Scottish Labour Tells Starmer To Sit Out Holyrood Campaign

Scottish Labour has publicly urged Keir Starmer and senior ministers to keep a low profile in the run-up to May’s Holyrood election, arguing that high‑profile Westminster intervention risks turning the contest into a referendum on UK government failings. Anas Sarwar told a packed meeting of party parliamentarians, candidates and activists in Edinburgh that voters are fed up with recent Whitehall missteps and that the best contribution from UK ministers would be to focus on fixing policy in their departments rather than crisscrossing Scotland. He warned his party faces an uphill battle after what he described as errors that have dented Labour’s standing north of the border — most notably the decision to cancel the winter fuel payment. Scottish Labour strategists believe promises won in the 2024 general election and subsequent byelections have been undermined by communication and policy blunders from No 10. Polling in recent months has put the SNP comfortably in the mid‑30s, while Scottish Labour has fallen into the high teens; some surveys even show Reform UK overtaking Labour as the outlet for voters’ anger. Sarwar acknowledged that Reform poses the most immediate danger to Labour’s hopes, saying Nigel Farage’s party is attracting those unhappy with the UK government. He also tried to rally his base with concrete campaign work: the party has built a reported £1 million election fund and distributed over a million campaign magazines to households. The leadership’s tightrope is clear. Sarwar wants to stop John Swinney turning the Holyrood vote into a protest against Westminster. His strategy is to pin the campaign on domestic issues — tackling waiting times in the NHS, improving education and addressing housing shortages — rather than re‑opening the constitutional argument. Across town, the SNP framed the election very differently. At a Glasgow event, Swinney struck an upbeat tone, casting May as a “year of opportunity” and arguing that an SNP majority would, by past precedent, make the case for another independence referendum. He contrasted that with what he called Westminster’s rightward drift and suggested he has options to pursue if Whitehall continues to block a formal route to a vote — without giving details. The Scottish Conservatives, meanwhile, say cost‑of‑living concerns will dominate voters’ minds. Their leader, Russell Findlay, also faces the reality of shrinking support as Reform gains traction and several Conservatives have defected to Farage’s party, which has yet to name a Scottish head. The upshot: Scottish Labour is running a campaign that seeks to distance itself from Westminster while still relying on Labour’s national track record — a delicate balancing act that will test Sarwar’s ability to convert organisation and cash into votes. --- Managing your business finances? TaxAce provides smart online accountancy services for UK businesses with flexible monthly plans. Image and reporting: https://www.theguardian.com | Read original article