Labour learn from City of Discovery

DUNDEE was once a Labour heartland but, like so much of Scotland, it has steadily been converted into an SNP fortress over the last 15 years.

The party now run the council and hold all the city’s Westminster and Holyrood seats with some of the biggest majorities going.

So when Richard Leonard arrives in Dundee today for his first party conference as Scottish Labour leader, he will be left in no doubt as to the challenge he faces.

Labour now languish in third place in Scottish politics – and if he is looking for tips on masterminding a transformation, Dundee is the right place to be. The city of jute, jam and journalism has reinvented itself as a hub for a thriving digital media industry, respected universities and life sciences.

Many delegates will today take time to admire Kengo Kuma’s new Victoria and Albert building, which sits at the heart of Dundee’s £1billion waterfront regeneration.

But if they walk into some of the city’s housing estates, they’ll find the serious social problems that blight all parts of Scotland.

Dundee has the highest rate of drug deaths in the UK, with 12 fatalities in January alone. That should be every politician’s top priority.

Leonard is genuinely committed to fighting poverty and speaks convincingly about what he considers SNP complacency on the issue.

This party conference is sure to be dominated by Brexit. And Leonard certainly needs to reassure voters that Labour will fight for an EU deal that protects jobs.

But he also must outline policies on health, education and the economy that translate his passion for social justice into measures that can transform lives.