Is it Labour, Tory-lite, or even democracy? - Christine ​Grahame

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer visits a Leyland housing development with Deputy Leader Angela Raynor. Photo: Kelvin Stuttard

Opposition of itself does not win elections. Governments lose them and the Tories were always going to lose. The question was by how much. All Sir Keir Starmer had to do was play it safe and rule his party and the selection process for candidates with an iron rod. It worked.

When one looks at the votes however it should be remembered that Labour won its landslide with only 34 per cent of the UK vote and in Scotland 35.3 per cent of the vote swept up 37 seats while the SNP with 30 per cent dropped to nine. So, the First Past the Post system stinks whoever benefits from it and it also perhaps explains the poor turnout. Just over 60 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the UK general election, making it the lowest turnout since universal suffrage began in 1928.

We look perhaps askance at the presidential bunfight in the USA but we should reflect seriously on the UK voting system, quite distinct from the Scottish Parliament system which operates on a form of PR.

That said, what with Sir Keir Starmer’s “Labour” party do with that 174 overall majority? Well, we know already. An SNP amendment to get rid of the two-child Benefit Cap, a thoroughly Tory policy since 2017, supported by all except the Lib Dems and seven “rebel” Labour MPs was defeated. Starmer has punished the Magnificent Seven by removing the whip from them for six months. No doubt pour encourager les autres. Meantime he pledges to reduce child poverty. Eh how? When?

Independent analysis conducted by the House of Commons Library shows an estimated 87,100 children in Scotland live in households hit by the two-child cap over the last year – with a total of 1,486,760 children hit across Britain. Never mind, he’ll keep Trident with annual running costs of £3 billion for example for starters. Factor in he is keeping shtum about WASPI women claims, the Miners Pension Fund, to which the Treasury pays not one jot, but has gathered in since 2021 £142 million, both issues I have raised frequently in the Scottish Parliament.

A scheme set up 30 years ago and condemned by a previous UK cross party group. Indeed, in a letter, union leaders have called on the Labour leader to deliver justice for striking miners within his first days in office if the Tories were ousted at the General Election. So far not a cheep.

Bear in mind that Rachael Reeves (after all Angela Raynor is simply there for tokensim to Old Labour-shades of Two Jags Prescott) is following to the letter Tory austerity. Actions to date show she is putting the money where her mouth is and there’s no point in them bleating about the state of the Treasury books. They knew it and were told that if they went ahead with election promises there would be an £18bn deficit to plug. Gloomy stuff all round. Quite apart from is this Labour or Tory-lite, is it democracy?

Christine Grahame is SNP MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale