Be a much stronger force and show improve their living standards

Unity in tackling Covid threat as she reveals her inspirations

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with her baby at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in 2016

to the coronavirus pandemic has seen public approval fall and new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer outpoll Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

But in Scotland, where Labour has just one MP, Ian Murray, polls suggest an SNP overall majority at the next Holyrood election with Labour a distant third behind the Conservatives.

Ms Dodds said: “It is critically important that Labour becomes a much stronger force in Scotland and that people can look to us to deliver change, particularly improvements in living standards. We’ve seen such a long squeeze on

people’s living standards in Scotland and across the UK as a whole.

“I think Ian is doing a very good job, Richard Leonard as well as the leader in Scotland. I’m regularly in touch with them and Jackie Baillie as well as the shadow finance portfolio holder.

“To me it is really, really important that UK Labour works very closely with Scottish Labour, that we have those discussions as frequently as possible and that we understand exactly what the challenges are. Having a very frequent dialogue is going to be very important. I have a

New Labour leader Keir Starmer who is outpolling Boris Johnson

Anneliese Dodds

very strong commitment to that and I know Keir does as well.”

She added: “Keir has been trying to make sure he’s talking to people, particularly people who turned away from Labour over recent years, find out why that happened, whether that’s in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK, and really understand the reasons and do something about them. I think Keir’s approach to things, trying to be very open and transparent and serious leadership at a time of crisis, is what we really need right now.” A poll last weekend showed support for Scottish independence now at 54% but Ms Dodds says this is a time for countries and governments to be united in response. “I think the pandemic has shown we do need to work together,” she said, “whether that’s Holyrood and Westminster working with local authorities, or having that co-ordination between Scotland and Wales and Westminster. “We saw a robust response from the Bank of England, which has been helpful in making sure the liquidity and access to finance was there. There’s much more that needs to be done economically across the UK, and I’m looking to the chancellor to deliver that. But I think we can achieve more when we work together. We’ve seen that when you have any kind of division or confusion it makes the response harder.”

She added: “We have been calling on the Westminster Government to have much more regular discussions with Holyrood and Cardiff because there have been occasions where there doesn’t there does seem to be consultation beforehand, and that’s really not helpful. We need to have proper co-ordination. “Different approaches have been taken to the advice around social distancing, and if the UK Government had been having those discussions with Holyrood and Cardiff early on maybe there would have been a possibility of having a more co-ordinated approach.” Ms Dodds, who lives in Oxford with her partner Ed Turner, Oxford City Council’s deputy leader, and their two children, hopes to visit relatives still living in Scotland when the lockdown restrictions are removed. “I’m very much looking forward to seeing them,” she said. “Most of my family still live in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. I used to quite often go up near the end of the summer.

“It will feel very strange being around Edinburgh, if we’re able to go, without the Festival going on and everything being very different.”