Without a revival in Scotland, Labour will need to take safe Tory seats such as Jacob Rees-Mogg's to seize power
Labour would need to take Jacob Rees-Mogg’s seat to win a majority without a revival in Scotland, a party frontbencher has warned following a report into the party’s disastrous election defeat.
Lucy Powell, a shadow business minister, on Friday claimed that unless Sir Keir Starmer was unable to make “substantial gains” from the SNP the party would need to perform the near-impossible task of winning scores of English Tory strongholds.
Despite recent polls showing Labour is closing the gap on the Conservatives, Ms Powell, who co-authored the report on the 2019 defeat alongside MPs including Ed Miliband, warned the party still had a “significant mountain” to climb.
She added that while a “culmination” of Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn and an overladen manifesto had contributed to the loss, there remained long-term declines in support among traditional Labour voters that are not currently “in any way abating”.
Calling for a “real rethink” on the party’s approach in Scotland - where the party now wields just one MP - she told the BBC: “If we don’t make substantial gains in Scotland we would need to win Jacob Rees-Mogg’s seat in order to have a majority Labour government again.”
Mr Rees-Mogg currently wields a 14,700 vote majority in his constituency of North East Somerset, with Labour needing to gain 123 seats to win power in 2024.
It came as senior Labour figures called for Sir Keir to make the party the “voice of the Union” in order to reverse its fortunes in Scotland.
Allies of the Labour leader believe an overhaul of the party’s machinery in Scotland is needed if the party is to replace the Conservatives as the alternative to Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish independence.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, one said the case had become more urgent as feedback from recent focus groups showed the party was going backwards among Scottish voters, who believe it has become “irrelevant”.
They added that the party under Jeremy Corbyn had become a “laughing stock” in Scotland, while a second said the party had been “all over the place” on the issue of a second independence referendum.
“I am also getting feedback from Scotland that it’s getting worse rather than better,” a senior Labour frontbencher added. “The Labour Party has got to become a convincing party of the Union.
“The way you win back Scotland is by saying we are the voice of the Union, Keir Starmer can win...and the Scots can see that in a general election there is utility in voting for the Labour Party.
“The Tories are generally unpopular, but have done much better than us because they have picked up all the unionist votes.”
Their concerns are echoed in the report published by Labour Together, which claimed the party suffered a “meltdown” in Scotland, with Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn and the party’s ambiguity on a second independence referendum blamed as “key factors in our loss.”
Sir Keir has now made clear Labour will enter the 2021 Holyrood elections categorically opposed to a second referendum.
However, there is growing concern among senior shadow cabinet ministers over the performance of Richard Leonard, the Scottish Labour leader, although insiders admit there is little prospect of him being replaced.
“We have looked irrelevant because Richard - an incredibly nice guy - is ineffective at getting the message across,” said one.
A second source added: “He’s not really seen as a leader. He hasn’t done a great deal in the two and half years he’s been in place.”
Labour moderates are now privately placing their faith in Mr Leonard’s deputy, Jackie Baillie, and the shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray, who is the party’s last MP in Scotland.
