SNP majority in Scotland isn’t inevitable insists Sarwar

Scottish Labour is looking for another leader after Richard Leonard resigned just four months before May’s Holyrood election. Mr Leonard, who had been leader for three years, said his decision to step aside was in the “best interests of the party”. Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, will take over on a temporary basis.

She warned the party’s 23 MSPs that they face “the fight of our lives” – with some polls predicting the party’s support could drop them into fourth place behind the Scottish Greens.

Yesterday, Anas Sarwar reportedly gained the early momentum in the Scottish Labour leadership race after securing the backing of more than half of the party’s MSPs.

Twelve of the group of 23 at Holyrood have nominated the Glasgow MSP, while Ian Murray, the shadow Scottish Secretary and sole MP north of the border, has also pledged his support.

However, according to ex-MP George Galloway, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown would be the perfect candidate to take the job and fight First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s independence bid.

He wrote on Twitter: “I have known Gordon Brown 45 years.

“Labour is not my party.

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“Making him Scottish Labour leader would be the biggest single thing the party could do to rescue Scotland from the perdition of perpetual SNP rule, the Neverendum, and could save Britain.”

Many social media users were quick to back Mr Galloway’s comments, as they detailed how Mr Brown could be the “SNP’s nightmare”.

One person wrote: “Gordon Brown becoming next Scottish Labour leader would be the SNP’s nightmare.

“For that reason, I would be happy if the rumour is true.”

Andrew Adonis, Labour member of the House of Lords, also tipped the former Prime Minister to step up to lead Labour in Scotland.

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Mr Brown played a prominent role in the lead-up to, and the aftermath of, the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, campaigning for Scotland to stay in the UK.

Four years ago, in a surprisingly personal address to Labour activists in Glasgow, Mr Brown used his NHS connections to dismiss the idea that Scotland’s health service was slipping towards privatisation under Westminster rule.

He said former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond’s party was not “telling people the truth” on the subject and urged Scots across the country to “nail the SNP lie” on the NHS.

The speech, branded by some commentators as the most emotional of the referendum campaign, was delivered at the Labour Party’s Glaswegian HQ.

During his time in the media spotlight, Mr Brown rarely discussed his children, choosing instead to keep his private life away from the cameras.

In 2002, while Mr Brown was Chancellor, his baby daughter Jennifer Jane died in an Edinburgh hospital.

She was just 10 days old.

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Discussing a new timetable for extra powers that would have been delivered to the Scottish Parliament after a No vote, the former Labour leader explained why the NHS would have been protected if Scotland stayed in the UK.

The former Prime Minister said: “I love Scotland. I love the National Health Service. I was born into the National Health Service. I grew up in the National Health Service.

“When I lost the sight of my eye and faced the prospect of going blind, my sight was saved by the National Health Service.

“When my daughter died, it was a result of not being able to do anything to save her life and my respect for the National Health Service grew as a result of the experience that Sarah and I had.

“Do you think that I or anybody else who cares about the National Health Service would stand by and do nothing if we thought the National Health Service was going to be privatised in Scotland and its funds were going to be cut? Would we stand back and do nothing without a fight? Of course not!”

Mr Brown said Labour had “built”, “developed” and “funded” the NHS, unlike the SNP, and added that only Mr Salmond’s party could have privatised Scotland’s health service.

He said independence would mean Scotland walking away from the £1billion health funding boost it enjoyed thanks to Westminster’s system of funnelling money to where it is most needed.

The intervention came with many on the pro-UK side furious at the SNP’s “scaremongering” on the NHS, especially the suggestion Scotland’s health service was under threat from Westminster privatisation.

Mr Brown also defended the new devolution timetable, saying it had cross-party support and would reassure Scots that “change” was coming after a No vote.

Mr Salmond had dismissed the new timetable as a “panicked” move by Westminster and pledged to protect the NHS’s “free at the point of use” principle in an independent Scotland’s written constitution.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon appears much more popular than her predecessor.

Her handling of the coronavirus crisis has won over swathes of Labour and Tory voters, according to a new poll.

A survey conducted by Savanta ComRes showed Ms Sturgeon’s personal ratings are up, with 76 percent of voters believing her to be intelligent – an increase of three points.

74 percent of respondents said she is a strong leader, also up three points, and 57 percent believe she is genuine, up two points.

More than a third of 2019 Labour voters said the SNP’s response to the pandemic means they are now more likely to vote for the party in the Scottish Parliament election in May, with 13 percent of 2019 Tory voters saying the same thing.

Meanwhile, a majority of Scots continue to support Scottish independence, with the latest survey putting support for ‘Yes’ at 57 percent and ‘No’ at 43 percent.

Ms Sturgeon has recently revealed she wants to hold a second referendum on independence in the early part of the next Scottish parliamentary term.

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