Tartan Tory Kate Forbes and hopeless Humza Yousaf can't get rid of Conservative government – Ian Murray

I should be offering my sincere thanks to the SNP leadership candidates. Thanks for bringing the obvious divisions and hostility in your party into the public spotlight.

Thanks for reminding Scots what a shambles you have made of running our country and why you’re losing the voters’ trust. And thanks for exposing that you only care about Scottish independence above all else. But, while that’s all tempting, the situation is far more serious. Because in a few weeks’ time, one of the hapless contenders for the leadership will be our next First Minister.

Humza Yousaf, who can’t get the trains to run on time, created a shambles of a police service and has racked up the worst NHS crisis in history (thanks for reminding us, Kate, he has certainly let my constituents down with the GP crisis in South Edinburgh).

Kate Forbes, the Tartan Tory who has no hope of uniting the country given she can’t unite the Cabinet she sits in. And Ash Regan who thinks we should build some kind of giant thermometer to count down to the moment when we scrap the pound and put people’s wages, mortgages and pensions in jeopardy.

Yes, one of them is going to oversee a multi-billion-pound budget and control our precious health service, justice sector, transport, social care, council services and children’s education.

What has Scotland done to deserve this? The country deserves so much better. So, while the SNP engages in infighting and recriminations, Scottish Labour is looking to the future.

The tired, old arguments of the past favoured by the nationalists don’t interest us – only what matters to people in our communities. Creating jobs, building successful businesses, tackling NHS waiting lists, giving teachers the resources they need, and addressing the climate emergency.

And booting the Tories out of Downing Street. Because whichever nationalist emerges victorious, none of them can remove Rishi Sunak and his cronies from office. Only Keir Stamer and the Labour Party can do that.

Rishi Sunak's plans to tackle migrants using small boats to cross the English Channel have been met with widespread revulsion (Picture: Liam McBurney/WPA pool/Getty Images)

And with the Tories back to their worst it’s needed more than ever. There is rightly widespread revulsion after the Tories’ announced an unworkable plan to remove all migrants who illegally cross the Channel, using soundbites to demonise those most in need, wrapped up in another unworkable plan that won’t solve the small-boats crisis but will resolve some of their electoral problems. It makes me feel sick.

But, the SNP can do nothing about it. They can only shout from opposition. Only Labour can bring back decency and workable solutions from being in government. That’s the opportunity at the next general election.

Sadly, whichever candidate wins the SNP contest, we know that they will try to make the next election all about independence. That does such a disservice to the voters.

Instead, we need a First Minister who addresses the NHS emergency, which is what Anas Sarwar is committed to. Patients are stuck with below-par services and dedicated workers are being let down by years of failed workforce planning under the SNP. This chaos must not become the accepted norm.

That should be the real challenge facing the next First Minister, not how to increase support for separation. Sadly, on the evidence so far, we’re all going to be let down, whoever wins.

Ian Murray is Labour MP for Edinburgh South