Regarding Mr Miliband’s hapless interview with BBC Scotland David, like James Kirkup, expresses what is the conventional view in London:
Up to a point. The fate of the Scottish Labour part is not especially relevent to the fate of the Union. It is true that Unionism needs new and improved leaders (perhaps the Prime Minister might care to visit Scotland occasionally?) but that is a rather different thing.But, as James Kirkup notes, the Scottish Labour Party is a serious issue. It is the only check on Alex Salmond, which makes it essential to the future of the union. And it’s important for Labour’s electoral recovery, not that you’d realise that listening to the senior party. As I revealed on Sunday, Labour shadow minister Ivan Lewis displayed extraordinary complacency about Scotland at a fringe event, implying that Labour will return to power in Holyrood as a matter of course, no effort required. Miliband’s ignorance only compounds that sense… Labour’s seemingly uninterested Westminster clique have presented Alex Salmond with an opportunity that he’s much too canny to miss.
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