​Westminster View - Labour have to own their own mess on their first anniversary

They are therefore firmly in the position where they have to own their own mess. They are right of course; the Tories deserve unfettered criticism for their ideological austerity agenda over 14 years that advanced the punishment of young children across these islands living in poverty for the sins of a few feral bankers in London.

This pain for the many innocents would have been grossly unjust if it had worked, the fact that under the Tories’ austerity agenda UK debt actually tripled while the economy stagnated and we all got poorer should see the Tories lost in a sea of self-loathing guilt. I won’t hold my breath and suggest you don’t either.

But, the Tories cry (and the Tories currently have a great deal to cry about) it was Labour who left office in 2010 where their Chief Secretary to the Treasury left a note advising, “there is no money left”. This is also true but Labour would counter with having to rescue the UK from Tory sleaze and cash for questions in the 90s and the Tories would argue that they had to rescue the people from the strikes of the seventies in ’79 and Labour needing the IMF to bail out the UK in 1976. You can see the pattern here.

In this, surely the world’s least enjoyable game of ping pong, we can thank the UK’s ridiculous first past the post electoral system which ensures that one or other hapless London-centric party, Labour or Tory wins the election every time – how convenient for them.

Faced with this inevitable Hobson’s choice is it any wonder turnout for the 2024 General Election fell to an historic low of 59% in Scotland and 62% here in Angus & Perthshire Glens.

My party lost the General Election in Scotland in 2024, I’m not disputing that. Labour polled 127,000 more votes than the SNP in Scotland. But here’s the thing, Labour got a Scottish MP elected for every 23,024 votes, the Tories were 61,466 and Lib Dems 39,038. But the SNP got an MP for every 80,528 votes. I think any honest broker might conclude this is a system in need of change.