Labour is right

Matt Zarb-cousin’s take on the recent general election results in Scotland undoubtedly tells part of the story, but only part of it (Scotsman Online, 8 July).

In particular Matt’s conclusion portraying the Scottish Labour gains as a victory for the politics of Jeremy Corbyn is, at best, partially true.

For example, they do not account for the massive increase in the majority of Edinburgh South’s ultra-blairite Ian Murray who, as soon as he got back to Westminster, joined the latest right wing anti-corbyn revolt.

Murray didn’t feature Corbyn in his campaign material but did carry a purring endorsement of him from the ultra-right Spectator magazine, while the victor in Glasgow North East, Paul Sweeney MP, was last year a key anticorbyn organiser in Scotland.

While the Corbyn effect contributed to the limited gain of six seats and some close second places the fact remains that Scottish Labour’s campaign was far from radical and largely mirrored that of the Tories, focusing on the anti-indyref issue. The result was that in 13 Scottish seats the Labour vote fell – largely to the benefit of the Tories. It stayed static in a clutch of others.

This is clear evidence that, in playing the anti-indyref card Scottish Labour actually created the circumstances which encouraged tactical voting among No supporters and has, as a result, helped keep May in power through a Scottish Tory revival.

In contrast, the SNP’S failure to defend independence and run on a weak centrist, fiscally conservative manifesto lost them the votes of left wing pro-independence supporters who backed Corbyn’s vision.

We now have a situation in which independence support at 45 per cent is greater than that of the SNP on 37 per cent and still leaves independence as a more likely route to socialist change than a still right wing Scottish Labour. KEN FERGUSON

High Street Newburgh, Fife