Miliband’s blunder – to think Scotland was all sewn up
In the battles ahead of the craziest general election for generations, the collapse of Scottish Labour matters a lot

Demonstrators protest outside a Labour gala dinner, which Ed Miliband attended Photo: Getty Images
By Iain Martin
6:00PM GMT 01 Nov 2014
Professor Brian Cox has made explaining the inexplicable his life’s work. In recent episodes of his television series – Human Universe – the physicist has tramped from Ethiopia to Peru, via Morocco and Ohio, in an attempt to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos. He has asked whether we are alone in the galaxy, and speculated on whether there might be other life forms out there.
Perhaps for his next project, Professor Cox could go to Scotland and answer an even more perplexing question: is there any intelligent life whatsoever left in the Scottish Labour Party?
Last week, one opinion poll suggested that despite Labour's being the largest part of the coalition of parties that defeated the Nationalists in September’s referendum, in the aftermath it is being sucked into a black hole. A resurgent Scottish National Party was on 52 per cent of the vote ahead of next year’s Westminster elections, with Labour at a mere 23 per cent and the Tories on a distant 10 per cent. If those numbers were to be replicated in May, Labour would be reduced from 41 seats to four north of the border, while the Nationalists would have 54 MPs.
Ordinarily, this might not matter too much. For many years now, the Scots have seemed to live in a state of self-absorption and almost perpetual electoral upheaval. But in the context of the United Kingdom’s craziest general election for several generations, the collapse of Scottish Labour matters a lot, particularly to Ed Miliband in London.
Even before the results of last week’s nightmarish poll landed on Mr Miliband’s desk, the Labour leader needed every seat he can get in 2015, what with his UK-wide lead over the Conservatives having all but disappeared. His “35 per cent strategy”, which rested on scraping over the line thanks to an electoral system that favours Labour, was only going to work with him holding 40 or so seats in Scotland. The loss of even half that number could cost the Labour leader the general election.
More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11202664/Milibands-blunder-to-think-Scotland-was-all-sewn-up.html