Labour embarks on Scotland charm offensive to exploit SNP weakness

Labour has taken out full-page advertisements in Scottish newspapers as part of a new charm offensive designed to capitalise on SNP turmoil.

The day after Humza Yousaf was elected by SNP members to replace Nicola Sturgeon, Labour paid for an open letter from Anas Sarwar, its Scottish leader, to appear in the Daily Record, the Metro and the Dundee-based Courier.

It will be followed with letters to thousands of swing voters in Scotland over the coming days, as well as further newspaper advertisements.

The push comes as Sir Keir Starmer, the party’s leader, makes near-weekly trips over the border, with Labour sources increasingly confident that a revival in Scotland can help him win the keys to Number 10 at the next general election.

Until the 2014 independence referendum, Scotland could be relied upon to elect dozens of Labour MPs. However, the SNP almost swept the board at the 2015 election, Ms Sturgeon's first as SNP leader, winning 56 of 59 Scottish seats.

While Labour currently has just one Scottish MP, Sir John Curtice, Britain’s leading pollster, believes the party could now expect to win 10 Scottish seats at a general election, based on current polling. Party insiders think double that amount is a realistic target.

Labour strategists are privately jubilant at Mr Yousaf’s narrow victory over Kate Forbes in the leadership contest, believing that Scottish voters see him as untrustworthy and incompetent - an assessment shared by some in the SNP.

“I think the Labour Party will certainly feel they have an opportunity and they are quite right to feel that way,” Sir John told TalkTV. “They are now running at about 30 per cent in Scotland. That leaves them only 10 points behind the SNP.

“There are around 10 seats in Scotland which might fall to Labour if the SNP lead across Scotland as a whole is down to 10 points.

“The Labour Party is the one Unionist party that has some ability to appeal to some people who are in favour of independence but are not necessarily going to vote for the SNP.”

While the Scottish Tories are the second-largest Scottish party at Holyrood and Westminster, Scottish Labour now has a commanding lead over the Conservatives and came second in last year’s council elections.

In the newspaper advertisements, Mr Sarwar told Scots in an open letter that he was contacting them “because Scottish politics is in a moment of great upheaval”.

He insisted his party had changed under his leadership, after he took over from Corbynite Richard Leonard just over two years ago. In a pitch to win over nationalist voters, he vowed to “always put Scotland first”.

After setting out flagship Labour policies, he urged voters to email him. He added: “I know we must make our argument and earn your trust. I know too that people are looking for an alternative to the SNP.”

Earlier this week, Mr Sarwar claimed that Ms Sturgeon’s departure would help Labour across the UK, as voters would no longer believe Tory claims that the party would be in the “pocket” of the SNP.

Sir Keir has repeatedly ruled out any deal with the nationalists. Mr Sarwar has suggested that Labour would call the SNP’s bluff if it demands support at Westminster in exchange for an independence referendum.

Speaking before the result of the SNP contest was announced, Mr Sarwar said: “I dare Kate Forbes or Humza Yousaf to vote in a Tory government and we can see how Scotland reacts.”

He has called for a Holyrood election after Mr Yousaf was elected with only 24,000 votes from SNP members.

However Neil Gray, Mr Yousaf’s campaign manager, rejected this - saying: “This is a different situation than what we faced when Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair, for instance, where there wasn’t an election - or, indeed, the various Conservative leaders who have been elected by the party over the last few years.”