United Kingdom
In reply to the discussion: Breaking: Kezia Dugdale steps down as Scottish Labour leader [View all]Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)The remaining SLAB membership is to the right of the Labour rank-and-file in the rest of the UK by default. the people who are still part of SLAB are basically the ones who vote Labour out of tribalism and nothing else.
It wasn't Corbyn's fault that those people switched to the SNP-Ed Miliband was leader when that happened-but it is his task to somehow get them back for Westminster elections. it does leave him with a challenge there. He should ban any further electoral pacts with the Scottish Tories and propose greater federalism, and probably will at some point.
BTW if you don't like him, remember that nobody to his right at Westminster Labour is going to take a more sympathetic position towards Scotland-the Blairites are the ones who made sure the Scottish Parliament did not have taxing powers. The "we have to stay away from that socialist nonsense" crowd are also the "we have to stay away from federalism" crowd.
Given the continued weakness of Holyrood Labour, I'd argue that they should simply cease standing in elections for that body. It's pointless for them to keep contesting elections where they're just going to keep finishing third. Were Holyrood election run on strict FPTP, Holyrood Labour would probably have about the same percentage of MSP's as the old Liberals had at Westminster in the 1945-1970 era.