Friends hard to find for Scottish Labour

It is a long time since Henry McLeish was First Minster of Scotland — and looking at the polls, it may well be a long time before Labour can boast another person in that particular lofty position.

Certainly the man himself is not pulling his punches as he reflects upon the party’s chances in the forthcoming Westminster election.

Warning that too few people see the party as “credible”, he also urged Labour’s current leader in Scotland, Kezia Dugdale, to soften her stance on opposition to a second independence referendum.

There will be many within the loyal Labour ranks that will doubtless suggest Mr McLeish has lost the plot.

However, such divisions are stark evidence of the current confusion and apparent lack of identity within the party under Jeremy Corbyn.

With a general election just around the corner, Mr McLeish’s intervention could not have come at a worse time for Labour.

Whatever you think of proposals for a second independence referendum, one thing does appear abundantly clear — it is the Scottish Tories and not Labour who have successfully pigeon-holed themselves as the main Unionist voice.

Damaged by their association in the Better Together campaign of 2014, Labour have struggled to find their own identity ever since.

It is a malaise the party needs to shake off — and fast.