Keir Starmer is a serious prospect for Labour leader and would be a serious prospect for prime minister after that if the party back him.
So far, the Shadow Brexit Secretary has gained ground by remaining loyal to the left-leaning membership and striking out with common-sense attitudes to the problems facing the party and the country.
and he knows the road to Downing Street makes its way through Scotland before it heads back to the northern heartlands the party must take back from the Tories.
The party faces two key internal issues this side of the Border if it is to regain the trust of a significant slice of the electorate.
Scottish Labour needs a clear message on the prospect of IndyRef2. Simply dismissing the idea will do nothing to heal the rift emerging between senior figures in the Scottish party. It will also strengthen the concerns that Scottish Labour is nothing more than a branch office to the main event down south.
Labour is going to need Scottish votes if it is ever to return to power and any future leader is going to have to show they can tackle specific issues unique to this part of the United Kingdom.
It is encouraging in his first remarks at the start of the official campaign that Starmer shows signs of taking Scotland as seriously as the other parts of the United Kingdom.
Twisted Tories
Marie Curie’s figures showing that nearly while waiting on a DWP decision on their benefit claims highlights, again, the heartlessness of the Tory Government.
Did they die penniless or in pain that could have been eased by having money to spend on food or heating bills?
We’ll never know. But we can take comfort that the law is changing in Scotland this year so that anyone diagnosed with a terminal illness can get quick access to benefit payments which are devolved to Holyrood.
Scotland has previously put measures in place to deflect the burden of the evil Bedroom Tax.
How much more suffering must take place before the Tories realise their twisted welfare policy isn’t working?
