For Scottish Labour’s significant crop of new MPs, the heady summer of electoral triumph is already a distant memory. In the days following the general election – where Anas Sarwar’s party swept the Central Belt, gaining a whopping 36 seats – it seemed Scottish Labour’s recovery was not only inevitable but already underway.
In the months since that has all changed, with Scottish Labour’s popularity declining as much – if not more – than its UK counterpart. A Norstat poll in December, for instance, had Scottish Labour at its lowest ebb in three years and the SNP, remarkably, on course to once again form the Scottish Government following devolved elections in May 2026.
In Scottish Labour circles, there is no doubt that the blame for this malaise lies firmly with Keir Starmer and his faltering premiership. The Prime Minister – once a great electoral asset in Scotland – is now a liability, with fewer than one in five people in Scotland believing he is doing a good job, according to the same December poll.
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