Unity is needed to oust Johnson

UNLESS John McDonnell has been living underground for the past few weeks, it can only be assumed he is being disingenuous in saying the SNP are “not concentrating” on fighting the Tories.

In fact, unless the Labour heavyweight has been walking around with his eyes closed and fingers in his ears for the last five years then he’ll be aware that Nicola Sturgeon has constantly attacked the Conservative Party.

She has held them to account for the pain their brutal policies have inflicted on Scotland – louder and more directly than any other party leader.

So, to come out and say the SNP are not focusing their resources on beating the Tories, and that Sturgeon has an alliance with Boris Johnson, smacks of sour grapes.

Sure, there will be some Nationalists who think that having another horror show Tory Government in Westminster makes it easier to win the argument for Scottish independence.

But Sturgeon has been clear that she would rather see a Labour government in Westminster – albeit with a caveat for IndyRef2.

Why would any forward-thinking liberal politician in Scotland want to form an “alliance” with a hard-line Tory Government led by Johnson?

McDonnell is clearly hurting that Labour is falling into fourth place in some constituencies in Scotland.

But the blame for that lies not with the SNP but at their own door.

McDonnell should be concentrating his energies on standing next to the SNP in stopping the Tories from damaging Scotland even further.

The sniping and manipulation of the truth is only destroying Labour’s own cause in the country they used to run.