kieran andrews

At full capacity, Perth Concert Hall can be an intimidating place to take the stage.

It was therefore considerate of many Scottish Labour members to not turn up for Jeremy Corbyn’s conference speech, presumably in a bid to ease his mind. He has enough to worry about.

Managing to see off a campaign which was shambolic even by Ukip standards and hold on to Stoke does not qualify as any kind of success, especially when you lose Copeland, a seat you have held since its creation in 1983.

Perhaps it was this pressure that led to the UK leader forgetting to mention federalism, Scottish Labour’s key constitutional policy, at any point during his 33-minute speech.

At least there was light relief when the UK leader thanked “our SNPs” during his speech, correcting himself to make clear he meant Labour MSPs amid chortling from the sparse crowd.

For three days in Perth, Labour tried to make itself relevant once again to the Scottish electorate. Yet Corbyn’s future and Sadiq Khan’s comments about the SNP overshadowed the vision Kezia Dugdale was attempting to outline for the party.

The problem is exemplified by the half empty hall that greeted the leader of the UK’s official opposition.

At this moment in time Labour is barely relevant to its own members, never mind those people it should be seeking to convince.