Is Labour still a Unionist party?

The answer to this question, it turns out, comes from Kenny Dalglish. The answer is mebbys aye, mebbys naw. At the weekend the Scottish party’s former leader suggested Labour should have (some kind of) ‘free vote’ in the event of there being another independence referendum. Kezia Dugdale, the latest occupant of this poisoned throne, conceded Labour MSPs should, if there is another referendum, be free to campaign for independence if that’s where their heart lies.

Now, in one respect this makes sense. Labour are in a hopeless position in Scotland right now. Moreover, the party cannot recover unless it wins votes from erstwhile supporters who have crossed the constitutional aisle to support the Scottish nationalists. Some 30 percent of habitual Labour voters endorsed independence last September and Labour can never return to power, or even relevance, without persuading some of them to come back.

Since the Unionist pie is divided three ways and, at present, constitutes little more than a half of all voters and, possibly, less than half those likely to actually vote in next May’s Holyrood elections Dugdale’s olive branch of desperation makes electoral sense.