By Daniel Frost 

It was the best of times; it was worst of times. It was the election of Labour victory; it was the election of Labour disappointment.

Originally published by Musings of a Radical

Right, I’m not going to finish that mockery of Dickens, it’s really quite naff. Point is, as I’m sure you’re aware, we’ve just had a swathe of different elections across the entirety of the United Kingdom.

Whilst Labour’s performance in England was somewhere between adequate and astounding (depending on whether you speak with a rhotic accent or not), the truly interesting results came from Wales and Scotland.

As you may have gathered from my introduction, Labour’s fantastic gains in Wales have been sharply contrasted with what amounts to the SNP’s greatest achievement to date. This has, unsurprisingly, left a number of people- including my girlfriend- more than a little bit confused.

Whilst Wales and Scotland are both centre-left heartlands, with roughly similar political systems, there are differences which in these circumstances go much deeper than that. Labour’s failure in Scotland must be compared to Labour’s victory in Wales- a combination of factors resulted in the contrast, and it must be accepted that some of those are the fault of Labour’s campaign.

I suppose one early comparison to be made is the nature of the opposition that Labour faced. Although in Wales and Scotland we tend to think of the principal opposition as being the nationalist parties- Plaid Cyrmu and the SNP respectively- it is worth remembering that whilst that is basically the case in Scotland, Labour is also threatened in Wales by the Conservatives.

This means that in Wales, Labour is still able to run a campaign on anti-Tory lines. There are supporters of Plaid who will switch to Labour to keep out the Tories, which simply doesn’t happen in Scotland any more. Thus it is ridiculous that Labour in Scotland campaigned early on along anti-Tory lines, which are simply not appropriate when we’re engaged in a centre-left turf war with the SNP.

It’s also interesting to compare the support received by Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party. Contrary to English expectations, the SNP is not entirely populated by people who want independence. It has become, for Scotland, a protest party which is ideally placed to pick up the votes of LibDems and disillusioned Labourites- like the Liberal Democrats it has acquired a reputation for dishonesty amongst politicos because it is all things to all people.

In Wales, Plaid Cyrmu is less able to fulfil this function- especially during a Labour resurgence where many people genuinely belief that a ‘new generation’ has taken control. The One Wales agreement has shown that Labour is still capable of genuinely left-wing policies and pro-trade-union action. Without the potential to attack Welsh Labour from the left, or to convincingly argue that a vote for Plaid will keep out the Tories, Plaid Cyrmu has been forced back to a rump of Welsh nationalists.

The success of the referendum on further Welsh devolution has heightened the problems faced by Plaid Cyrmu, and thus allowed Labour to swoop in. It seems to me that Welsh Labour has a much stronger identity and position on the union than its Scottish counterpart and is not at all afraid to say that it supports more powers for the Welsh Assembly. With devolution not even a major issue at this time Plaid Cyrmu was always going to be fairly squeezed.

That said Scottish Labour cannot be excused simply because Welsh Labour had an easier job to do. Scottish Labour’s campaign was disastrous in ways that went beyond merely being too anti-Tory.

When it came down to it, Labour in Scotland fundamentally failed to paint a positive centre-left vision for their nation. We descended into mindless populism which simply didn’t resonate, or worse still simply attacked the SNP without proper justification

This is wrong on two accounts: it disappoints the electorate, as Plaid Cymru found when they tried similar against Labour, and it is a further expression of disunity when the SNP should be our natural allies north of the border.

Another factor which contributed to the difference between Labour’s performance in Wales and Scotland was leadership- something for which Scottish Labour and Iain Gray cannot seriously be blamed, but which must be improved upon next time around.

Whereas Welsh Labour went into the election under Carwyn Jones, a respected statesman and popular First Minister, Scottish Labour was forced to field a comparative nobody against a Scottish political superstar- Alex Salmond. I thought Labour had learnt by now that for some people image is everything, and a major part of success in Scotland is dictated by the ability of a leader to appear like someone worthy of that country’s support.

Alex Salmond is someone who people can picture as head of an independent Scotland, or at the very least as going toe-to-toe with David Cameron in a fight to the death for Scottish public services. Unfortunately, Iain Gray (who I hadn’t heard of until a few months ago) appeared more like a council candidate who wanted to quietly petition the government to stop being so nasty.

Even if Labour chooses not to endorse the concept of an independent Scotland, they must take the Scottish Parliament so seriously that prospective Labour First Ministers could actually be pictured as running it. Labour is filled with popular and skilled Scottish politicians- as, for that matter, is the Liberal Democrats- and thus it is ridiculous that one is not fielded.

Now, I’m not necessarily suggesting that next time we should put Gordon Brown up for the job- he might not actually be that popular in Scotland- but isn’t there someone who would be more convincing than Iain Gray?

If the Liberal Democrats were serious about Scotland they would put Charles Kennedy in command- if Labour is, then we must do our utmost to get someone suitable for the job. If we can’t, then maybe we should rethink whether we deserve to be in government in Scotland any longer.