and its regions.

Against a desperate campaign of neo-liberal and right-wing forces, England is preparing to establish its own Parliament, refreshing and modernising Westminster traditions with a new democratic mandate. People are coming to terms with a new UK-settlement of Equals, the parties, media and business are closely examining the EU settlement as a blueprint for a new form of union – which all parties are convinced can be much closer than the EU itself, due to the long collaborative history between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

How could all this have even been imagined back in 2026 when Andy Burnham first came to power and Scotland’s Labour Party was on its knees?