Scotland’s love-in with Labour could be a brief encounter

When John Swinney launched the SNP’s election manifesto, he warned voters considering backing Labour to be ‘careful what you wish for’. His own nationalist party is embattled and out of favour on the doorstep – but, says Andrew Grice, it could easily become a vehicle for those disappointed by a Starmer administration

SNP leader John Swinney challenged Labour to tell voters: ‘Where is the change?’ (PA)

What a difference five years makes. At the 2019 election, the main issues in Scotland were Scottish independence and Brexit. Both suited the pro-Remain SNP, which won 48 seats to Labour’s one.

This time, the overriding theme is how to oust the Conservatives at Westminster, which suits Labour very nicely when it looks capable of doing that for the first time since the Tories came to power. The SNP’s problem is that it looks largely irrelevant to the main question.

The top issue for Scots is the NHS, which is why SNP leader John Swinney proposed a £10bn-a-year boost to health spending in the manifesto he launched today. But this was a demand on the next UK government, which holds the purse strings; only £1.6bn of the money would go to Scotland.